Former CM’s school to set up an archive to pay homage

Kolkata: Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya at Shyampukur Street in North Kolkata, the school where former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had studied, will set up an archive to pay homage to its alumnus who passed away on Thursday morning.

“The main purpose of the archive will be to provide an idea about the simple life led by Bhattacharjee to the present students. We will also preserve a good number of books penned by him so that the students have an idea about the literary bent of mind of the former Chief Minister,” an administrative official of the school said.

The three classrooms- 17,18 and 19- where Bhattacharjee had done his classes will also be decorated with pictures and information of different stages of his life. The rooms will be given separate names.

One of the rooms will contain some articles that he used on a daily basis, subject to the permission of his family members.

Bhattacharjee had been a student of the school from 1954 to 1961 that was founded way back in 1920.

“I took charge of this school two years back but I have heard from the retired teachers that he was meritorious and was very respectful towards them. Later, after he became the Chief Minister, he had always extended assistance for the development of the school. It is indeed a pride for us that we had an alumnus like him,” said Debkumar Biswas, headmaster of the school.

Even after foraying into active politics, he never forgot his school. On February 2, 1997 while he was serving as the state Information and Cultural Affairs minister, he unveiled the bust of former headmaster of the school, Jyoti Bikas Mitra. After he became the Chief Minister, he attended the foundation day celebration of the school in 2001. During the function, he was asked to sit on the headmaster’s chair and he promptly refused saying he did not deserve to sit on that chair.

A senior school teacher said that Bhattacharjee, whenever he visited the school, presented himself as a former student and not as a minister. He recollected memories of his own school days during such visits.