SARDAR KAPUR SINGH A REVERENTIAL TRIBUTE

With the passing away of Sardar Kapur Singh Ex I.C.S. And Ex. ‘Member Parliament, there has drifted into the recesses of history a ‘unique personality. He had, over the years, grown into an imposing institution in the politico – intellectual sphere of the Sikhs.

A gifted scholar, he combined in himself the vision of a seer and the insight of a philosopher. The study and understanding of the Sikh Scriptures had so enlightened and emancipated his mind that he remained, throughout his life, a tireless crusader for justice, truth and freedom. While evaluating his role in Sikh awakening, Historians will surely record that he was to Sikhs what Gandhi was to Hindus and what Jinnah was to Muslims.

As a parliamentarian, he can legitimately be called a peer to such illustrious names as Edmund Burke and Winston Churchill. His September 6, 1965, speech in the Indian Parliament, rejecting the Punjab re-organization Bill, will go down in the annals of rational oratory as a superb performance saturated with wit and wisdom. His description of the Bill “as a rotten egg” which “might be edible, but ‘only as a measure of courtesy as it  is devoid of nutritional qualities and since its putrefaction is far gone, it is really unfit for human consumption”, thoroughly exposed the delicacy and hypocrisy of the rulers. Enumerating his reasons for the rejection, he said ‘firstly, it is conceived in sin, secondly, it has been delivered by an incompetent and untrained mid-wife and thirdly, it is opposed to the best interests of the nation, as it will almost certainly lead to weakening of national integration and loss of faith in the integrity of those who exercise political power in this country”.

Congress rulers and Arya  Samajist press were so over-awed by his brilliance that they unleashed a systematic campaign against him to undermine his influence among the Sikhs. Through subtle and artful designs, he was portrayed as a kind of an incensed acentric, fretting and fuming against the rulers because of his personal grouses. It is a pity that most of the Sikhs were taken in by such vile propaganda against him. Even otherwise Sikhs seldom develop faith in their leaders. They are always more inclined to believe in the rumors spread against them than to judiciously examine and appreciate their constructive role, Most Sikhs exhibit a curious trait bordering on split personality. They are so naively credulous as to believe in whatever others tell them and at the same time doubt even the best intentioned among their own tribe. No wonder Sardar Kapur Singh was constrained to call them “Stupid Sikhs”.

Sardar Kapur Singh saw unsuspecting Sikhs, complacently wrapped in the make-believe world of secularism, being led like sacrificial lambs to their manipulated doom. To raise the alarm and to wake up the slumbering Sikh nation, he drafted the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and purposely out-lined the demands strictly within the frame work of the Indian Constitution. He was certain that the communal rulers would never, never accepts Sikhs as equal partners and would vehemently oppose the Resolution. He knew that from out of their opposition would flow freedom for Sikhs, Sikhs would see through their game and tear apart the deceptive facade of secularism.

But there are Sikhs who, swept by their personal safety and greed, still refuse to read the writings on the wall and insist on turning a blind eye to the out-rage of Operation Bluster and November, 1984, butchery of Sikhs. To a sane and rational mind, however, it is inconceivable that a Sikh should feel safe in a set up where 10,000 Sikhs are brutally massacred and not a single perpetrator of the bestial crimes is tried and punished, rather the organizers of the crime are rewarded with Cabinet-berths,

Perhaps yet another holocaust will open their eyes, meanwhile the best tribute that Sikhs can pay to the memory of Sardar Kapur Singh is to extricate themselves from the mire of mutual distrust and make a determined bid for a life of dignity and freedom.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 22, 1986