Sheikh Hasina visits Netaji's house

Kolkata  :   Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday visited Netaji Bhawan, the ancestral house of Indian revolutionary Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, here.

Hasina posed for photographers before the iconic German Sedan Wanderer car - kept in a glass enclosure on the ground floor of the building - which had ferried Bose during his 'Great Escape' from India on the night of January 16, 1941, while under house arrest by the British police.

Bose's grand nephew Sugata Bose, also the director of the Netaji Research Bureau housed in the same building - opened the enclosure as also the doors of the restored 1937 make car - to give Sheikh Hasina a close view of the vehicle that was witness to the first leg of the legendary leader's escape from British India to Germany.

Accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana and senior ministers of her cabinet, Hasina then climbed the wooden stairs to Netaji's bedroom on the first floor, which has been kept as it had been on the day of his escape.

Hasina went around various sections of the museum on Netaji, containing furniture and other items used by him, besides rare photographs and video footage.

NRB chairperson and Netaji's niece-in-law Krishna Bose briefed the Prime Minister about the museum.

Sugato Bose presented Sheikh Hasina an audio clip of her father and late Bangladesh president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, recorded in 1972, where he praised Bose for his fight against the British rulers and acknowledged that his deeds inspired the Mukti Joddhas (freedom fighters) of his country.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister was also gifted a picture of Mujibur and a book on Netaji.

Bangladesh Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, Hasina's advisers H.T. Imam, Gowher Rizvi and Tawfiq-e-Elahi, city Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim were among those present during the visit.