With the Odisha government making all efforts to keep Biju Patnaik’s iconic Dakota aircraft at the airport here for public viewing, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Baby Austin car will be brought to his birthplace ‘Jankinath Bhawan’ in Cuttack’s Odia market. is being demanded. The iconic freedom fighter used the car from 1930 to 1941 and reportedly traveled from Kolkata to Burma but the whereabouts of the car are not known. The Cuttack-based Netaji Foundation, which has sent a memorandum to Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, on Monday claimed that there are media reports that the vehicle was located at Burari Coke Plant in Dhanbad in 2014.
Jinesh Das and Biki Chakraborty, convenors of the foundation, said, “The Odisha government has brought Biju Babu’s Dakota from Kolkata. They can also bring back Netaji’s car and display it at his birthplace. It will pay tribute to the great freedom fighter of our country.” There will be a tribute.”
The country celebrates the birthday of the nationalist leader on January 23 as Parakram Divas. This year the 126th birth anniversary of the great leader was celebrated on this day.
Another organization called the Cuttack-Choudwar Vikas Parishad, in a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through the Tangi-Choudwar tehsildar, also pressed for a statue of the nationalist leader and the establishment of a research center in Cuttack, keeping the same demand. They also demanded that an important road in the millennium city be named after him and a chapter on his life be included in the school curriculum.
They also demanded a collection of items used by Netaji on a daily basis and installation of his statue in the premises of the Ravenshaw Collegiate School, where he studied.
Netaji was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack to Prabhavati Bose and Janakinath Bose. Janakinath Bose was a good lawyer and leader of the Indian National Congress. The Government of Odisha has converted the Janakinath Bhavan at his birthplace into Netaji Museum.
On January 18, the state government had brought back the Dakota aircraft used by Biju Patnaik from Kolkata. The aircraft was lying unclaimed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport for decades.
The dismantled aircraft will be reassembled and then kept at a designated place at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here for public viewing.
Historian Anil Dhir said, “BPIA is probably the first airport in the world where an old aircraft will be displayed for public viewing.”