Subhas Bose’s statue unveiled at Presidency College

KOLKATA - A statue of Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was Friday unveiled at Presidency College, 94 years after he was expelled from the institute for manhandling British teacher E.F. Oaten.

Academicians, students, and alumni of Presidency College were present in strength to celebrate the occasion as former principal Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay unveiled the statue on the college campus on central Kolkata’s College Street.

Bose, then a 19-year-old third year student of philosophy, was expelled from the college on Feb 16, 1916, along with another student A. M. Dam for the assault on Oaten, which was a protest against some comments by the teacher.

“When Bose was informed by the principal about the expulsion, he only replied ‘Thank You’ and left the college,” said the college’s political science department head Nandalal Chakraborty.

Mukhopadhyay, as principal, had withdrawn Bose’s suspension in 1996, and also hung a portrait of the freedom fighter in his office.