102 not out: Reader count shrinks but library started by Netaji plods on
Times of India | 24 January 2025
1234 Kolkata: Faced with the challenge of a dwindling member strength, the 102-year-old Motilal Ghose Library — with its roots linked to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and a collection of 15,000 books — is battling to survive the odds in a digital era. The library, which had played an important role in India's revolutionary movement and has been named after journalist Motilal Ghose, is situated on the top floor of the 188-year-old Jadu Babu's Bazar at 31 Ashutosh Mukherjee Road in Bhowanipur. It was a part of Dakshin Kolkata Sevak Samity established by Subhas Chandra Bose in 1923 with the help of local volunteers.
Abiding by the direction of Bose, his erstwhile followers Chandi Charan Bandopadhyay and Anil Biswas laid the foundation of Motilal Ghose Library in May 1923. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das was the first president of the Samity. Das' sister Urmila Devi, a freedom fighter, made the library functional by buying books from her own fund. Netaji donated many books from his own collection to the library. During the three years of imprisonment at Mandalay jail, Bose recommended a reading list of books for the library to Samity member Hari Charan Bagchi. The Samity and the library were marked as "highly suspicious" by the British govt too. Proscribed literature was preserved, circulated, and perused in the library secretly to boost patriotism among common people. Septuagenarian Sandip Dutta, who has been functioning as the library secretary since 1987, organised a remembrance of the patriot on his 128th birth anniversary on Thursday. A few existing club members were present. "I came to the library at the age of 13. I am a follower of Netaji's ideals and principles and have wholeheartedly tried to keep the library running," said Dutta.
Once, the library had 700 members. The strength has now shrunk to 60. The library has been getting govt aid since 1980. In the absence of readers, it now opens twice a week. Freedom fighter Jatindra Nath Das did much for the development of the library. After Bose's disappearance, the library was closed for many years. It was restarted in the early 1970s.
The library had many books signed by Bose.Many invaluable books got damaged or lost due to lack of maintenance and water seepage. Priyanka Karati (39 of Ballygunge , an avid reader, is the latest member.