President to visit Jorasanko today

Kolkata: President Ram Nath Kovind will be visiting the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko in Central Kolkata on Wednesday morning.

While addressing the civic reception organised by the Bengal government, he said in Bengali: "Gurudev ke pronam korte jabo. Tomorrow morning I plan to visit Jorasanko, Gurudev's ancestral home, to pay my heartfelt tributes."

He said: "This is my first visit to Bengal as President of India and I am absolutely glad to be here — in this glorious state and this lovely city... I am not a stranger to Bengal. I have been visiting the state and have been coming to Kolkata for decades now. I would say I have long been an admirer of Bengal, its culture and its heritage." He stated that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Maharishi Bankim and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were instrumental in defining India's nationalism. "During the course of my visit here, I plan to visit Netaji Bhawan where there is a memorial and research centre dedicated to the life and work of Netaji."

While speaking about Netaji, he said: "A few days ago I had the honour of visiting the Indian National Army Memorial in Moirang in Manipur. This is where freedom fighters of the INA, inspired by Netaji, raised the national flag for the first time on Indian soil."

During his tour to the state, the President will also visit the headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur to pay his respect to Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda. Kovind will also be visiting Jagadish Chandra Bose Institute that is "celebrating its centenary and renewing the learning of the scientist-scholar".