No permission, but rally for Netaji to go on

Family members and followers of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will hold a rally today to mark the 72nd anniversary of his disappearance, despite Kolkata police denying them permission to do so.

Under the banner of 'Open Platform for Netaji;, organisers said they would demand a Special Investigation Team (SIT), and that its members should visit countries such as Russia, Japan, France, Germany, UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Myanmar to look into the files relating to his disappearance.

Chandra Kumar Bose, Netaji's grandnephew, said that it was unfortunate that the Kolkata Police had denied permission for taking out the rally despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee being of the opinion that Netaji did not die in a plane crash in Taiwan.

"We will go ahead with the rally, with or without police permission. I had met Mamata at Raj Bhavan on August 15. I invited her over for the rally and she said she would think about it.," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

Another grand-nephew Abhijit Ray, who is also the co-convenor of the forum, said that police had initially asked them change the date and when they didn't relent, they were asked to shorten the route. "Now we have decided to go on with our rally in the proposed route. They may arrest us if they want to," he said.