The BJP and the Congress traded charges on Friday over a news report claiming that Jawaharlal Nehru’s government had mounted surveillance on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s family.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at the party headquarters here to assert that “snooping is a part of the Congress’s DNA”.
She was referring to a report in a news magazine that claimed that between 1948 and 1968, Netaji’s family was spied on in Kolkata. The report blames the nation’s first Prime Minister for carrying out the operation.
“A news report quoting archival material has revealed that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) mounted intense surveillance over Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s family for a period of over 20 years.
“Most of us who have had great admiration for this fiery leader of our Independence movement are shocked. It has raised serious concerns about the conduct of the then government,” said Sitharaman.
“The dubious tradition continues till date. There was surveillance in the office of the Finance Minister of the UPA government. It leads us to believe that snooping is in the DNA of the Congress.”
To a question about whether the Centre will declassify all files relating to Netaji, she said: “I certainly cannot forget that during our election campaign, we had maintained that it is time now for the Bose files to be declassified.”
Systematic propagandaThe Congress hit back, saying the report is part of a “systematic propaganda of selective leaks and half truths” to malign national icons like Nehru and his entire Cabinet, including Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
“Besides the fact that Nehru passed away in 1964 and the alleged spying continued till 1968, when Shastri was Prime Minister, the fact is that the IB reports directly to the Home Ministry.
“Between 1948 and 1968, India had seven Home Ministers — Sardar Patel, C Rajagopalachari, Kailash Nath Katju, Govind Ballabh Pant, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzarilal Nanda and Yashwantrao Chavan.
“Why is the BJP trying to malign the great Home Ministers and veteran freedom fighters like Patel, Rajagopalachari, Govind Ballabh Pant, Shastri and others?” said a Congress statement.
“In its classical diabolical design, the BJP is seeking to malign not only Nehru but other national leaders like Sardar Patel, Shastri and Govind Ballabh Pant,” said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
He further asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh to explain why notings on the two classified files have been released while the correspondence portion has been withheld.
“The PM’s office has still kept 58 related files as classified and the Home Minister has kept 29 such files as classified. A total of 87 files on Subhash Chandra Bose are still classified.
“We demand that all these documents be declassified so that complete truth is placed in the public domain,” added Singhvi.