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Bengal

North Bengal should be ready to give befitting answer, says Mamata on NRC

Darjeeling: "North Bengal should be ready to give a befitting answer. We don't want NRC. We don't want to create divide among people and communities using the Citizens Amendment Act. We want all to coexist in peace without any division and without

any violence. There is nothing to worry, nothing to get frustrated over. There will be no NRC," stated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Siliguri while inaugurating a Kali Puja on Thursday.

Banerjee, who is on a tour of North Bengal, returned from Kurseong to the plains on Thursday, where she inaugurated the Kali Puja organised by Biplav Smriti Athletic Club in Pradhannagar, Siliguri.

Earlier during the day, the Chief Minister visited the Netaji Museum at Giddepahar on the fringes of Kurseong for the first time.

After garlanding the bust of Netaji, Banerjee said while talking to media persons: "The condition of the building was very bad. In 2017 we

had thoroughly renovated it keeping the heritage character of the

house. The house has been declared a heritage too. I have come to see if the renovation work has been done properly."

Tracing Netaji's connection with the Hills, she said: "Netaji loved the Hills and stayed in this house. He had a strong connection with the local populace and we know of a huge

number of Gorkha soldiers in the Indian National Army. He loved them a lot."

Incidentally, the house on Giddepahar bears a rich legacy of not one but two sons of India, namely Sarat Chandra Bose and Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

In 1922, Sarat Chandra Bose had purchased the house from one Rowley Lascelles Ward. In 1925, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, accompanied by his wife Basanti Devi, had spent a day with Bose here.

Between 1933 and 1935, Sarat Chandra Bose had been interned in the house for two years, while Netaji Subash Chandra Bose himself was interned in the house for

seven months in 1936. He again spent a few days in the house in October 1937.

From this house, Netaji had corresponded with Emilie Schenkl, Rabindranath Tagore and had even penned down his Presidential Address for the Haripura Congress.

In 1996, the department of Higher Education had initiated the process

of acquiring the house. Subsequently, the state government acquired the house, renovated it and handed it over to the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies.

The House was then converted into Netaji Museum and Centre for Studies in Himalayan Languages, Society and Culture.

The Chief Minister undertook a 16 km morning walk from Kurseong to Mahanadi and back. She also visited Mahanadi High School, where she was greeted by students dressed in traditional attire.

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