Kendrapara’s Netaji museum a non-starter for last three years

KENDRAPARA: It has been three years since the district administration promised to build a Netaji museum to preserve rare collections related to the life of the revolutionary freedom fighter but the project continues to remain on paper.

The museum was proposed as the rare historical items collected by a lawyer, Mohammad Mustaque of Badahat village under Kendrapara municipality, were gathering dust in his house.

The lawyer had converted a part of his house into a mini-museum where rare photos, documents, newspaper clippings, books, voice recordings and other historical sources relating to Bose have been kept.

Mustaque said three years back the district administration had promised to build Netaji museum at Kendrapara to preserve all the objects that I possess. But, the building is yet to come into being.

“I am ready to donate all my collections, if the government builds a museum in Kendrapara. I collected many materials relating to Netaji from several places of the State for more than three decades by spending money from my pocket,” said Mustaque.

Among the items on display is a 1935 photograph of Bose with family members of Ashok Banerjee of Cuttack.

“I have two rare coins which the government had minted to observe the Centenary of Netaji in 1997. On some coins the centenary year was wrongly mentioned as 1996,” said Mustaque, who possess the three coins with the errors as well as the correct ones.

A homoeopathy box, Muguni (granite) glass, some rare photos donated by Abdul Hamid Hazzari of Korei village 12 years back, also find a place in his collections. In 1910, grandfather of Abdul had accompanied Netaji, while treating patients suffering from cholera. The box came in handy as it contained bleaching powder and medicines.

“Netaji stayed in Abdul’s house almost for a week to treat cholera patients then. He again returned to the place a few years later and stayed there for a couple of days,” said the 56-year-old lawyer.

A gazette notification of Bihar and Orissa of 1913 mentioning that Bose cleared entrance examination in 1913, a handwritten letter of Captain Dr Laxmi Sahgal of Indian National Army, original copies of ‘Forward’ magazine published by Bose from 1925 to 1927 are among the several other items on display at the lawyer’s house.

What has been attracting people to Mustaque’s house are the voice recordings of the INA founder which many curious visitors wish to hear. Mustaque plays it every time a visitor asks for it.

Meanwhile, District Culture Officer, Bharat Parida said “Two years back the district administration had sent a proposal to the government to sanction funds for construction of the museum at Kendrapara. After receiving funds, we will start building the museum.”