Trinamool slams Congress for marking August 18 as Netaji’s ‘death anniversary’

By PTI

KOLKATA: The TMC on Wednesday objected to a statement issued by the Congress observing August 18 as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s death anniversary and asked the grand old party to refrain from “hurting” the emotions of the Bengalis.

Seven decades have passed since Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose went missing on this date in 1945, with some historians suggesting that he might have died in a plane crash in Taiwan, and others claiming that he survived the accident and lived in hiding for the rest of his life.

The recurring demand by the freedom fighter’s family to bring back his purported remains from a temple in Japan for DNA examination has not been met with thus far.

The Congress leadership tweeted a picture of Netaji with August 18, 1945 as the date of his demise.

“We pay tribute to the hero of Indian Independence Movement Shri Subhas Chandra Bose. A valiant freedom fighter, a defiant patriot and a proud son of India. His contribution to the nation will be remembered and honoured till the end of time,” the party wrote on its official Twitter handle.

The TMC leadership, on its part, asserted that the grand old party should not make such sweeping remarks without any concrete proof.

“Strongly object to this tweet. This date of death is not proved. Both Congress and BJP govt didn’t try to find out the real facts regarding the last moments of Netaji. Don’t play with emotions of Bengal and India. First, prove the death. Publish the classified files.” TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh tweeted.

Later, while talking to reporters, Ghosh said such comments not just “hurt the sentiments of the Bengalis” but show disrespect towards the legacy of the valiant son of India.

On Tuesday, Surya Kumar Bose, the freedom fighter’s grandnephew, issued a statement, making a fresh appeal to authorities to facilitate DNA testing of Netaji’s purported ashes that have been interred in Japan’s Renkoji temple, in an to attempt to put a lid on the controversies surrounding his “disappearance.”

Since Independence, the central government formed three inquiry commissions to unravel the mystery surrounding Netaji’s disappearance.

The Shah Nawaz Commission (1956) and Khosla Commission (1970), formed by the Congress governments, said that Bose died in an air crash.

The third one, the Mukherjee Commission (1999), formed by the BJP-led NDA government, rejected the plane crash theory.