Politicians they say live for the present seldom bother about the past and often don’t care for posterity.

Giani Kartar Singh whose 18th death anniversary this month was the exception which proved the rule He was one of the rare self-effacing political leaders who have shaped the destiny of Punjab in a manner which will continue to affect the lives of the people of the state long after his memory fades into oblivion.

Gianiji as he was popularly “known played a Major role in the creation of Punjab Agriculture College in Ludhiana (Which later became Punjab Agriculture University) and of Punjabi University Patiala. He was also the main architect of the 1949 Sachar Formula and the 1956 Regional Formula (which demarcated the Punjabi and Hindi Speaking areas of Punjab). (Giani Karrar Singh was a man of humble origins who did not even know when he was born. “I have always believed it to be February 221902″ he wrote in an autobiographical article.

Gianiji Was in Class 1X when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took Place. In fact he had gone to Amritsar with the uncle to spend his summer holidays when the infamous bloodbath took place. Later he read an appeal by Madan Mohan Malaviya and with the help of his schoolmates he collected 500 for the Jallianwala Bagh victims.

This was to be the first political Of the man whose life was to be entwined with political events Of the region for the next six decades or so. His detractors would all him Machravellian who broke governments and changed party affiliations at will but his supporters defend him by maintaining that public good not personal gain was the reason for his actions.

After school he joined Khalsa college Amritsar the focus of i morcha for the repost he Golden Temple keys.

As Gianiji recalled in his autobiographical article:” Some of the reformist leaders had been seized by the government. Baba Kharak Sing was among them. These detainees were brought to the court every morning for trial and taken back to the goal in the city in the after-moon. Many people used to “accompany them as they were escorted to the goal.

“My daily routine those days “meant going to the court and watching the trial of the Akalis and then walking towards the goal to hear public lectures. I did not give much attention to my academic work. The second year at college went the same way. This time it was the Guru-ka-Bagh morcha” (excerpt from an English translation by Prof Harbans Singh)

As with most of the leaders of the Independence movement being jailed for anti-British efforts was a point of honor. He was jailed for six months in 1924 for welcoming a jatha of Sikhs going to participate in the Jaito Ka Morcha at Lyallpur.

Jails became “finishing schools” for the revolutionaries and forums for discussions on the freedom Struggle and the future course of action. It was in the prisons that they could meet each other and hone their ideas As Gianiji said while writing about his second incarnation:” we had set up in the goal a mock parliament which discussed many of the pressing issues confronting the country.”

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was formed under the Sikh Gurdwara Act and the 24-yr-old Giani Kantar Singh became a member of the first ever SGPC general house in 1926.

The next year he was elected unopposed as a member of the Lyallpur District Board. Members of the Simon Commission wanted to see the working of this Board. They were accompanied by Sir Feroze Khan Noon a member of the Viceroys Executive Council. (He later became the Prime Minister of Pakistan) The young Giani Kanar Singh pleaded that their meeting should be open to the public.

At this the Deputy Commissioner as the Chairman of the Board ruled that no. non-member would be allowed to attend the proceedings. Promptly came the response neither “Neither Sir Simon nor the members of the board. Therefore they can’t attend the meeting.” Confusion prevailed and the meeting was not held.

It was this kind of candor courage and logic which put Giani Kartar Singh at entirely a different level as compared to his contemporaries.

He was elected to the first Punjab Assembly on an Akali ticket in 1937 in elections which were held under the Government of India Act 1935 The Akalis and the Congress had fought elections independently but they joined hands to oppose the ruling feudalistic Unionist Party.

Then came the Second World War in which the Congress opposed the efforts of the British to recruit them to the Army. Master Tara Singh and Giani Kartar Singh however disagreed with this viewpoint and decided that the long range interests of their constituents would not be served by the proposed boycott.

The Sikandar-Baldev Singh pact followed by 1942 in which the Akalis had a taste of power for the first time Gianiji also proposed the controversial Azad Punjab scheme in which no community would have a majority.

Seeing the inevitability of Partition Gianiji who was then president of the Akali Dal pleaded with Congress leaders the Cabinet Mission and the viceroy to plan an orderly exchange of persons and properties along the borders of the to-be-created Pakistan and India. That his efforts were unsuccessful and the biggest bloodbath ever followed is as they say history.

Immediately thereafter Granijt concentrated his energies on the rehabilitation of the Punjabis displaced from Pakistan and in ensuring that they would have a state Of their own the Punjabi Suba Says Jasdev Singh Sandhu a former Minister who was associated with Gianiji for a long time and had in fact taken the dictation of Giani Kartar Singh’s memoirs.

On March 17,1948 the Akali Dal working Committee met under the president-ship of Gianiji at Delhi and resolved that “all members of the Panthic Akali Dal Party both at the center and East Punjab are advised to join the Congress Assembly parties forth-with.”

He became a minister for the first time on June 111948 in the Bhargava Cabinet Despite personal friendship with Dr.Gopi Chand Bhargava which dated back to the pre-partition days he fell out with him when he felt that Chief Minister was not finalizing the language policy of the state.

Gianiji then joined Bhim Sen Sachar and toppled the Bhargava ministry a move which displeased Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel so much that he placed a ban on the induction of Giani Kartar Singh in the cabinet. Gianiji however stayed with Sachar till the finalization of the Sachar Formula.

The formula provided for the demarcation of Punjab into Punjabi and Hindi speaking zones The language of the zone would be the medium of instruction and the official language at the district level.

The Sachara formula was significant in so far as it did not originate from the Akalis but had in fact been hammered out by the Congress. It was supported by 74 out of 80 members of the East Punjab Assembly at that time. It was later signed by Jawaharalal Nehru and Union Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel.

After the dissolution of the second Bhargava cabinet Giani Kanar Singh rejoined Akali Dal on October 131951 and was made General Secretary of the party by Master Tara Singh.

He waged a relentless war for the creation of Punjabi Suba. After the report of the States Reorganization Commission in 1955 the talks between the Akali Dal and the Central Government were started to hammer out a solution of the Punjab problem which resulted in the creation of the Regional Councils.

Punjab and the PEPSU were merged in one state and the Punjab was divided into Punjabi and Hindi speaking regions with regional committees to look after 14 subjects from the state list under the Constitution.

Gianiji called this formula a shagan for the Punjabi Suba and persuaded the Akalis to join the Congress in order to implement this formula fully.

Giani Kartar Singh became Revenue Minister in the Kairon Cabinet in 1957 As Revenue Minister he was instrumental in getting PEPSU Gurdwara’s included in the Sikh Gurdwara Act and hence the SGPC He also concentrated on the demarcation of Punjabi and Hindi speaking areas under the Regional Formula.

Due to Kairons opposition to the implementation of certain aspects of the Regional Formula the Akalis again revived the demand for Punjabi Suba and launched an agitation which was crushed by Kairon. Gianiji was dropped from the Cabinet in 1963 but continued his efforts for Punjabi Suba within the Congress.

Gianiji persuaded the majority of Congress legislators to submit representations to the Hukam Singh Parliamentary Committee in favor of re-demarcation of Punjab on linguistic basis.

The Government of India accepted the formation of Punjabi Suba in March 1966 but instead of accepting the boundaries of the Regional Formula it appointed the Shah Commission to demarcate the boundaries.

The proceedings of this commission were boycotted by the Akali Dal both Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh Singh factions and only Giani Kartar Singh presented the case of Punjabi Suba before this commission. The boundaries demarcated by this commission and its award of Chandigarh have only aggravated the Punjab problem

He fought the 1967 elections on the Congress ticket but lost. Later he joined the Akali Dal at the instance of Sant Fateh Singh and Gurnam Singh the first Akali Chief Minister of the state.

He was made the General Secretary of the Akali Dal where he managed to unite the Sant Fateh Singh and Master Tara Singh faction in 1968. The Akalis formed the government after the mid-term elections of 1969.

At the instance of the Akali Dal Indira Gandhi reopened the case of boundary demarcation between Punjab and Haryana in 1970. To prepare Punjab’s case the government formed a committee under Gianijis chairmanship. The case that he prepared is relevant even now even though the dispute continues.

A man who left such a legacy for Punjab and Punjabis left nothing for his family. He died penniless at Rajindra Hospital Patiala on June 10, 1974 after a long illness it is very unusual for a politician to be honored by a historian Hani Ram Guptas fourth volume of the History of the Sikhs is dedicated to this person who he says “lived and died as a genuine faquir”

Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992