KENDRAPARA: As the nation celebrates Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s 126th birth anniversary on Monday, rare and valuable documents, photographs and other items on his life and work, are gathering dust in a narrow lane in Badahat locality of Kendrapara district due to the alleged delay by the district administration in constructing a museum for the same.
These items were collected by a 58-year-old lawyer Mohammed Mustaque over the last 40 years which he has preserved in a room in his house in the Badahat area. This museum also preserves a handwritten letter of Indian National Army captain Laxmi Sehgal, original copies of the magazine ‘Forward’ published by Bose from 1925 to 1927, a special issue of INA ‘Basumati’, a Bengali magazine and other items collected by Mustaque.
Around 150 rare photographs, old newspaper clippings and many postal stamps on Netaji are also displayed in his museum. “Historians have ignored Bose’s association with a family in Jajpur’s Korei village. As a student, Bose often visited Koei village to treat the cholera patients there,” informed Mustaque.
As a 13-year-old, Netaji began his social work in 1910. He helped build awareness and combat myths about cholera, a disease that was feared and stigmatised during that time. “Along with his classmate from Ravenshaw Collegiate School Fakiruddin Hazari and other friends, Netaji was also involved in various cleanliness campaigns in the villages,” the lawyer added.
“Twelve years back, Hazari’s family members donated me the box which Netaji used for carrying homoeopathy medicines for cholera patients, a lantern and a Muguni glass used by him and I have preserved all these articles in my museum,” Mustaque said adding the museum also possesses two rare coins that were minted by the government to observe Netaji’s centenary in 1997.
Radios, gramophones, telephones, railway signal lights, musical instruments, telescopes, and newspaper clippings on major events among other valuable items are also preserved in the museum.
“I approached the district administration several times in the past urging them to provide me with a piece of land and funds to build a Netaji museum in Kendrapara but they have paid no heed to my requests to date. The officials have not yet chosen any site for the proposed museum,” said a dejected Mustaque.
Sub-collector Niranjan Behera said land for the construction of the museum will be granted after a proper examination of Mustaque’s application.