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Remembering the Master
S P Singh
 As
India reaps the fruits of Independence, flexes its muscles as a
superpower vis-à-vis the Pakistan which is now embroiled in massive
problems and increasingly forgets its minorities, particularly
Sikhs, few in the country remember the contribution of one man, the
turbaned Sardar, who stood before the Lahore Assembly building,
shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and triggered a wave of events that
eventually led to the partition of Punjab and decided the fate of
India.
It was March 3,
1947. The place: The Lahore Assembly. The atmosphere: Surcharged.
“There were
scenes of great excitement outside the assembly building. Master
Tara Singh unsheathed his kirpan before the assembled crowds and
shouted Pakistan Murdabad (Death to Pakistan).” Khushwant Singh
narrates the fateful day’s happenings in his History of the Sikhs.
Many historians
and witnesses have claimed in later years that Master also snatched
a Muslim League flag.
“Had Masterji
not been there, India would have been very different from what it is
today. By uprooting the Pakistani flag in Lahore, Master Tara Singh
procured for India half of Punjab and Bengal,” wrote C
Rajagopalachari.
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How many today have even the faintest idea that what happened on
August 15, 1947 was largely influenced by what Master ji did on
March 3 that year? Far from remembering Master Tara Singh’s s
contribution, the great leader has been completely ignored by
even top Akali leadership. This write up is dedicated to the
great leader’s 125th birth anniversary this month. |
The Cabinet
Mission Plan of May 1946 had clearly grouped
British India’s
provinces into three groups, and
Punjab was put
in the ‘Pakistan Group’. It was clear to all that if the Muslim
League demand for Pakistan was conceded, which seemed to be the
probably course of action, all Muslim-majority provinces would go to
Pakistan, and Punjab was one such state.
Master Tara
Singh, who has emerged as the leader of
Punjab’s
Hindus and Sikhs, wrote to the Secretary of State for
India: “If the
Cabinet Mission’s recommendation is to give protection to Muslims,
why should the same consideration not be shown to the Sikhs?” But he
received a reply that any partition of Punjab “would have been far
less acceptable to the Sikhs.”
Master Tara
Singh’s actions, and the subsequent riots, forced the Congress to
pass a resolution on April 8 to demand the division of
Punjab
into two provinces “so that the predominantly Muslim may be
separated from the predominantly non-Muslim parts.”
This resolution,
said Dr. Kirpal Singh, carried the message to the Muslim League that
it could not have it both ways. “It could not take Muslim areas out
of India and insist on keeping non-Muslim majority portions in
Pakistan to tyrannize them.”
Later, a close
associate of Master Tara Singh and one of the senior most Akali
leaders of all times, Thekedar Surjan Singh, vividly recalled the
events.
“As there was
talk of the Muslim League majority assembly being set to pass a
resolution in support of Pakistan on that day, the Master told
others to go inside and took charge outside. Suddenly, with a sword
in hand, he shouted Pakistan Murdabad, and snatched the flag. This
triggered the riots, led to great bloodbath of partition, but saved
Punjab from going to Pakistan.”
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The Incident In
Master’s Own Words
“Sir Khjir Hayat
had resigned on the night of March 2 (1947). His Unionist Ministry
was likely to be replaced by the Muslim League Ministry. On March 3,
Sikh members (of the Assembly) met at the kothi of Swaran Singh. We
got several offers from the League to join the Ministry but how
could we have agreed to a Muslim-majority rule? It was clear by that
time that Pakistan
was going to be a reality. We were apprehending that the whole of Punjab
would go to Pakistan. So,
Sikh members decided to prevent the formation of the League
Ministry. After taking a decision to this effect, we went to the
Assembly. Some suggested that we should make clear our opposition in
the evening. I said we should do it now. There could have been big
trouble because of the large Muslim crowd outside. Without much
further thinking, I told everyone ‘Let’s get out.’ I shouted
‘Pakistan Murdabad’. There were 24 of us. The Muslims’ crowd was in
thousands. It advanced in our direction.”
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Thekedar (now no
more) had said that Giani Kartar Singh, Swaran Singh (later Union
Minister in India), Gokul Chand narang and Gopi Chand Bhargav were
present with master when he shouted anti-Pakistan slogans on March
3.
The riots
started on March 5 and engulfed the whole of
Punjab.
master’s village Harial in
Rawalpindi was
the first to be burnt down. Estimates of those killed varied widely.
Penderel Moon, who claims to have pretty accurate knowledge of
casualties and compared notes with Sir Francis Mudie, governor of
East
Punjab,
said it was 60,000 dead in
Pakistan and a
little more in East Punjab. Sirdar Kapur Singh, in his ‘Sachi
Sakhi’, put the number of those killed in March-September 1947
period as five lakhs but this figure is considered generally as
highly exaggerated.
Balraj Madhok of
Jana Sangh later wrote that master was the first Punjabi who advised
the Hindus and Sikhs to leave their homes and migrate to
East Punjab.
Thus, Madhok
vouched, that to Master must go the credit for saving a large number
of lives of Hindus and Sikhs as the Congress has not paid any
attention to formulating a policy for the organised transfer of
communities.
Prof Jagjit
Singh, married to Master’s niece, had said in a August 2000
interview to the Indian Express that Punjabis, particularly Sikhs,
have almost forgotten the contribution of Master Tara Singh. “How
many of your generation have even the faintest idea that what
happened on August 15, 1947 was largely influenced by what Master ji
did on March 3 that year?”
Far from
remembering Master’s contribution, the great leader has been
completely ignored by even top Akali leadership. Some years back,
they suddenly thought of putting up his statue in Delhi, but no land
was available. Now finally a statue is there in Delhi but beyond
that, the Akali Dal seems to have given up even on the memory of the
great leader.
 Not long back,
his grand daughter, Kiranjot Kaur, had complained that the Akali Dal
leadership had ignored the Master even on his birth and death
anniversaries. What Kiranjot Kaur and anyone who
recognises the worth of the great
leader need to engage
with is the fact
that the man was big enough, great enough and significant enough not
to bother about the sifting sands of time and opportunists. These
were the men and forces he fought all his life, and that is why his
memory will linger on forever.
24
June 2009
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