Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the unveiling of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's statue in New Delhi, the revolutionary's daughter Anita Bose-Pfaff on Wednesday urged political parties in the country to work for bringing the ashes at Tokyo's Renkoji Temple to India.
Modi will unveil the 28-ft statue of Bose at India Gate in the national capital on Thursday."I am gratified to note that a statue of my father, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, will be unveiled on September 8 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will occupy pride of place in New Delhi," Bose-Pfaff, an economist, said in a statement issued from Germany.
She had earlier said that she won't be able to attend the programme but would like to meet the prime minister to discuss the conditions and procedures for bringing to India the ashes at Renkoji Temple, which she claimed is of her father.
"It was my father's ambition to experience a free India. Tragically his untimely death denied him this wish. I feel his remains should at least touch the soil of India and bring closure to the matter," she said.
"Therefore, I appeal to the people of India and to all Indian political parties to unite in an apolitical and bipartisan manner to bring my father's mortal remains to India," she added.
In an interview to PTI last month, she said that she would approach the Indian and the Japanese governments for a DNA test of the ashes at Tokyo's Renkoji Temple.
"When free India is recognising his valour and heroism by installing his statue at a most central and prestigious location in the heart of the Indian capital, I wish to remind Indians that my father's mortal remains are still lying in Tokyo and have not been brought home to India for a final disposal for over 77 years," she said in the statement.
After Independence, the Centre formed three inquiry commissions to unravel the mystery over Netaji's disappearance. Two of them -- the Shah Nawaz Commission and Khosla Commission, formed by the Congress governments -- concluded that Bose died in an air crash. The third one -- the Mukherjee Commission formed by the BJP-led NDA government had said he did not die in it.
In 2015, the West Bengal government released 64 files on Netaji held by the Home Department. The Narendra Modi government in 2016 released 100 files on the legend.
