Date:05/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/05/stories/2006060508531300.htm

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AIFB plans Parliament march

Special Correspondent

To demand that Government accepts Mukherjee panel report

Rejection of report "shocking"
Party demands discussion, voting in Parliament

Criticises Centre's "anti-worker, anti-farmer" policies

Debabrata Biswas

NEW DELHI: The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) will organise a march to Parliament on July 26 to demand that the Government accept the Mukherjee Commission report on the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

On July 12, processions to Raj Bhavans will be held in all States and petitions, addressed to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, submitted to the Governors, AIFB general secretary Debabrata Biswas said here on Sunday.

According to the commission, no air crash occurred in Taipei on August 18, 1945. Therefore, there was no truth in the reports that Netaji died in an air crash there that day.

Mr. Biswas said it was "strange, surprising, and shocking" that the Centre rejected the report without any explanation. The commission reached its conclusion after extensive and intensive efforts. It could not be rejected outright. The party demanded a full-day discussion, followed by voting, on the issue in Parliament.

Congress blamed

Mr. Biswas alleged that the Congress had been trying to stonewall all attempts to find out the truth right from 1945, when Netaji's alleged death was broadcast from Japan. "Even 57 years after independence, Netaji does not figure in syllabi in India, even as institutions in several other countries promote the study of his life and philosophy," he said.

The AIFB Central Committee, which concluded its three-day meeting here, criticised the "anti-worker, and anti-farmer" policies of the Centre and decided to observe a countrywide, anti-price rise week from June 12 to 18. A resolution said there was little cause for the UPA Government celebrating its second anniversary. "The life of the common man has become more miserable due to the unbridled rise in the prices of all essential commodities."

Mass movement

The party decided to launch a mass movement for waiving farm loans of small and medium farmers and a nationwide movement for a comprehensive policy for rehabilitating people affected by the Narmada dam and other mega projects.

The Government should come out with a special package to protect farmers from moneylenders, said Mr. Biswas.