The Narendra Modi government which had promised to honor the long pending demand has declassifed all files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This information was given by the Minister of State of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Shri Prahlad Singh Patel stated that the government has de-classified all records relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Azad Hind Fauj and placed them in the National Archives of India. Accordingly, a total of 304 declassified records/files have been transferred to National Archives of India by above mentioned Ministries/Offices for permanent retention. Out of 304 files, 303 files are already uploaded on the Netaji web portal i.e. www.netajipapers.gov.in.
The National Archives of India is the custodian of declassified files/records of the Government of India. In addition, in 1997 the National Archives of India had received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) from the Ministry of Defence, and in 2012, 1030 files/ items pertaining to the Khosla Commission (271 files/ items) and Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (759 files/ items) from the Ministry of Home Affairs. All these files/ items are already open to the public under the Public Records Rules, 1997.
The files that have been declassified belonged to various ministries and secretariats. The details of de-classified records relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose are as below:
