Pritilata Museum: 10 years of unkept promises

Mochud Doula, a 70-year-old businessman, has been living in the port city's Pahartali area for the past 42 years. Since 2012, he has been hearing promises that the European Club would be converted into Pritilata memorial museum soon.

Even though more than 10 years have gone by, the museum is yet to become a reality.

He said, "If there were a museum here, the young generation would've learned about Pritilata's contributions to the anti-British movement in Chattogram."

One of Prtilata's most notable contributions to the resistance against the British was in the Chittagong Armoury Raid. Alongside revolutionaries such as Surya Sen, Ganesh Ghosh, and Lokenath Bal, Pritilata played a vital role in planning and executing the raid, which aimed to seize control of the armory and proclaim independence in Chattogram.

On September 1932, Pritilata, along with a group of revolutionaries launched an attack at the European Club in Chattogram that had a signboard that read "Dogs and Indians not allowed".

However, faced with strong resistance, Pritilata and her comrades chose martyrdom rather than surrendering to the British forces. Pritilata consumed cyanide to avoid capture and died on September 24, 1932. She was only 21 years old at the time of her death.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, mayor of Chattogram City Corporation, announced in January last year that the club will be soon converted into a museum.

Earlier, Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities made the same announcement several times.

During a recent visit to the club, this correspondent found that the red tin-shed club room is locked. No signs were seen except for Pritilita's last letter written on a wall in front of the club.

Earlier the historical structure was used as an office by the railway authorities under the then-Pakistan government, right after independence from the British in 1947. Currently, the club is under the jurisdiction of BR.

"Pritilata Waddedar is an inspiration to the women of the region as she was the first woman to lay down her life in the anti-British movement. But it is very sad as there is no memorial in Chattogram, her birthplace," said Pankaj Chakraborty, founding president of Birkonya Pritilata Trust.

"Pritilata Museum is still just a promise. We want a museum in the name of this revolutionary or her memory will be lost," he added.

Touhidul Islam, chief executive officer of the Chattogram City Corporation, said, "We haven't taken any step yet to turn the European Club into the Pritilata memorial museum. However, as instructed by the higher authorities, the divisional engineer office of the railway vacated the club by removing the office in October 2020. Since then, the club has been locked."

"We have appointed an architect to design the museum, said Abu Zafar Mia, chief engineer of the Railway Eastern Zone. 

"We will also allocate a budget for the museum soon," he added.