IB snooping on Bose''s kin kicks of political slugfest

New Delhi, April 10

Archival material revealing that Intelligence Bureau kept relatives of Subhas Chandra Bose under close surveillance for two decades, most of which was during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister, sparked off a massive political row on Friday.

The Intelligence Bureau files declassified recently said Bose's close relatives, including his two nephews — Sisir Kumar Bose and Amiya Nath Bose, sons of his brother Sarat Chandra Bose — were spied upon for 20 years between 1948 and 1968.

Nehru was Prime Minister for 16 of these 20 years.

The files, now with the National Archives, said the Bose family homes at 1, Woodburn Park and 38/2 Elgin Road, were kept under surveillance.

The IB sleuths intercepted and copied letters written by the Bose family and even trailed them on foreign tours.

Bose's family reacted to reports with shock and said it was a "poor reflection" on the quality of democracy at that time.

"Yes, it is a poor reflection on the quality of India's democracy in the first two decades that there was such invasion of privacy of freedom fighters. It is not just a family matter.

"The most disgraceful aspect of this surveillance is that private letters between my father and his aunt (Netaji's wife) were being opened and read and copied. It's a matter of great disrespect to the freedom struggle and freedom fighters," Sugata Bose, his grandnephew and TMC MP, who read the files and copied the relevant material, said.

"It's shocking to the family members. Now we know that under instructions from Pandit Nehru the government kept surveillance," said Chandra Kumar Bose, another grandnephew.

Anuj Dhar, the author of 'India's Biggest Cover-up', had stumbled upon the files at the National Archives while researching on Bose, one of the foremost leaders of the freedom movement.

Bose had quit Congress before independence over differences with Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi and launched an organised military resistance against the British after raising the Indian National Army.

The death of the charismatic leader, a former Congress president, continues to be shrouded in mystery after he was said to have been killed in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, a theory his supporters disbelieve.

BJP dismayed; Cong defends

The archival material triggered a slugfest between BJP, which termed it as a "very serious issue" that needed to be investigated, and the Congress, which claimed a "false" newspaper report had been fabricated by the Narendra Modi government.

"Subhas Chandra Bose was a darling of the masses and this news that he and his family were spied on during those early years of independence is shocking and very, very serious. It needs to be investigated," Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said.

Another senior BJP leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "If you look up the history and geography of the Congress party, you will find it black. If we dig deeper into its history, a lot of things will come up."  

Subramanian Swamy of BJP said the documents indicated the paranoia that Bose instilled in Nehru and suggested that the government should declassify all information releated to the leader.

The Congress, meanwhile, called these stories made up. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh hit out at BJP, claiming the story had been “planted” by the Modi government.

"I strongly condemn this allegation. It is absolutely false and fabricated. IB reports are secret documents. Will the Government of India come out with a clarification, would it take necessary action under the Official Secrets Act?" he said.

Manish Tewari of Congress said Nehru laid the foundation of liberalism in the country and would never be involved in any kind of surveillance on a political colleague or his family. "It is completely absurd and preposterous," he said.

Bose's family and supporters have been demanding declassification of all files related to him with various government departments, including the Prime Minister's Office, IB, Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry for decades now. Some 150 of such files are said to be with them.

Rejecting the demand for declassifying 'Netaji files', the government had told the Rajya Sabha recently that it would adversely impact India's relations with friendly foreign nations. PTI