Acharya Bhavan

Santanu Saraswati
Kolkata, November 17--
After years of neglect, the Acharya Bhavan—the house of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and a treasure-trove housing the rich personal collections of the scientist like the original paintings of Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Ramkinkar Bej and Jamini Ray and all his major scientific papers, might finally see better days.
For the state government has decided to take over the property of Acharya Bhavan from the present trustee board--Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Trust. The government is all set to table a Bill in the forthcoming Winter Session of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for the purpose and would take over the trusteeship of Acharya Bhavan as soon as the Bill is passed.
“The state government has sent me a list of 12 Bills to be tabled during the Winter Session of the Assembly starting November 17 and one of the new Bill is the ‘Acharya Bhavan of Late Jagadish Chandra Bose and Lady Abala Bose (Acquisition of trustee of undertaking) Amendment Bill 2006’. As the state government has not yet sent notices and details about the bill, I can’t say anything more about it,” said Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim.
The Acharya Bhavan, situated at 93/1 APC Road, had landed into controversy and trouble following the non-functioning of the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Trust owing to ill health of Debabrata Bose, the grandson of Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and Chairman of the Trust.
The trouble began after the four-committee members of the Trust asked Debabrata Bose to step down because of poor health. According to the Will of Jagadish Chandra Bose, if his family members are unable to carry out their duties in the Trust as chairperson, then an eminent Indian with international fame should be made the chairman. And, till such person is selected, the majority decision would prevail in the Trust. Taking advantage of this clause in the Will the majority of the members asked Debabrata Bose to step down.
The situation has reached such a stage that Debabrata Bose and his elder brother Sunanda Bose’s widow Anne Mathy Bose have both written to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately intervene and take over the Acharya Bhavan for preservation.
In their letters, they have urged the CM and the PM that Jagadish Bose’s house and his valuables should be given the status of national heritage property and the state government should protect his belongings for posterity.
“The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has already declared the site a heritage property. We have not decided yet on what to do with it and whether we can create a museum on Jagadish Chandra Bose at the Acharya Bhavan. These matters would be sorted out after the Bill is passed in the Assembly and the acquisition of trustee of undertaking is completed. Both the Urban Development department and the KMC would sit together and decide on how to develop and maintain Acharya Bhavan,” said state Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya.
The members of the Trust, however, were not available for a comment.
EOM
santanusaraswati@gmail.com