Heritage bookstore in College St set to open new outlet
Dasgupta, the well-known heritage bookstore in the city, is going to open its outlet in south Kolkata on 1 May.
Two years after the Modi government decided to construct a memorial to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the heart of New Delhi, the dream of having an institution commemorating the memory of one of India’s greatest sons appears to have taken a step towards realisation.
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said on Tuesday, 13 February, that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre will be opening two museums dedicated to Netaji, one each in Delhi and Kolkata.
Sharma told reporters that the ministry is exploring plans to build the museum on a section of the 24-acre land with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts on Mansingh Road but is also holding talks with DDA for space.
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In 2015 the urban development ministry had sought the culture ministry’s opinion to build a memorial to Netaji at the IGNCA, following a request from the INA Trust.
The Culture Minister pointed out that there is hardly any presence of Bose in New Delhi – the nation’s capital.
The old National Library Building in Kolkata will be turned into a museum. Besides Bose, the museum will also exhibit items related to other icons from Bengal – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
The government says that the museums will help people know more about the great freedom fighter.
Currently, some items related to Netaji and the INA, such as notebooks, currency and chair, are on display at the Red Fort museum in New Delhi.
Other buildings where visitors can get to see and learn more about Netaji are the Netaji Bhawan (or Netaji Museum) in Kolkata and the Netaji Museum in Darjeeling.
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