PM not to raise demand for bringing Netaji's ashes back home

On Board PM's Special Aircraft, Oct 21 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not raise the demand for bringing the ashes of INA leader and freedom fighter Subash Chandra Bose to India during his bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso here tomorrow "as there is no consensus on the issue at home." The ashes of Netaji, who was believed to have been killed in a plane crash nearly 63 years ago, are kept in Renkoji temple in Tokyo.

Top diplomats, accompanying Dr Singh on his three-day visit to Tokyo, told UNI here tonight that the ashes have been "kept with respect" in the temple.

Normal ceremonies were being performed there, it is pointed out.

Sources said family members of Netaji were divided on whether those ashes at the Renkoji temple were that of the veteran freedom fighter.

Different political parties also think differently on the issue.

There was political complication on the issue in West Bengal, they said.

Saying that there was no simple answer to the issue, the sources said there was a demand, at one point of time, for subjecting the ashes to a DNA test to ascertain its veracity.

''However, the nature of the remains were not good enough. We cannot say anything conclusive," the sources said.

They said there was no political consensus at home on the issue though three Inquiry Committees have gone into the issue of disappearance of Netaji in the 1940s.

UNI SH RP SB KN1812