Kolkata:
An FIR was filed at a Kolkata-based police station on Sunday against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for mentioning the date of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s demise on his official X handle, while paying tributes to him on his birth anniversary on January 23.
The FIR has been filed by the self-proclaimed Hindutva Group, Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha at Bhawanipur Police Station in South Kolkata. After filing the FIR, the activists of the group also staged demonstrations near Netaji’s ancestral house at Elgin Road, also in south Kolkata, protesting against the contents of the controversial post by Rahul Gandhi.
According to the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha state president Chandrachud Goswami, Rahul Gandhi is carrying the same legacy who first forced Netaji to quit Congress and thereafter leave the country. “Rahul Gandhi and his ancestors always try to wipe out the memories of Netaji from the memory of the people of India. The people of India will punish him. As for us, we will always be protesting if anyone tries to distort information on Netaji,” Goswami said.
Earlier this week, the Congress MP in a post on X mentioned August 18, 1945, as the reported date of death of the iconic freedom fighter. The date mentioned by the LoP was the same date when the plane carrying Netaji from Saigon and destined for the then USSR-occupied Manchuria crashed at Taihoku (presently Taipei).
However, none of the commissions set up subsequently on Netaji’s ‘disappearance’ could ever confirm August 18, 1945, as the exact date of his death and a mystery surrounds the fate of the freedom fighter.
Following the post, Rahul Gandhi faced criticism from across the party lines including All India Forward Bloc, a party founded by Netaji himself after quitting the Congress party. The state leaders from both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP criticised Rahul Gandhi over the post.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
