9.30am: Time to throw open Netaji’s secret files

PUBLIC DOMAIN Kolkata Police will declassify files in front of the freedom fighter’s family members and media, others to get access on a later date

When the West Bengal government throws open the secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to the public at 9.30 sharp on Friday morning, common people will not have direct access to the long-awaited revelation.

Kolkata Police will declassify the files in front of members of the Bose family as well as the media and later notify when common people can access the contents.

“Only nine of the 64 files belonged to the state intelligence branch, the rest 55 were of Kolkata Police,” Rajeev Mishra, joint commissioner, headquarters, Kolkata Police, said.

However, even until late Thursday evening, there was confusion among Kolkata Police officials. While Mishra said they would not offer the contents of the files in a CD to the media, police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha said, “We are still struggling with the logistics. Let’s see if we can arrange something like that.”

Police will first brief the media and Bose family members on the contents of the files. They will then be led to the reading room where all the files will be kept inside a glass showcase. Later, they will be taken to an adjacent room where the pages can be read on monitors.

“I am not going to the Kolkata Police museum. Otherwise, it will be construed differently as common people are not being invited,” said Kartik Banerjee, who campaigned for the declassification and is the younger brother of Mamata Banerjee.

“T he police museum i s not the appropriate place for keeping the files. It is a small place where serious readers/ researchers will face a lot of problems. The National Library would have been a better venue,” said Debabrata Biswas, general secretary of the Forward Bloc, the party that Netaji had founded.