Nehru govt spied on Subhas Chandra Bose's family

The Jawaharlal Nehru government had placed the family and relatives of Subhas Chandra Bose on surveillance for two decades, reports The Times of India quoting de-classified intelligence reports.

The files reveal that the Intelligence Bureau had resumed British-era surveillance on the two Bose family homes in Calcutta at Woodburn Park and Elgin Road.

Two recently declassified IB files have revealed that the Nehru-led Congress government spied on Netaji's kin between 1948 and 1968.

Reacting to reports, the family of Subhas Chandra Bose sought full declassification of files that revealed that the Nerhu government had placed Bose family under surveillance.

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

Congress plays down IB report

The Congress Party on Friday downplayed the alleged Intelligence Bureau declassified report which states that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had ordered a surveillance on freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose's family, adding that the two leaders had shared an 'excellent personal rapport'.

"This is a story made by the media and it is not a fair assessment of the history. Pandit ji [Nehru] and Subhas Chandra Bose enjoyed an excellent personal rapport in spite of all the differences. The difference was only about the strategy to attain independence.

[Nehru] was of the view that it should be attained through peaceful means, while Subhas Chandra Bose had a different viewpoint on this issue," Congress leader PC Chacko said.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh condemned the allegations, claiming that it was an attempt to defame the Nehru-Gandhi family.

"All this is bound to happen as BJP and the Sangh Parivar are against the Nehru-Gandhi family because Nehruji was always against their ideology of dividing Hindus and Muslims.

They must reveal the source of such news. I condemn such reports," Singh said.

BJP dismayed

The BJP on Friday expressed its dismay over the alleged declassification of an Intelligence Bureau report which stated that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had ordered a surveillance of the family of freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, and maintained that the Congress Party has had a 'murky past'.

"If you see the history of the Congress Party, then, you will see darkness everywhere. There are lots of hidden things about them.

Lot of such things come out about them (Congress) and most of them are true," minister of state for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.