Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Giani Zail Singh
Giani Zail Singh was first punjabi to become president of India. Born on 5
May 1916, son of Mata Ind Kaur and Bhai Kishan Singh in a small village named
Sandhwan, near Kot Kapura, formerly prince state of Faridkot. Kishen Singh was
village carpenter. He also had some land to till. He was devout Sikh and was
known in the countryside for his simple and upright manner. Zail Singh was
youngest of Five brothers and sisters. Zail Singh lost his mother at his early
age. He was brought up by the sister of his mother named Daya Kaur. He had
little formal education. He inherited the family's broad interest in religious
learning and gained easy fluency in reading the Guru Granth Sahib . He acquired
a fairly wide knowledge of Sikh doctrine and history. He was accepted for
admission to the Shahid Sikh Missionary college at Amritsar, without fullfilling
the miminum entry condition of marticulation. What immpressed authorities was
his flair for public speaking.
After this course, Giani was attached to his name., which meant "the one
learned in the religious lore". This epithet was stuck to his name for rest of
the life. He grew into the mastery of public speaking and could easily throw
spells on his audiences. He could mix with uncanny facility couplets of Urdu
verse with his fluent Punjabi. He had a subtle sense of fun.
His native place Faridkot was a small political and geographical unit, peaceful
and quiet. Its ruler, Raja Harinder Singh was a colorful personality. He was full
of energy and ambition. One of his aims was to open the doors of modern progress
for his state and have it counted among the more progressive territories of the
region. Because of Raja's friendly nature he knew almost two three families of
all the villages of his territories. Raja was an easy mixer with common folks.
In the year of Indian Independence, 1947 Nehru came to Faridkot asking Raja to
align himself with India. When Raja was
away in Malerkotla, a parallel government was formed which brought the Raja in a rage. Nehru and
Patel were the two indian leaders who were negotiating with the Indian Princes. Since
Zail Singh was aligned with the people who were protesting against the Raja, he
had to bear the Raja's brunt.
After India was divided into Muslim Pakistan and Secular India, East Punjab's
small kingdoms were made into a state called PEPSU short for Patiala and East
Punjab States Union, that was conglomerate of Patiala, Jind, Nabha, Kapurthala
and Faridkot states. This new state had total area of 10,090 Sq Miles with
population being 34,24,060. The annual revenue of the state was little over 5
crores.
Giani Zail singh had emerged from one of the smaller units. He was dedicated
and single minded with limitless powers of concentration. In 1949, a non party
government was established in PEPSU with Gian Singh Rarewala of Patiala as Chief
Minister and Giani Zail Singh as Revenue minister. After the elections in
1951, government of congress was formed on 23 May 1951, he became the Agriculture
minister. From 1956 to 1962 he served as a Member of Indian parliament (Rajya
Sabha). In general elections in 1972, he became chief minister of Punjab. In the
1980 General elections Giani Zail singh was elected as Member of Parliament of
Lok Sabha, Indira Gandhi the president of the Congress party made him minister
of home affairs. In 1982 Giani Zail Singh was unanimously elected by the
congress party as a choice for President. Giani Zail Singh won almost by a
unianomous vote of the nation. Even the dissident parties such as Akalis and
Communists supported him.
Eventhough Giani Zail Singh achieved much in his life but he did not align
himself with the Akalis in Punjab, the leading group of Sikh political
aspirations. Giani Zail Singh owing to his humble background was always trying
to immpress his bosses (especially Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India), he
even once said "I will sweep the door of her house if Madam tells me to do so".
Such comments from a person of such stature made him unpopular in Sikhs and
Akalis. Earlier when he was Chief Minister of Punjab he dangerously brought
religion into politics. He would often visit Gurdwaras and give them huge
grants. He named many roads on the name of Sikh Gurus. Obviously this type of
politics was to undermine Akalis who were openly working for Sikhs and Sikhism
causes. His dirty politics with religion brought in front Jarnail Singh
Bhindrenwale who was simple minded and zealously working for Sikh causes and
hated both Congress and Akalis. Zail Singh supported Bhindrenwale and brought
back the rule of Congress in Punjab under Darbara Singh as chief minister. When
he was president of India, Indira Gandhi ordered army operation on hiding terrorists in Golden Temple
called Operation Blue Star without disclosing these orders to the President of
India, Zail Singh., Giani Zail Singh visited Golden Temple four days after the
army attack. After this attack many Sikh resigned from their posts, many sikhs
revolted in army, but Giani Zail Singh remained firmly attached to his
ceremonous post, this showed his true colors and respect for Sikhs and
Sikhism. Then when Indira Gandhi was murdered by two Singhs named Beant Singh
and Satwant Singh, Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister of
India. Rajiv Gandhi's party and henchmen are said to be responsible for more then 7000+ Sikhs' deaths
(Government of India estimates), but the sikh president of India could do nothing.
SO! this biography of Zail Singh is being presented as a dark chapter in Sikh
history.
In 1994 when he was on a pilgrimage to Takht Sri Keshgarh Sahib when his car met
with a serious accident. He was taken to PGI at Chandigarh where he died on 25
December 1994.
