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I got the list Captain, and you had
promised!
S P Singh
 CHANDIGARH:
Of all
the ministers in the Akali Dal, of all the leaders around Parkash
Singh Badal, there was one person that journalists taunted the most
in private: “Why don’t you speak out against turning the Akali Dal
into one family’s fiefdom?” When Sukhbir Singh Badal was made the
party president, journalists accosted him at his residence: “Why are
you not commenting what you really feel?”
Last Sunday,
even as Captain Kanwaljit Singh lay gasping for life in the PGI and
hordes of thousands gathered outside, shocked journalists were
recalling their many encounters with the Akali leader. The doctors
were maintaining that the fight is on, but those who had information
from the accident site in Kharar and the local civil hospital there
where he was taken knew the grim reality. “I feel bad that I always
accused him of not saying openly what he felt about the degeneration
in the party and the way it was being led, but you know the reason
why we all did that? Because Captain Kanwaljit Singh was one person
in whom we still had a hope that he has the guts to take on the rot
in the party. Show me now whom can we expect to call a spade a
spade?” a journalist told me.
The Captain is
no more. He played his innings, and after the first eulogizing
accounts of his tenure, there will be more dispassionate analyses in
the times to come. But he will always be remembered as the man who
had earned enough strength and goodwill to be a potential serious
obstacle to those who wanted to take the party into a wayward
direction of feudal control and unprincipled politics.
“Show me someone
who heard abusive language from Captain Kanwaljit’s lips,” said a
senior Akali leader. The poise and the affability, the charm and the
warmth is something everyone remembers.
 And by God! Was
the man candid? I called him up on the morning when Sukhbir Singh
Badal was named as the Deputy Chief Minister. He was still to take
oath. “Captain Sahib, vadhayee hove. Sardar Parkash Singh Badal da
family planning operation safal ho
gaya hai. Deputy
CM deliver kar ditta hai.” He laughed out a hearty laugh. “Kar lai
mazaak,” he said, and let out a loud guffaw. Then added: “Par ikk
gall dus. Why does so much blatantism succeed? Why do people gulp it
all? And don’t say why people like me gulp it. Politicians do many
things and should be judged on the whole, not the parts.” This was a
serious question, and I knew it was possible to speak truth to power
when you were speaking to Captain Kanwaljit Singh.
“They succeed
Sir in such family planning operations because we are all a big
family of family planners. Dhindsa Sahib planned for Paramjit, you
are planning for Jasjit Bunny. With so many family planners around,
why should the family head not plan one?”
He was silent
for a moment, and then let out a loud guffaw. In that laughter, you
could always be sure that he has not missed the point.
Captain
Kanwaljit Singh was among the last frontier of gentlemen in
politics. There will be questions about his role in the dark days of
Punjab and there will be analysis and opinions on his equation with
the Centre, the basis of his lifelong deference to Surjit Singh
Barnala, and his high acceptability levels among the Indian
establishment, but there will also be respect for the way the man
had evolved over the years.
He was always
sure of the ground he stood on, he was not dependent on someone for
his Assembly ticket, even when he lost to Preneet Kaur in
Patiala in 2004,
he had to be defeated with the help of party insiders as rivals.
But he knew how
to build bridges. At the height of Amarinder Singh-Parkash Singh
Badal bitterness, Kanwaljit remained untouched by the bitterness. He
was bothered by issues concerning democracy, human rights, the power
levers slipping outside the hands of those who were wedded to the
panthic cause, the issue of increasing patit numbers in the Sikh
community.
One of his
biggest achievements which perhaps the Indian media failed to
mention at all was his success in escaping the fate of most
politicians: the allegation of corruption. Even his worst enemies
never accused him of corruption. At a time when
Punjab’s
body polity is riddled with corruption allegations flying all
around, this is quite an achievement.
 As Cooperatives
Minister, it was easy to engage him on any pro-people issue. In
mid-January when he told me his department was planning to hold a
national level meeting of Cooperatives Ministers and secretaries to
focus on farm credit policies, I found it a good opportunity to ask
him about a provision that was creating problems for those ensured
under the department’s Bhai Ghaniaya health insurance scheme. While
the insurers paid by cheque directly to private hospitals, patients
were expected to pay cash to civil hospitals and then get
reimbursement from insurers. “Please do not mention this to
journalists. Then the newspapers will start splashing it and vested
interests will come into play. But I will remove the lacunae right
away,” he said. Sure enough he immediately called his Financial
Commissioner B C Gupta and told him to rectify the situation.
It was the Sikh
in him that ensured that the Sanjivini scheme be renamed Bhai
Ghanaiya scheme.
Generations of
politicians and journalists have sat in his Sector 9 Chandigarh home
drawing room and discussed politics and society. A huge painting of
the tenth Sikh master has stayed there for years now. “This is my
inspiration. I look at it when I need strength, and I get it.
Anytime I feel weak, I just have to remember a hymn from Gurbani and
I feel better. I am sure the Guru will guide our community through
touch times. I am sure the Akali Dal will emerge a better party, a
party truly for the welfare of the panth,” he used to tell me.
The thousands
who thronged the cremation grounds in
Chandigarh on
Monday were proof enough of the popularity of the man. For those
engaging with the way the Akali polity is going, there will always
be a void. Whom will you now accuse of not speaking up against the
powerful taking the party away from its agenda?
Adieu Captain
Kanwaljit Singh. You did try to be a good Sikh. What matters is
that you tried. Akal Purakh is merciful, and we pray that you reside
at His feet in peace and eternal bliss. Catch up with you some day
up there for a quote about some panthic issue, and hope to hear your
hearty laughter and feel your arm around my shoulder as you admonish
me: “Phir baaz nahi aunda tu, phir shararat karda hain mere naal. O
madad karya kar saadi.” I am still here Captain. You left. How far
was Kharar from
Chandigarh?
And you had promised to push through so many more reforms in the
cooperatives sector. And you had asked me to make a list of the
ideas that are implementable. What do I do with the list now? You
promised, Captain. But you promised!
But then death
has its own logic. It is just that we do not understand it.
1 April 2009
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