Netaji treasure trove seeks Govt support

KENDRAPARA: An impressive collection of memorabilia on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose is gathering dust in the house of a lawyer at Kendrapara due to lack of Government support.The Netaji Museum of 55-year-old lawyer Mohammad Mustaque houses several rare photos, document, coins, newspaper clippings and other artefacts of the freedom fighter at Badahat village under Kendrapara municipality.
Among the items on display is an old photograph of Netaji with family members of Ashok Banerjee, a lawyer from Cuttack. Taken in 1935, the picture depicts a four-year-old Banerjee sitting on the lap of the freedom fighter.

The one-room museum also boasts of two rare coins which the Government minted to observe the centenary of Netaji in 1997. This apart, Mustaque also possesses three coins in which the centenary year was wrongly mentioned as 1996 instead of 1997.Other items in the museum include a homeopathy box, Muguni (granite) glass and lantern used by Netaji which Mustaque procured from Abdul Hamid Hazzari of Korei village 10 years back. Hazzari’s grandfather was a close associate of Netaji.  

“Netaji had stayed in Hazzari’s house for almost a week to treat cholera patients in 1910, “ Mustaque said and added that Hazzari also donated some rare photos of Netaji to his museum.The museum has also a gazette notification of Bihar and Odisha where it was mentioned that Subhash Chandra Bose passed the high school entrance examination in 1913.

Mustaque also possesses a handwritten letter of Captain Dr Laxmi Sahgal of Indian National Army (INA), original copies of the magazine ‘Forward’ published by Netaji, a special issue of INA, a Bengali magazine ‘Basumati’ and a postal stamp issued by INA in 1942 after liberation of Manipur.Around  75 rare photographs of INA soldiers, 185 books on Netaji, hundreds of old newspaper clippings and many postal stamps on the legendary freedom fighter are also on display in his museum.

“Many rare photos and document of Netaji are gathering dust in the museum due to lack of space. Several pleas to the district administration for a  house to preserve the historical items have fallen on deaf ears,” said Mustaque.

“My personal collection on the freedom fighter is the result of three decades of hard work. I am ready to donate all the artefacts if the Government builds a museum in Kendrapara,” the lawyer said.