New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today handed over a CD containing files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to President Pranab Mukherjee.
“Visited Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was an honour to hand over the digitized version of declassified Netaji files to the President of India,” Banerjee said in a tweet.
Earlier, talking to reporters Banerjee said that she would also hand over copies of the CD to other ministers, stressing everyone has a right to know the historical details.
“The Bose files which we had… 64 files we have declassified. We have sent the CD to Prime Minister, we are sending to Home Minister, Speaker Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Chairman,” she told reporters after meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The declassified files and cabinet papers, she said, contained information “about Quit India movement, historical things. We want to make them public, phase by phase so that people of the country should know”.
Banerjee further said whatever information was there with the central government with regard to Bose should be disclosed in the best interest of the country as “people have a right to know.”
Banerjee said she had also released 400 files relating to state cabinet decisions at the time of Independence.
“The Cabinet decisions at the time of Independence… that time it was not the paper decision, it was a action paper. So more than 400 files which were Cabinet decision… all those we have digitised and made hard disk and made public,” she added.
Asked whether she would put pressure on the central government to release files relating to Bose, she said, “We don’t believe in pressure tactics. We believe our young generation should have information. Our historians should have information, our country men should have information, press should have information.