The files contain cabinet notes on the Quit India Movement, the Bengal Famine and the Great Calcutta Killings. They contain details about Partition too.
Ten days after she released classified files on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today
released more secret documents - minutes of cabinet meetings in Bengal in the period 1938 to 1947. The documents cover the Quit India movement, the Bengal Famine and the riots in Kolkata in August 1946.
Putting the minutes of 401 cabinet meetings in the public domain, Ms Banerjee displayed what she said was her commitment to transparency and Digital India - the Centre's drive to maximize the use of technology in governance.
The release can also be seen as her way of pressuring the Centre to declassify files on Netaji and even Lal Bahadur Shashtri.
"The Prime Minister is talking about Digital India. This is our way of doing it," Ms Banerjee said. "I feel if I have promised something before elections, then I must keep my word. That is credibility," she added, referring to the fact that Narendra Modi had promised to declassify the Netaji files in his election campaign last year before he became prime minister.
Around 130 files that could hold the key to the mystery of Netaji's disappearance in 1945 are believed to be with the Centre and still remain classified.
Earlier this month, Ms Banerjee's government had released 64 files on Netaji, the legendary freedom fighter whose disappearance became one of India's biggest mysteries.
The documents declassified today are from 1938 and lead up to Independence. According to them, the last cabinet meeting before 15 August 1947 seems to have been held on 11 August. There are also references to the Great Calcutta Riots in August 1946 and how the Army was called in, in time.
The documents also reveal how the Bengal government very upset with the Centre for discrimination in the matter of allocation of food grains during the Bengal Famine. UP and Bombay got much more, the minutes say.
On a different note, there are also notes on a cabinet discussion on Tuesday, 6th August 1946 on legislation to control ads about venereal diseases and sexual disorders.
"The government of India, says the minutes, suggested provincial legislation to control advertisements relating to treatment of venereal diseases, sexual disorders and conditions peculiar to women. The existing orders passed under the Public Health Ordinance, however covered advertisements relating to venereal diseases only."
The Bengal government clearly had a lot on its plate a year before independence.