Central files unlikely to contradict Netaji's death: Historian

Kolkata, Jan 22  Reiterating his claim that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose died in a plane crash in 1945, historian Leonard Gordon on Friday asserted that the declassification of central government files will not throw up any evidence to the contrary.

"It has been 70 years since he died in the crash, I have interviewed people who mattered and written what I had to. People who know nothing, have no evidence, keep talking and create stories," Gordon told IANS on the sidelines of an event here. 

A day ahead of the Narendra Modi government declassifying a set of files on Netaji on his birth anniversary, Gordon said he would be surprised if the files provide any information disproving that he died in the air crash in Formosa (now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945. 

"I welcome the declassification of the files, it's a good step. But I believe there would be nothing to prove the contrary. 

"I am waiting to be surprised, but I don't think I would be," Gordon, who penned "Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalist Leaders Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose", said.

Gordon also disapproved of historians and a large section of the Bose family who have debunked the air crash theory.

"People who know nothing, have no evidence keep talking and create stories. 

"How long will they keep creating stories? It has been 70 years since he died in the crash, so until they have evidence, they should stop talking," added Gordon.

Delivering a lecture here, Gordon said the Red Fort trials of 1945 played a large part in making Indians aware about the exploits of the Indian National Army (INA) and spread th sentiment of nationalism wide and across.