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[[Category: India |H]]
[[Category: History |H]]
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=Hisar=

''' Hisar's distinctive family ''' 

''' Chaudhary Dalbir Singh & Kumari Selja '''

'' India Harmony ''  VOLUME - 1 : ISSUE - 5 JULY-AUGUST, 2012

[[File: Hisar's rocky terrain.png|Hisar's rocky terrain|frame|500px]] 


The Haryana story
would be grossly
incomplete if no mention is made of
one of the most outstanding
personalities of the State
who, unfortunately, got
much less accolades for his
strength of character and his
undisputed talents than he
deserved. The man in
question is Choudhary
Dalbir Singh – and his
daughter is Kumari Selja.

Hissar, once considered a backward and neglected
district of pre partition Punjab has seen dynamic
growth in the modern State of Haryana. Post
partition, it was Chaudhary Dalbir Singh and his
daughter Kumari Selja who have represented this area
as members of Parliament for almost half a century
and their selfless service has put it on the
development map of the region.

[[File: haryana.png||frame|500px]] 

Chaudhary Dalbir Singh was born in a Dalit family of
landless agricultural labourers in village Prabhuwala
in Hissar District of pre-partition Punjab. This was
one of the most desolate, waterless sandy districts of
the state. Bhiwani and Hissar during the '40s and '50s
of the last century were known to be dusty towns,
where acute water scarcity was the rule in the
summers. The season brought in hot abrasive sand
dunes. Several large ponds had been dug virtually in
each village to store rainwater for drinking and
bathing as also to provide for the needs of cattle. The
sand dunes encroached right into the western limits of
Bhiwani. Life was indeed a tough proposition in this
area.

Dalbir Singh was very early in his life spotted as an
exceptionally intelligent child and though he was the
youngest child in the family, it was decided that,
come what may, he would get the best possible
education that the family could reasonably provide.
Once when the infant Dalbir was very seriously ill, a
very gifted and learned sadhu cured him and while
leaving predicted that “one day this child would ride
an elephant” (in other words, be a great man). The
prophecy came true. Dalbir's young days both in the
schools in which he studied, namely, the primary
school at Prabhuwala, the charitable school in which
he did his middle levels and the government high
school from which he completed his school
education, were all replete with his outstanding
academic performance, as also his excellence in the
field of athletics and sports. But sadly, they were also
full of humiliation from the taunts and jibes of some
fellow students belonging to the upper caste or to the
rich and landed gentry. This continued also through
his college days, first in Lahore and then, after
partition, in Rohtak from where he graduated. But
Dalbir Singh was made of sterner stuff. He ignored
all the unsavory behaviour of some of his fellow
students, put that behind him and developed into a
well-rounded human being, sensitive and determined
to do whatever he could to eradicate these unfortunate
traits of the discriminatory and obscurantist forces of
our society. – He grew up into a man of robust health,
full of humour with an inexhaustible fund of jokes
and Haryanavi stories which he used to devastating
effect to deal with awkward and tricky situations that
confronted him in his career. The family expected
him to take up the job and alleviate poverty, bring
some prosperity and happiness to the family.

[[File: Carrying Buddha's relic to Srilanka.png|Carrying Buddha's relic to Srilanka|frame|500px]]

Finally one day Dalbir Singh told his father that he
would not take up a job .He had endured too much
caste, creed, regional, rich and poor discrimination so
he was determined to devote his life to resist evils of
the Indian society and help reform it. He remembered
that while studying at Lahore he was constantly a
victim of cruel and inhuman treatment at the hands of
prince lings and rich students. His mind was made up
and he would strive and try to eliminate various evils
and ills of the Indian caste based society .Father Kani
Ram agreed.

Next day Kani Ram watched his son speaking for the
first time at aCongress party public rally at Hissar
and criticizing Punjab chief minister Kairon , whose
achievements in the development of the state were
eulogized and lauded by all and sundry . Dalbir Singh
rightly proclaimed that ' yes, Punjab had progressed
but only the Punjabi speaking part i.e. Jullundur
division and not the backward Ambala division of
which Hissar was a part It remained so till the Sikhs
after many agitations and Morchas got their Punjabi
Suba and the backward region emerged from the
shadow of under development and neglect in 1966 .
The new state of Haryana led by some dynamic
leaders, taking advantage of many inbuilt and
inherent advantages including proximity to Delhi has
emerged as a most dynamic and rich state of India.
While a minister in Delhi for nearly two decades, Ch.
Dalbir Singh assiduously helped out in pursuing the
economic development of Haryana by taking up his
state's cause with the centre. I have a feeling that he
cherished a deep desire to lead the Haryana
government and implement his vision of his home
state himself. But his opponents in the party in
Haryana ganged up and kept him away from the state.
Having watched the freedom movement from close
quarters under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and
Jawaharlal Nehru andCongress party's ideology of
secularism, equal rights for all religions and special
incentives to uplift scheduled caste and tribes,
neglected, humiliated and exploited since millennia
attracted young and idealistic Dalbir Singh, since he
had himself suffered at the hands of upper castes and
rich all his life. But he rarely mentioned these hurts to
me. He sometimes would relate how petty officials
mistreated the public specially the poor and the
downtrodden.

Ch. Dalbir Singh remained steadfast and true in his
loyalty to theCongress and its ideals and policies , in
a state where many a politicians ideology is fickle
and saleable ,which gave the name Gayaram Ayaaram
politics i.e. of shifting and changing party affiliations
for gain .I remember very vividly one evening in
1967 when I dropped at Ch Dalbir Singh's flat on
South Avenue .A number of well known Haryana
politicians , who did well for themselves had just
visited him after having pledged loyalty to Moraji
Desai who had challenged PM Indira Gandhi's
leadership.” How dare they even suggest such a thing,
he fumed .He remained steadfast to theCongress and
its ideology till the very end. He never wavered,
never ever.

Young, enthusiastic, wide eyed and idealistic when
the 1952 elections were, he and Godara turned up at
theCongress party office in Delhi .By luck Nehru
arrived and was very impressed by Dalbir Singh, a
young enthusiastic graduate, a rarity among Dalit
aspirants .He and Godara, in spite of opposition from
older and well established leader's opposition like
Devi Lal, were both allottedCongress party tickets.
Dalbir Singh won from Tohana but his election was
set aside on the pretext of being under age i.e. less
than 25 years .By the time he won the election
petition time had arrived for the 1957 elections.
Kairon had returned to power by then. A down to
earth politician and good administrator, he recognized
the talented, idealistic Dalbir Singh's dedication and
gave himCongress ticket in 1957 . Not only that after
the elections Dalbir Singh was inducted into the
council of ministers as deputy minister .He was
barely 30 years in age .The rest as they say is history.

Chaudhary Saheb was soon a great favorite of Kairon
because of his sincerity, hard work, sense of purpose
and integrity.

His family had been completely swayed by the Arya
Samaj philosophy and ideas and Dalbir found himself
in sync with it. No doubt within himself, Dalbir
would have cherished a desire to lead his state of
Haryana; but political upswings caused him to be
catapulted to the Centre where, in course of time, he
headed the Ministry of Fertilizers and Chemicals.

What distinguished him through all those years and
remained an indelible trait of his personality till his
death in 1987 were his unimpeachable integrity; his
steadfast belief in and adherence to his moral values
and principles and his unswerving loyalty to his party
and its leader – virtues which were even then rare and
remarkable; but which today would put him in a
totally different and distinctive class of active
politicians. When he first got elected to the Lok
Sabha, he sold off his Ambassador car because the
salary he drew as an MP would make it impossible to
maintain it, even though the price of petrol was then
just Rs.1.10 ps. per litre – a small but telling piece of
evidence of the impeccable standards of integrity
which he steadfastly followed.

Such was the man who surmounted dire poverty and
humiliation; never lost his sense of humour; and
never compromised his total integrity. He rose from
the humblest beginnings, and by sheer merit, hard
work and strength of character rose in the political
firmament until death snatched him a little
prematurely.

He left behind two daughters. The elder one is
married, but the younger one – Kumari Selja – has
chosen to follow in her father's footsteps and taken to
electoral politics. She has emerged as a highly
regarded political figure of the State with the same
characteristics as her father of absolute integrity,
grace and elegance, deft handling of her various
responsibilities and committed to serve the cause of
her state, her country and, above all, the people whom
she represents. Born in 1961 Kumari Selja did not
have the turbulent childhood of her father. Her early
schooling was at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, New
Delhi, as her father was by then already an MP and
later a Ministry. Even though born to privilege,
impeccable honesty, good manners and austerity were
the watch words at home. She later moved to
Chandigarh and completed her M. Phil from Punjab
University. The untimely demise of her father
catapulted her into national politics at the young age
of 25. It was Rajiv Gandhi's faith in her and her
father's legacy that has seen her go from strength to
strength in her career. Currently, as Union Minister of
Culture and Housing and Poverty alleviation, Kumari
Selja is a cultural icon herself. She represents a post
independence generation, born in the euphoria of
freedom, confident, articulate and cosmopolitan. Her
own personality is a symbol of inclusiveness. Her
exposure to her Dalit roots Christian values at school.
Urdu language spoken at home contributed to her
evolution as a composite Indian. She embodies in
herself the values enshrined in the Constitution and
has made India justifiably proud. The maturity with
which she fields tricky questions posed to her is
brought out by the following extract of a press
interview given by her when the very delicate issue of
the “Khap Panchayats” of Haryana and its
neighbouring areas was prominently in the news and
was being vigorously defended by village elders
across the state. She was asked about her family
background and about the Khap Panchayats.

The questioner had asked “What does it mean to be a
politician who is a woman and a Dalit from a state
which has been in the news for all the wrong
reasons—the Mirchpur incident involving violence
against Dalits or khap panchayat demands on gotra
marriages? What do you have to say about these
problems?”

Her answer is an excellent example of her candour
and her tact.

“My father was a prominent leader of Punjab, and
then Haryana. He happened to be a Dalit. In his time,
there were no such labels. After he passed away, I
was asked to join politics and contest in his place. I
contested in 1988 from my father's constituency,
Sirsa—I belong to Hissar, and before the delimitation
of 1975, our village was also part of the Sirsa
parliamentary constituency. I was about 25 years old,
absolutely new, raw. I owned just two cotton suits
then. I remember, during campaigning, there were
dust storms all the time. You could not see the sun.
Often, we could not even see the road. We did not
have AC cars. We travelled in an Ambassador. At one
point the engine heated up and in some village, they
put Rooh Afza in it because they thought it will cool
the engine better!

Basically, Haryana is dominated by one caste, the
Jats. But traditionally it hasn't been like that. These
are incidents which need to be tackled very
sensitively. We—and I, as a Dalit—should understand
people's feelings and respond to that. I have to
empathise, I have to act as a bridge. I think it is for
the leaders to come forward, whether they belong to
political parties, whether they are political activists or
come from khap panchayats.


Most of us who come from villages subscribe to this
concept of not marrying within the gotra. I do not
think it is such an issue. We are Arya Samajis and the
Arya Samaj has been at the forefront of social
reformation. So we have always supported social
change when it is for the better. We need to be
forward-looking. Scientifically, you cannot dispute
that marrying into the same gotra is not good. It is a
complicated thing. But when these issues go to an
extreme, it is wrong. Where is the honour in honour
killings? A killing is a killing. You cannot take the
law into your own hands. I am very clear on this
matter–the Constitution is supreme.”

All those who have dealt with her have been struck
by what they describe as her most unminister like
behaviour and approach. She has always impressed
people with her sincerity, her positive attitude and her
integrity–qualities which she has inherited from her
father obviously.

With leaders such as Kumari Selja and others, the
future of Haryana does appear to be in safe
hands.


''' Anil Dharkar writes... ''' 

“She is not at all like a minister.” That
comment was heard again and again
through the evening. The sentence tells
you two things: first, we don't hold our
ministers in high esteem and second,
Selja Kumari is cut from a different cloth.
It isn't khadi to start with. Unless you are
a fashion designer (or a woman) you
don't observe details of what someone
is wearing, especially in a crowded
room, but if memory serves right our
Union Minister for Culture was in a
smartly cut silk salwar kameez in muted
colours. But it wasn't her clothes people
were talking about: what the culturati
gathered in Tasneem and Vikram Sigh
Mehta's house were referring to was the
way Selja Kumari conducted herself.
With a quiet dignity complemented by
her refined and measured speech.
Since much of what she and I talked
about at some length was off the
record, it would be unethical to go into
details, but one central point did
emerge, which to me—and possibly to you – was quite startling: if
our cultural institutions are languishing, it isn't for want of money.
The funds are there; they can be made readily available; the
problem lies in implementation and using them prudently and
quickly, which aren't mutually contradictory as most of the
bureaucracy seems to believe. I made the case – and I am sure I
wasn't the only one doing this – that our cultural institutions should
be given autonomy, especially from Delhi raj. Take the case of the
National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai. After Saryu Doshi it
hasn't had its own Director but is remote controlled from Delhi.
Surely in a metropolis like Mumbai where most of the country's
artistic movements have begun, the NGMA should be of Mumbai
and for Mumbai which can only happen if it's by Mumbai.

Coming back to the “she is not like a minister” comment, if Selja
Kumari isn't like a minister, what is a minister like? The obvious
antithesis is someone like Mamta Banerjee. (A friend swears this is
true: in an impassioned speech rebutting some disparaging
comments by a political opponent, she is supposed to have said,
“If they give me tat, I will give them tit. Other ministers who fit our
pre-conceptions of ministers are Spectrum Raja and any of his
DMK cronies, Sharad Pawar, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Veerappa
Moily, M K Azhagiri (and may their tribe decrease). But what about
ministers like Panaliappan Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Jairam
Ramesh? Are they also “not like ministers”?

[[File: anil.png||frame|500px]] 

Years ago at a high profile dinner in one of Mumbai's larger
apartments, I found two powerful men languishing in separate
corners. Even in the same kind of home in Delhi, the one thing
Arjun Singh and Gulam Nabi Azad wouldn't have been doing is
languishing. But here, shorn of their entourages, they seemed to
be well-spoken, even reasonable men. In fact, they came across
as human beings. The shocker was an earlier evening in Delhi at
one of the large parties for delegates to the International Film
Festival. Standing in the middle of the large banqueting room of
the Ashoka hotel, looking quite lost was a familiar figure. Could it
be him? Indeed it was: M G Ramchandran himself complete with
his trade-mark cap and the dark glasses favoured by politicians
from the South, even at night. After all these years I forget the
inanities we exchanged, but I do remember thinking 'This is MGR?'

So perhaps there are many ministers who are not like ministers.
Provided they are shorn of the paraphernalia of power: the throngs
surrounding them (which lend their own aura), the mikes thrust in
the face (which make simple statements sound like
pronouncements), and the flashing lights (which make anyone an
instant celebrity). In other words, if many ministers are like
ministers, the fault lies not with them, but with us.