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Jawaharlal Nehru govt ordered IB to spy on kin of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Netaji's relatives were spied upon for two decades, according to recent declassified documents.

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After the government declassified two files on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, it has been revealed that Netaji's relatives were asked to be spied upon by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru for nearly twenty years, according to an India Today report. The files show that the Intelligence Bureau, which came directly under Nehru, carried the espionage activities between 1948 to 1968. Nehru was the Prime Ministers for 16 of those years.

The IB resumed British-style surveillance on his two of his homes at 1, Woodburn Park and 38/2 Elgin Road in Calcutta. 

Apart from this, the IB kept a close eye on Netaji's relatives by tracking their movements and the contents of the letters they wrote and received. The sleuths were particularly interested in Netaji's nephews, sons of his brother Sarat Chandra Bose. The nephews were close to Netaji during his years as a Congress  activist. They were also in touch Netaji's wife Emily Schenkl and exchanged letters with her.

The IB followed the family on domestic as well as international travels and their letters were intercepted and copied. The Bureau was keen to know whom the family met and the details of their conversation.

Anita Bose-Pfaff, Netaji's only child and a Germany-based economist has expressed shock as to why her relatives, especially her cousins were spied on, the report adds. 

The report quotes BJP national spokesperson MJ Akbar speculating that the anxiety about Netaji's disappearance and even remote possibility that he might come back must have led to the spying. He believes that the Congress must have felt threatened in the possibility of Netaji's return.

While Anup Dhar, author of India's Biggest Cover-Up has said that these files were accidently declassified, the issue of declassification of files on Netaji has been a contentious one since the UPA rule. 

Taking the line adopted by the previous Congress-led UPA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Office had refused to disclose records related to Subhash Chandra Bose's death as it rejected the argument that there was a larger public interest involved in making them public.

The Right to Information Act allows for a public authority to disclose records which are otherwise exempt from disclosure if public interest outweighs the harm protected. Activist Subhash Agrawal had sought from the Prime Minister's Office the records related to the freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Army to clarify the mystery surrounding his alleged death in a plane crash 70 years back.

Agrawal had also asked for information of the steps taken by the top office to make such records public and the action taken on requests seeking such documents. But toeing the line of the UPA government, the PMO had cited an exemption clause in the RTI Act which allows withholding of information that could prejudicially affect relations with a foreign country. The PMO, however, did not give the names of the countries with which the relations may get affected once the said information is made public.

With agency inputs

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