If Mr. Dhyan Singh Mand is the youngest to enter the Lok Sabha from Punjab, Baba Sucha Singh Maloya may be the oldest to do so.

At 72 this weaver from Maloya village on the outskirts of Chandigarh has been elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bathinda reserve constituency. For him politics had no significance until Oct, 1984, when one of his five sons, Sub Inspector Beant Singh, allegedly assassinated Indira Gandhi. In the 1985 Assembly elections, Shamsher Singh, his eldest son and daughter in law Bimal Khalsa, widow of SI Beant Singh, joined politics. However, both of them lost the elections.

Baba Sucha Singh, who still prefers weaving on a loom in his ancestral home at Maloya, is a deeply religious man. The family had settled in this village after migrating from Pakistan in 1947.

While Baba Sucha Singh took to the ancestral profession him Baba entry into politics was almost unintentional. He filed his nomination papers only on the last day.

Baba Sucha Singh worked hard to ensure education for his five sons. His only daughter died young, while his eldest son works as a junior engineer in Delhi Telecommunication, another son. Shamsher Singh resigned his PCS (Judicial) job to start private practice. One of his sons works in Punjab National Bank.

While Baba Sucha Singh took to the ancestral profession of weaving, one of brothers, Mr. Bahandur Singh, joined government service and retired as Superintendent in the Punjab Agriculture Department.

Baba Sucha Singh worked hard to ensure education for his five sons. His only daughter died young. While his eldest son works as a junior engineer in Delhi Telecommunication, another son. Shamsher Singh resigned his PCS (Judicial) job to start private practice. One of his sons works in Punjab National Bank.

The Baba entry into politics was almost unintentional. He filed his nomination papers only on the last day.

This is for the first time that a villager from the Chandigarh Union Territory has been elected to the Lok Sabha and that too from another constituency.

Article extracted from this publication >> January 5, 1990