Mahajati Sadan House of the Nation
Anindita Chowdhury
Today, for most of us Mahajati Sadan is just an auditorium where magician PC Sorcar (junior) conjures up his tricks or banks or for that matter any employees’ association organise their annual cultural shows. Its rich past as a symbol of Bengal’s and even the country’s political and cultural history during the freedom struggle, has long sunk into oblivion.
This edifice, conceived by Subhas Chandra Bose in his pre-Netaji days, was to be a memorial to the martyrs of freedom struggle and “an active venue for planning the nation’s future”. It was inspired by the Fascists Hall of Martyrs in Sacrario which he had visited during his tour to Europe.
The Indian National Congress did not have an office in Calcutta. Hence, benefactors started contributing liberally from early 1937 in the Subhas Congress Fund, set up for constructing this ‘home’ for the Indian National Congress. In July 1938, Bose applied to Calcutta Municipal Corporation for a 99- year-lease for a plot of land measuring about half an acre on Chittaranjan Avenue. The building plan approved by the Corporation included a four storied building with a large hall for holding public meetings and lectures, a large library and a gym. The corporation granted the lease to Bose for a token sum of Re 1. However in the post-Tripuri era when he moved away from the orbit of the Congress it became increasingly difficult for the edifice to emerge as what it had set out to be – an office of the Congress party in Bengal.
Bose invited poet Rabindranath Tagore for the foundation stone laying function. The bard, despite his failing health not only travelled from Santiniketan to Calcutta to attend the programme but also thought of a beautiful and apt name – Mahajati Sadan or the ‘House of the Nation’. While inviting the “poet of humanity” to perform the sacred ceremony as “the high priest of today’s national festival” Subhas Chandra Bose hoped that it would be “a living centre of all beneficial activities”, both for the individual and the nation. A large crowd gathered to listen to the two great men of contemporary Bengal. Within the next two years Tagore was no more and Subhas Chandra Bose disappeared from his residence at Elgin Road, never to reappear again in the political scene of Bengal.
Meanwhile, as the clouds of Second World War gathered in the horizon it became clear that the construction cost would increase substantially. Bose sought a grant of Rs one lakh from the corporation for completing the structure. The decision to grant the said amount was put on vote and passed with a wafer thin margin as members like Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and Mrs Nellie Sengupta opposed it, perhaps due to increasing antagonism between Bose and the then leadership of the Congress. They were unwilling to grant the sum from the civic body’s coffers to a political party though only few months back they had given their assent when the building was first proposed. However, Bose never received the grant.
After Bose’s disappearance the Chief Presidency Magistrate passed an order, confiscating Mahajati Sadan. The trustees lodged a case in the Calcutta High Court. Finally, in 1948 it was held that Bose had taken the lease for the welfare of the people. It was left to Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, the second premier of West Bengal to take initiative to pass the Mahajati Sadan Trust Act in the Legislative Assembly and complete the structure at the cost of Rs 12, 50,000. He inaugurated it on August 19, 1958 – nineteen long years after its foundation stone was laid.
The design by Surendranath Kar who had planned five houses for Tagore in Santiniketan, shows both influences – oriental and occidental. The four storey building has a large dome and latticed screen, inspired by the Mughal style of architecture. The portico on the second storey resembles a Hindu temple. Inspired by traditional houses of Bengal the structure has two atchala pavilions at two ends of the roof giving it a distinct identity as a nationalist institution. The octagonal pillars remind us of Buddhist era. Clay models depicting incidents and personalities from the freedom struggle were installed in the Martyr’s Gallery. The library named after Dr Roy has 20,000 rare books particularly on freedom struggle including his own collection.
Interestingly, Subhas Chandra Bose had directed that a tunnel with a huge bunker should be built beneath the structure. However, it was closed during the floods of 1966.