Abe meets descendants of Subhash Chandra Bose

Kolkata, Aug 23 (UNI) Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today met the descendants of Subhash Chandra Bose who led armed resistance to British rule in league with the imperial Japan during the Second World War.

Accompanied by his wife Akei, Mr Abe visited Netaji's ancestral home on Elgin Road and went round the museum dedicated to the national hero.

''It was a rare occasion for us to welcome the Japanese premier to Kolkata and to this museum. This is the first such visit and this makes it very special for us,'' Netaji's niece by marriage Krishna Bose said.

Mr Subrata Bose, Netaji's nephew, said the family was ''deeply grateful'' to Abe for this ''unparalled gesture.'' The walls of the museum are lined with black and white photographs of Netaji as a young boy, his May 1942 meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin and a picture of his German wife, Emilie Schenkl, holding their baby daughter.

Other pictures include that of his 90-day journey from Germany to Japan aboard a submarine in May 1943 and the last known one, in which he steps out of an aircraft at Saigon on August 17, 1945.

The exhibits also include coats, caps and footwear as well as furniture and books owned by Netaji.

Mr Abe also visited the old grey Wanderer car that carried Netaji for his great escape to Kabul.

After World War-II broke out, Bose escaped his British watchers, sought help from Nazi Germany and later went to Japan, where he organised an army to take on British forces.

UNI