Subhas Chandra Bose's Ranchi Chair: A Hidden Relic of India's Freedom Struggle

Ranchi: The most enduring relic of Subhas Chandra Bose’s presence in Ranchi is not a monument or memorial stone, but a simple wooden chair resting on a veranda in Kokar. Preserved carefully inside the Aikat family home, the chair remains exactly where it once stood, the spot where Bose would sit, rest and talk during his stay in the city in the early 1940s.In December 1939, amid the rising tensions within the Indian National Congress and ahead of the historic Ramgarh session, Bose stayed for nearly three days at the residence of Fanindra Nath Aikat, a govt contractor and close associate who welcomed Netaji despite pressure from the colonial authorities not to do so. From this Kokar home, Bose would travel daily to Ramgarh for political meetings and return each evening, transforming the house into an informal hub of activity during a turbulent phase of India’s freedom struggle. The veranda, quiet now, once echoed with conversations about strategy, ideology and the future course of the movement. While political records focus on speeches and resolutions at Ramgarh, Bose’s routine in Ranchi was shaped by these personal interactions, long discussions on the veranda and the rest he took in that unremarkable chair that has aged but never been moved.Today, the legacy survives through Vishnu Aikat, Fanindra Nath’s grandson and a retired central govt employee, who has preserved family photographs and the chair used by Bose. “My grandmother Gauri Rani Aikat told us how Netaji would return tired from the day’s travel, sit on this chair and speak about other freedom fighters who visited or wrote to him during those days,” Vishnu said. “She spoke of how Bose spoke by name of many leaders, of plans and setbacks. We have kept the house exactly as it was, no brick added, no room used that he slept in. We even donated the comb and sandals he left here to a museum in Purulia,” Vishnu added.