Landmark events in Calcutta that shaped Netaji as a politician and his social image

Unlike that of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, Calcutta was not the city of birth and childhood of Subhas Chandra Bose. He was born and raised in Cuttack (Odisha) and came to Calcutta only after completing his high school. Since his college days to his historic ‘Great Escape’ from the family’s Elgin Road residence in January 1941, Bose’s life was entwined with Calcutta — from his rise from a young student leader to the mayor’s post and then to being the most celebrated politicians with pan-India popularity.

While Netaji’s association with Mahajati Sadan, Elgin Road, Woodburn Park, Deshbandhu Park and Calcutta Corporation are well-documented, many other places helped shape his career as a political stalwart but seldom come up in discussions and are little known to his admirers.

Park Circus Maidan, December 1928

In 1928, when Subhas Chandra Bose was emerging as a young leader in Congress, Calcutta was selected as the venue for the Congress conference. Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Jatindra Mohan Sengupta entrusted Bose the responsibility of the reception committee and event management.

Bose selected Park Circus Maidan as the meeting venue beside a huge exhibition-cum-entertainment arena. From stage design to security arrangements, every single detail was sanctioned and executed by the 31-year-old Bose.

Moreover, Bose formed a separate team of 2,000 young party workers who received military march past training to welcome Congress resident Motilal Nehru, when he arrived at Howrah station.

Subhas wore a perfect army uniform stitched by a British tailor and led the procession riding a brown horse, leaving the mob speechless. Arriving at Park Circus Maidan, Subhas and his team rendered a perfect guard of honour to Nehru. The crowd and media roared in cheer to see such a lavish national spectacle.

Later, Subhas’ arrangement was castigated by Mahatma Gandhi and a section of Bengali newspapers. Gandhiji ridiculed it as the “circus of Park Circus”.

At the same Park Circus Maidan, Bose and his team once organised a three-day spectacular exhibition. One of the many forms of entertainment was an open friendly wrestling match between Bengali wrestler Gobor Guha and Punjabi wrestler Chota Gama. The entire city rushed to attend the exhibition fair and later, the adjacent road was named Congress Exhibition Road.

Chitra cinema at Hatibagan, December 1930

Paradise cinema at Chowringhee Square, March 1938

With the advent of the talkies-era from the 1930s, the business of cinemas as a source of mass entertainment boomed in big cities. Calcutta, then one of the centres of Hindi cinema-making, was no exception. Bose was seen attending a few film-related events in Bombay and Calcutta, thanks to his growing popularity.

On December 20, 1930, Bose was invited by none other than BN Sircar of New Theatres to inaugurate the newly built Chitra cinema in north Calcutta’s Hatibagan. It is believed that Bose on that day refused to take any police protection and the cinema’s management had to hire local toughs for his security. Chitra was renamed Mitra in the mid-1960s.

Eight years on, Bose was invited as a chief guest at the opening ceremony of Paradise, another iconic cinema of Calcutta, at Chowringhee Square. By then, Bose was elected the Congress president and a newspaper advertisement was issued, mentioning that “in the presence of rashtrapati”, the cinema will be opened. The first day first show at Paradise was Bombay Talkies’ Jeevan Prabhat, starring none other than Devika Rani. A special documentary on the Haripura Congress was also shown. It is not clear whether Bose watched the entire film.

Wellington Square, April 1939

After being elected as Congress president the second time against the wishes of Gandhi and his followers, Bose faced unprecedented non-cooperation from his own party members. Twelve members of the All India Congress Working Committee (AICC), except Jawaharlal Nehru, resigned from Bose’s team. Gandhi, who was not even present at the Tripuri Congress session, mobilised a strong group, which practically made things impossible for Bose to function as president.

Meanwhile, to form a new working committee, AICC met at Wellington Square in Calcutta, where Bose as the party president found himself in a miserable situation with no member to work under him. The pandal was pitched on the Wellington Square grounds. The Statesman dated April 30, 1939, describes the venue by saying “….The pandal which had accommodation for about five thousand people was artistically decorated. The wooden supports had been draped with coloured festoons of flowers and green leaves formed a feature of the scheme of decoration”.

The report also says that a stage was erected to accommodate leaders at the extreme north, while a rostrum with a microphone was also placed. The tent was illuminated with electric lamps and adequate electrical fans. Chairs and galleries were placed all over. Loudspeakers were placed all over. There was a considerable number of people on all the four sides of Wellington Square to cheer the leaders.

Gandhi was in Sodepur, where both Bose and Nehru met him for peace and to form a working committee where members will be taken with mutual consent. That also failed.

Finally, at 5pm on April 29, 1939, Bose entered the meeting camp clad in a chaddar even in the hot and sultry April weather. There was a massive tension outside where a big mass was waiting to know the Congress’ future plan of action.

Bose first discussed with Nehru a few pages of typed paper and then took the microphone to announce his immediate resignation from the presidency of the Congress party. But before that Bose read out a letter written to him by Gandhi showing how impossible the situation was to continue as the president. Bose then tendered his resignation and there in one paragraph, he writes “….After mature deliberation therefore and in an entirely helpful spirit, I am placing my resignation in your hands”.

Within a moment, the mood at Wellington Square changed for the worse. There was agony and anger both in and outside the park. Jawaharlal Nehru quickly took the microphone from Bose and cordially requested him to withdraw his resignation. Sarojini Naidu, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and Jai Prakash Narayan of CSP also made the same request.

The debates, requests and more negotiations continued till late into the evening. Meanwhile, the mob outside became too agitated to know of Bose’s resignation and the static stand of right-wing leaders. Malicious slogans were raised outside and there was a big security issue for leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Rajagopalachari, Govind Ballabh Pant, Maulana Azad, JB Kripalini, Sarojini Naidu and Jawaharlal Nehru to come out of Wellington Square. However, Bose himself helped them to walk to their respective cars.

Next day, Babu Rajendra Prasad was elected as Congress president and he formed a new Congress working committee by including both Nehru and Bose.

Durganagar-Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durga Puja ground – 1930 to 1939

The rise of Bose in Bengal as well as in national politics from 1928 made him a star persona in Calcutta and his connection with many social organisations started increasing.

From National Bengal Swimming Association to Simla Bayam Samiti, Bose’s active presence became increasingly visible. From 1930, Bose got directly involved with one of Calcutta’s oldest community pujas, Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav, which started in 1918 at 55 Baghbazar Street. The puja was then known as Nebubagan Baroyari Durga Puja.

By 1929, the puja changed a couple of more locations and finally in 1930, it was permanently shifted to a huge park at the crossing of Baghbazar Street and Chitpore Road, possibly because it used to be a metal yard of Calcutta Corporation and was approved by Calcutta mayor Subhas Chandra Bose on the request of Durgacharan Banerjee, the alderman of the civic body.

Bose and Durgacharan together planned to organise a weeklong art and industrial exhibition-cum-fair on the same ground on the account of Durga Puja with stalls selling swadeshi products like ink, machinery, matchboxes, paper, textiles and food items among other products.

From that year, the puja’s name was changed to Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav & Exhibition in which Bose played a significant role by adding Calcutta Corporation as a partner in this swadeshi mela-cum-exhibition held during the Durga Puja week.

In 1936, Bose was present at the Birashtami celebration held at the ground. Sarala Devi, the legendary pro-Hindu nationalist, organised this puja where arms were worshipped as a mark of pride. Bose was so amazed to witness the lathikhela (stick fight) and other physical display in connection with this that he delivered a emotion-loaded yet inspirational speech.

In 1938, Bose officially became president of this puja committee at the zenith of his political career and it seems he exploited his political influence to enter in the puja-cum-exhibition committee. A report published in The Hindustan Standard on September 5, 1938, reveals that a protest meeting was called at Deshbandhu Park to remove Hari Shankar Paul from the post of president of the Bagbazar puja-cum-exhibition committee.

Bose remained in the post of the puja cum exhibition committee president even in 1939 when his political career was passing through a grave crisis. A report published in The Calcutta Municipal Gazatte dated November 4, 1939, Bose was present at the closing ceremony of the puja-cum-exhibition. He had delivered a long speech mentioning the changing face of community Durga Puja in Bengal.

In 1940, Bose was no more directly connected with the Baghbazar puja owing to this imprisonment in Presidency Jail. A devastating fire gutted the Durga Puja pandal and many stalls that year. It is not clear how Bose reacted to this incident. He was busy organising Durga Puja inside the jail.