Museums on 1857 revolt and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Red Fort soon

NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to open two museums at the Red Fort, one in honour of the revolutionaries of 1857 and freedom fighters preceding them, and the other on the life and personality of Subhas Chandra Bose. The museums are likely to be inaugurated by PM Modi on August 15.

Culture ministry sources said a panel of research scholars, including professor Kapil Kumar, has been put together to conceptualise the museums. Another one on Jallianwala Bagh massacre is also likely to come up around the same time. Kumar, without revealing much, said the aim was “to do away with distortions in history”.

Another researcher associated with the project said the basic premise behind the museum on 1857 revolt was to bring out the scale and strategy used in it and how it influenced Britain’s subsequent India policy. Revolts by sanyasis and fakirs, by various communities, including tribals such as santhals, will also be highlighted, the historian said.


“The Left has always brushed aside 1857 as a feudal revolt despite many observers admitting that it was our first war of Independence. The museum will set that right,” he added. The museum will highlight how Britishers started victimising people from certain castes during the post-revolt period.

“That it was planned to begin in May so that the British won’t be able to retaliate in heat, followed by the rainy season when their supplies would be cut off, was a remarkable strategy. That apart, how the revolutionaries used chapatis and lotuses to spread messages will also be talked about in great detail.”

In regard to Bose, a ministry official said the historians have been asked to put together different galleries with details on his life. “It will start with a gallery on his school days and how he was influenced by thinkers like Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo.

There will be galleries on his days in Congress, escapades, the making of the INA, investigations… to counter the perception that he was a fascist. The museum will present him as an outright nationalist.” The Red Fort trials of soldiers of the Indian National Army in 1945-46 will specially be highlighted.

Currently, some items related to Netaji and INA, such as notebooks, currency and chair, are on display there.