SHILLONG: The 118th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was celebrated here on Friday with tributes being paid at the statue of the “patriot of patriots” at U Soso Tham Auditorium complex.
Organized by the Greater Shillong Celebration Committee, the function included hoisting of National Flag by senior citizen and academician, Uma Purkaystha, followed by paying of floral tributes, rendering of INA songs by Assam Rifles band, release of 118 balloons signifying the occasion and broadcast of few selected excerpts of Netaji’s recorded speech.
A host of known citizens like JL Das, Shyamanada Bhattacharjee, Ramshevak Singh, Gagan Jain, besides hundreds of followers of Netaji, including school children were present on the occasion.
Later, Naba Bhattacharjee, president of the organizing committee launched a signature campaign for a memorandum to be submitted to the Government of India shortly, for declassifying all the ‘top secret’, ‘secret’, ‘classified’ and ‘unclassified’ Netaji files including placing in public domain the report of three judicial commissions so that the truth behind Netaji’s mysterious disappearance could be revealed. In the evening 118 candles were lit beside the statue of Netaji.
