AIFB member demands declassification of files on Netaji

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) member Barun Mukherjee today demanded that the government declassify around 9000 defence files on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and hand them over to the National Archives of India.

Raising the issue as a Special Mention in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Mukherjee said most of these files pertained to the confidential proceedings in connection with the trial of Indian National Army (INA) personnel in the Red Fort during 1945-46.

He said the Defence Minister should initiate immediate steps for declassifying these documents and deposit them with the National Archives, which would greatly help research scholars and students.

He also informed that the government had declassified 990 files on the Netaji in 1997, the birth centeneray of the illustrious freedom fighter.

''These files pertain to the events during 1940-43 and were later handed over to the National Archives,'' he said, adding that it would be in the fitness of things if the remaining 9000 files were also declassified by the Defence Minister to bring them in public domain.

UNI