‘Nehru-Gandhi family tried to erase Bose’s legacy’

PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 13 Amid a row over snooping on close relatives of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his nephew, Ardhendu Bose, today alleged that the Nehru-Gandhi family has tried to erase the nationalist leader's legacy. "From 1947 onwards, they (Nehru-Gandhi family) have done their best to obliterate the name and memory of Netaji Bose," Ardhendu told PTI."As far as Bose and Sardar Patel are concerned, if you see today, in none of the history books in India is there a mention of Bose, the Indian National Army (INA) and very little about Patel," the 60-year-old leather technologist, who stays in Mumbai, said. Ardhendu, a former Bombay Dyeing model, who owns a leather business, was born in Mumbai. His father Sailesh Chandra, who died in 1984, was Netaji's younger brother. Asked if his late father, who stayed in Worli here, was aware that he was being snooped upon, Ardhendu said, "Yes. He told me so." "The suspicion was there. When the snooping and phone tapping was going on, they (my family members) knew they were being snooped, watched at," he said. "He (my father) told me that someone told him the phone was tapped," Ardhendu said. "Someone from an intelligence agency had also told him the phone was tapped," a source close to Ardhendu said. Netaji issue should not be politicised: Rijiju The government today said that the "sensitive matter" of the files pertaining to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose should not be politicised even as it maintained that it was the previous government which was responsible for the leak which has triggered a controversy. "We should not make a political issue out of this situation. We have to deal with and understand the subject effectively after going through entire facts. It is a sensitive matter," Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. He said that whatever partial declassification has been done vis-a-vis the files pertaining to Netaji, it was done by the previous government. "Whatever leak was there, it was done during the earlier government's rule. There is no question of us leaking certain points to the press, thereby demeaning the national icons," he said. On the issue of snooping on close relatives of Netaji, the minister said that the Mukherjee Commission report is an elaborate document which it will take time to review. Asked whether the Centre was considering declassification of the report, the minister said, "I cannot say anything about that, but I can only say that whatever is in the public interest will definitely be classified and made known."