Calcutta Club ( bn, কলকাতা ক্লাব) is an elite social club located on Lower Circular Road in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(formerly Calcutta),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was established in 1907 and the first president of the club was the Maharajah of

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in t ...

, Sir

Nripendra Narayan Maharaja Nripendra Narayan (4 October 1862 – 18 September 1911) was the Maharaja of the princely state of Cooch Bihar, India, from 1863 to 1911. Early life Nripendra Narayan was only ten months old when his father, Narendra Narayan, died in ...

. The Prince of Wales, later

King Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, was among the first royal guests to visit the club when he was invited to a lunch on 28 December 1921. First primer minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited the club in 1961. The club always had distinguished members from every community - from Maharaja of Coochbehar to Maharaja of Burdwan, Maharaja of Darbhanga, Nawab Sir KGM Faroqui of Ratanpur to Bhupendra Nath Bose, President of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. Internationally acclaimed artists like

Gaganendranath Tagore Gaganendranath Tagore (17 September 1867 – 14 February 1938) was an Bengali painter and cartoonist of the Bengal school. Along with his brother Abanindranath Tagore, he was counted as one of the earliest modern artists in India. Life and car ...

and

Abanindranath Tagore Abanindranath Tagore ( Bengali: অবনীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 August 1871 – 5 December 1951) was the principal artist and creator of the "Indian Society of Oriental Art". He was also the first major exponent of Sw ...

were regular visitors to the club, as was

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

award-winning legendary film-maker Satyajit Ray, longest-serving chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu. In 2007, 11th president of India

Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

visited the club to launch the centenary scholarship fund. Today Calcutta Club stands as an iconic landmark in Kolkata and represents the elite Bengal with rich history and culture.

History

Although not the oldest private members club in the city, it is notable because it was formed at a time when the existing

Bengal Club The Bengal Club is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India. When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj ...

only admitted whites as members.

Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

, the Viceroy of India at the time, had wished to invite Sir Rajen Mookerjee to dine at the Bengal Club and, when the discriminatory policy was thus exposed, a decision was taken to form a club with a membership policy not dictated by race. The club had historically restricted membership to men. However, this was changed in 2007 and the club started admitting women members. The club also has reviewed its child policy and has started admitting children above the age of twelve years of age at all times since very recently.

The Telegraph National Debate at Calcutta Club

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

National Debate at Calcutta Club brings Indian thought leaders and intellectuals from different and diversified arenas of political beliefs, opinions, and affiliations every year to discuss about the current issues in India. *2017 speakers: Indian yoga guru and founder of Patanjali Ayurved Baba Ramdev, student leader

Kanhaiya Kumar Kanhaiya Kumar is an Indian political activist who served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union and leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF). He served as National Executive Council member of Communi ...

, Harvard professor, historian and politician Prof. Sugata Bose, politician

Sambit Patra Sambit Patra (born 13 December 1974) is an Indian politician and has served as the National spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 2014 and currently serving as a chairman in tourism department. Patra had his first job at Hindu Rao Ho ...

, fashion designer and politician Shaina Nana Chudasama. * 2018 speakers: Indian politician, author, scholar, and former international diplomat

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; ; born 9 March 1956 in London, England ) is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat and politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, ...

, former Bengal chief secretary Ardhendu Sen, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader

Hardik Patel Hardik Patel (born 20 July 1993) is an Indian politician and social activist. He rose to prominence in July 2015, where he led the Patidar reservation agitation that sought Other Backward Class (OBC) status for the Patidar caste. He joined the ...

, moderator Sandip Chatterjee, MP

Tarun Vijay Tarun Vijay (born 2 March 1956) is an Indian author, social worker and journalist. He was the editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) weekly in Hindi, ''Panchajanya'', from 1986 to February 2008. He also writes for the ''Daily Pioneer''. ...

, MP Swapan Dasgupta and MP Meenakshi Lekhi. * 2019 speakers: Bengal finance minister and former secretary general of

FICCI The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. History Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla an ...

Dr.

Amit Mitra Dr. Amit Mitra is an Indian economist and politician and the current Special Advisor to Chief Minister of West Bengal on Finance. Previously he was the Finance, Commerce & Industries Minister of the government of Indian state of West Bengal. ...

, Indian actor and politician

Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 9 December 1945) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress (TMC). Earlier he was elected as Member of Parliam ...

, Indian lawyer and politician Abhishek Singhvi, Former director of

Infosys Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is the s ...

and chairman of

Manipal University Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) is a private deemed university located in Manipal, India. The university also has campuses in Mangalore, Bangalore and Jamshedpur in India , and global campus in Dubai and Malacca (Malaysia). As of ...

, Karnataka T. V. Mohandas Pai, author and editor Prafulla Ketkar, Indian politician

K. C. Tyagi Kishan Chand Tyagi (born 10 December 1950) is an Indian politician who is a former member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian Parliament) representing the state of Bihar and serves as the Chief General Secretary and National Spokesp ...

. * 2020 speakers: Indian actor

Swara Bhaskar Swara Bhasker (also spelled Bhaskar; born 9 April 1988) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Best known for her supporting work in mainstream productions and starring roles in independent films, she has won two Screen Awards and has ...

, Indian politician and AITMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Kashmir activist Sushil Pandit, industrialist and politician Shishir Bajoria, student leader of JNU Aishe Ghosh, Former vice-chancellor of

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

Prof. Abhijit Chakrabarti. * 2021 speakers: Former governor of Tripura and Meghalaya

Tathagata Roy Tathagata Roy (born 14 September 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the Governor of Tripura from 2015 to 2018 and the Governor of Meghalaya from August 2018 to the end of his term in August 2020. He was the 6th president of West Ben ...

, industrialist Harshavardhan Neotia, Economist Prasenjit K Basu, MP

Mahua Moitra Mahua Moitra (born 12 October 1974) is an Indian politician and a Member of parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar, West Bengal. She contested and won the seat in the 2019 Indian general election as an All India Trinamool Congress ...

, Cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar, Supreme Court advocate Sanjay R Hegde .

Reciprocal clubs

Reciprocal clubs of the Calcutta Club include some of the notable prestigious social clubs in the world such as

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate ...

, London,

Oxford and Cambridge Club The Oxford and Cambridge Club is a traditional London club. Membership is largely restricted to those who are members of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, including men and women who have a degree from or who are current undergraduates ...

of the UK, and Raffles Town Club of Singapore.

References

External links

Calcutta Club Ltd Official Website

Clubs and societies in India 1907 establishments in India Culture of Kolkata Organizations established in 1907 {{India-org-stub