The room where JP stayed at the Mahila Charkha Samiti in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Oct. 11: Mahila Charkha Samiti at Kadamkuan, the former residence of Loknayak Jaya Prakash Narayan, wore a different look on his 110th birth anniversary today.

The samiti’s campus, which now houses a museum, a mahila udyog samiti and a library, does not receive many visitors on most days. Today, chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi were among few leaders and JP followers who turned up to pay tributes to their mentor.

Nitish came early morning and garlanded the statue of Narayan, followed by Modi. Though the leaders could only spend a few minutes because of prior engagements — BJP veteran L.K. Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra was flagged off from Chhapra by Nitish — the flow of ministers gave the campus a lively look, something alien the rest of the year.

Kiran Nath, the in-charge of the museum and JP Research Study Centre on the premises of Mahila Charkha Samiti, said: “This place is occasionally visited by politicians and followers of JP but the common people hardly come here because of lack of information. I think the state government and officials of the state tourism department have not made much effort to bring this place into the limelight. It should be identified as the most important tourist destination so that everyone knows about it.”

Mahila Charkha Samiti is important for Bihar as JP announced his Sampoorna Kranti Movement and spent the last years of his life here. The museum and library house several personal belongings of the Loknayak and his wife Prabhavati Devi who started the mahila udyog. However, the charkhas introduced by Prabhavati Devi are no longer present.

On the inception of Mahila Charkha Samiti, Nath added: “Prabhavati Devi started a class here to teach the women the art of spinning fabric on charkhas. In 1952, this Mahila Charkha class was registered under the Societies Registration Act and changed into the Mahila Charkha Samiti. Jaya Prakash Narayan, who lived on the first floor of the samiti’s building, paid rent to the organisation.”

The centre in 2002 had provided a fund of Rs 5 lakh to the samiti with which several items were bought to give the museum a modern look. “We also got a fund from the state government in 2009 to repair the building’s roof. However, the state government has rejected our plea for maintenance money,” said Nath.

However, hope is in sight to revive the Mahila Charkha Samiti to its former glory. The samiti has bought 15 charkhas from Wardha, Maharashtra. “We want to revive the tradition of charkhas on the campus and we have bought spinning wheels from Wardha. We are waiting for the approval of the Bihar State Khadi and Village Industries Board that will provide us with the raw materials. Only then can we start operating the charkhas,” Nath said.