Chetan Chauhan

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The person

Saved Sikh cricketers from mob in 1984

Pratyush Raj, Chauhan saved Sikh cricketers from mob in 1984, August 18, 2020: The Times of India

Former India opener Chetan Chauhan’s grit and courage on the pitch is legendary. But not many know that the cricketer, who died owing to Covid-19 complications on Sunday, saved the lives of several Sikh international cricketers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rajinder Singh Ghai from a marauding mob during a train journey.

Cricketers of the time who witnessed the incident recollect how Chauhan, later a twotime BJP MP from Amroha, came to their rescue after the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 had triggered nationwide communal riots.

“I remember one of the people from the mob shouted at Chetan paaji and said, ‘We are here to kill the sardars, nothing will happen to you.’ Chetan paaji yelled back, ‘They are my brothers and you can’t touch them.’ The way Chetan Chauhan dealt with the situation was quite commendable,” recalled former Test cricketer Yograj Singh, who witnessed the incident.

The incident took place on ‘Jhelum Express’ when the players of North Zone and Central Zone were returning from Pune after playing a Duleep Trophy semifinal game.

Former Haryana off-spinner Sarkar Talwar told TOI, “The match ended on October 30 and next morning we came to know that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated. Our team manager (Prem Bhatia) got us firstclass tickets on Jhelum Express. It was a nightmare journey and it took us four days to reach Delhi.”

“At one of the stations, around 40-50 people entered the compartment looking for people from the Sikh community. We had three Sikh players —Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rajinder Ghai and Yograj Singh — in our team. I vividly remember, Chetan Chauhan and Yashpal Sharma had a heated argument with the mob and once they realised that they were Indian cricketers, the mob got off the compartment,” recollected Talwar.

The players were so scared that they hid Sidhu and Ghai below the lower birth and behind their kit bags. Yograj even told Sidhu to cut his hair. “It was very scary, they were burning trains and after their face-off with Chetan Chauhan and Yashpal, I asked Sidhu, let me cut your hair. He refuted and said, ‘Paaji I have been born as a Sardar and will die like one’,” recalls Yograj, father of cricketer Yuvraj Singh.

Cricketer Gursharan Singh, who was in the different compartment too recollected the incident and said, “If not for Chetan Chauhan, I don’t think that any of us would have survived. Rajinder Hans (former left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh) and I were in a different bogie and when we came to know about the incident it left us very scared. But Chetan Chauhan came to us and reassured us that we would be safe and the mob would not trouble us.”