‘Jalpaiguri boasts of the oldest statue of Netaji’

Jalpaiguri: It was January 23, 1951, when freedom fighter Satish Chandra Kaviraj and his colleagues created history by erecting the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and installing it in the area adjacent to Karla Bridge in Jalpaiguri. They claimed it to be the first Netaji statue in the country. The Netaji Foundation of Jalpaiguri still continues this claim.

Freedom fighter Satish Chandra was known as Kaviraj owing to his profession. Apart from being involved in the country’s freedom struggle, he was also engaged in welfare activities.

After Independence in 1947, Satish Chandra Kaviraj along with his colleagues took up the task of erecting Netaji’s statue. Before that Kaviraj had embarked on a journey to collect Ashes of cremated Azad Hind Army jawans, soil from Haldighati, Kohima, Panipat to construct a Azad Hind Martyr’s Memorial. The memorial exists till today and can be seen next to another bronze statue of Netaji.

In his memoirs, Kaviraj has written that while collecting the soil and other items for the memorial he had travelled the length and breadth of the country. He enquired if there was any statue of Netaji. However, no one could inform him of an existing statue of Netaji neither did he see any.

“That is why this idol is stated to be the first ever idol of Netaji in the whole country. This idol was installed on January 23, 1951, the day of Netaji’s 54th birthday,” stated Govinda Roy, secretary of the foundation and former Jalpaiguri MLA.

The idol suffered some damages during the Teesta floods of 1968 and the Naxal movement of 1971. It was later renovated by the municipality. In 2007, Netaji Subhash Foundation was constructed and the historic idol was placed inside the foundation. People from all walks of life visit the foundation and pay floral tributes to Netaji on January 23 every year.

A museum has been constructed in the foundation, where documents on Netaji, pictures, including his visit to Jalpaiguri are on display. Netaji had visited Jalpaiguri twice and had deboarded at the town station. Residents of Jalpaiguri want the Railway authorities to develop the Jalpaiguri town station through the Amrit Bharat project.