Netaji kin do not want Bharat Ratna for him, claims grandnephew

Kolkata, Aug 10: Amidst speculation that the country's highest civilian award

may be conferred on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his grandnephew today claimed that a majority of his family members did not approve of the idea.

[Read: Modi govt may confer Vajpayee with Bharat Ratna]

Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji's grandnephew, claimed that most family members were opposed to the conferment of the award and instead demanded that the mystery of his disappearance be solved first.

"Netaji has been missing since 1945. When you award him with Bharat Ratna posthumously, you have to say when he died, but where is the evidence? The best way to honour him is to declassify government files which can reveal the truth behind his disappearance," Bose said.

Controversy had broken out in 1991 after Netaji was chosen for posthumous award

He told PTI that he had spoken to around 60 family members of the great leader, none of whom was willing to accept the award on his behalf. "All of us feel that Bharat Ratna is not the appropriate award for him. None of us will go and accept the award," Bose said.

The family and members of the Open Platform for Netaji had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding formation of a Special Investigation Team under the guidance of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to investigate into Netaji's disappearance. When under house arrest by the British, Netaji had escaped from India in 1941 to seek international support for India's freedom struggle. He went missing in 1945, giving birth to India's most debated and lingering mystery ever.

The Mukherjee Commission which inquired into the disappearance had rejected the opinion that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.

PTI