Letters

Evaluating the case for Kelsal Lodge as a heritage site

Editor,

As I delve deeper into Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s first visit to Shillong, I find this visit shrouded in multiple observations with claims and counterclaims.

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I am not attempting to present any of my assertions regarding his first visit; rather, I am perplexed by two distinct notions claimed by various authors.

First, it is said that Netaji visited Shillong for the first time in 1927 to recover his health, which had deteriorated due to his incarceration. According to this account, he stayed at Kelsal Lodge, Oakland, under “house arrest” during this visit.

The second claim suggests that Netaji was “not under house arrest” but visited Shillong and stayed at Kelsal Lodge solely to recover his health.

There is a growing demand to preserve Kelsal Lodge as a heritage site in Netaji’s name. However, it seems that if the house arrest aspect of his visit to Shillong in 1927 can be substantiated, it would lend greater weight to the case for preserving Kelsal Lodge as a heritage site.

Conversely, if his visit in 1927 was solely centred around recovering his health, I believe it may be too ambitious to seek such recognition. While Netaji’s unparalleled contributions to India’s freedom struggle remain indisputable, declaring a property as a heritage site merely because he recovered there seems to lack a sufficiently robust foundation.

Such decisions should be based on a combination of historical, cultural and national significance to ensure the preservation of sites that genuinely represent our shared heritage.

Yours etc.

A Netaji admirer

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