Meeting with PM Modi bares Netaji family feud | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Meeting with PM Modi bares Netaji family feud

Hindustan Times | By, Kolkata
Oct 15, 2015 02:08 PM IST

Long-running fault lines in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s family came to the fore when the freedom fighter’s descendents opposed to the theory of his air crash death met PM Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Long-running fault lines in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s family came to the fore when the freedom fighter’s descendents opposed to the theory of his air crash death met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Wednesday.

Anuj Dhar, a researcher on Netaji, shows a jacket presented to PM Modi on Wednesday.(Mohd Zakir/HT Photo)
Anuj Dhar, a researcher on Netaji, shows a jacket presented to PM Modi on Wednesday.(Mohd Zakir/HT Photo)

About three dozen family members of Netaji had an audience with Modi to press for declassification of all secret files related to him while two prominent ones — former and current parliamentarians — stayed away in London.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

Krishna Bose, wife of Netaji’s nephew Sisir Bose, and her son, historian Sugato Bose, were in Britain and refused to respond to queries if they were invited to meeting with the Prime Minister.

Sisir, son of Netaji’s elder brother Sarat Chandra, was the first family member to accept that his illustrious uncle died in an air crash in Taihoku on August 18, 1945. He was also the first Netaji descendent to join the Congress in independent India and become an MLA in 1987.

Read | Declassified file states Netaji ‘alive in China in 1948’

Later, wife Krishna and son Sugato maintained the same view.

Sugato wrote about Netaji’s death in the controversial air crash in his 2011 book, His Majesty’s Opponent.

The rest of the family, including Sarat Chandra’s other children and grandchildren, never believed the air crash theory.

“I don’t think Krishna and Sugato would have had anything to do the meeting. We have come here because we do not believe in the air crash theory and demand declassification of relevant files to let people know what happened to him after August 1945,” Netaji’s grandnephew Arya Bose said.

Read | Netaji’s elder brother believed air crash was an eyewash

Another grand nephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, agreed. “It is unfortunate that they played a negative role when other family members built a movement for declassification of all Netaji files,” he said.

The family feud is more than three decades old, starting in the 1970s when Sisir, who had helped Netaji escape capture by the British in 1941, agreed to the air crash theory. His father, Sarat Chandra, had called for a probe.

Unveiling Elections 2024: The Big Picture', a fresh segment in HT's talk show 'The Interview with Kumkum Chadha', where leaders across the political spectrum discuss the upcoming general elections. Watch now!

Get Current Updates on India News, Election 2024, Arvind Kejriwal News Live, Bihar Board 10th Result 2024 Live along with Latest News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    author-default-90x90

    Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, principal correspondent, Hindustan Times, Kolkata, has been covering politics, socio-economic and cultural affairs for over 10 years. He takes special interest in monitoring developments related to Maoist insurgency and religious extremism.

SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Friday, March 29, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On