Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today called for a thorough probe into the reports of snooping on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s family members for two decades during the Congress regime starting from Jawaharlal Nehru’s days, and termed the matter as “shocking“.

“Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is the beloved son of India. There is news that there was surveillance on his family members... whom they are meeting, where they are going. I feel a thorough inquiry should be conducted and full facts must come in the open,” he told reporters here.

Naidu said he would like to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the issue.

“It is a shocking matter. Netaji is a darling of the masses. How far it is true about surveillance... during whose regime it happened. Who is responsible? People need to know the full facts,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.

The senior BJP leader wondered why Congress leaders have felt offended over this. “No one needs to have objections if the matter is studied further and full details are brought out,” he said.

Intelligence Bureau files de-classified recently showed Bose’s close relatives, including his two nephews Sisir Kumar Bose and Amiya Nath Bose - sons of his brother Sarat Chandra Bose - were spied upon for 20 years from 1948 to 1968.

Opposition Congress has rejected the report and accused the BJP-led government of launching a “sinister propaganda of selective leaks and half truths” to malign national icons.

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