A gifted man

Sir — The grand old man of India and a renowned writer and journalist, Khushwant Singh, passed away at the ripe old age of 99 (“To his rest”, March 21). He had given a new lease of life to Indo-Anglian literature with his impeccable wit and humour. He had also dealt with serious issues like Partition in his classic novel, Train to Pakistan, which poignantly portrays the agony Partition had caused. His satirical take on contemporary issues often landed him in controversies but that never stopped this fearless and forthright writer from calling a spade a spade. Singh’s works like I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi: A Novel went on to become classics. He also wrote at length about Sikh religion and culture. His intense research on the community is evident in his book, A History of the Sikhs.

As a journalist, Singh edited The Illustrated Weekly of India. During his tenure, the circulation of the weekly increased manifold. He was also the founder-editor of Yojana, the magazine brought out by the Planning Commission. His weekly column, “With Malice Towards One and All”, was very popular and was published in many dailies. He was also associated with The Telegraph from its birth.

Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986. In recognition of his outstanding contribution, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 but he returned the honour in protest against the Indian army storming the Golden Temple in Amritsar. In 2007, he was honoured with the coveted Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award. With his demise, the country has lost a great writer.

Yours faithfully,
Dileep D. Anand, Alleppey, Kerala

Sir — The editorial, “To his rest”, recounts the great innings played by the famed writer and journalist, Khushwant Singh. He is credited with having met with constant success in the literary field as well as in journalism. His rise was phenomenal. The readers of The Telegraph will miss his weekly column in the editorial pages. Born to Sobha Singh, a civil contractor and the reputed builder of Lutyens’s Delhi, Singh started his career as an information officer of the government of India. Subsequently, he edited The Illustrated Weekly of India, the popular English magazine of yesteryear, The National Herald and the Hindustan Times. He excelled as an editor and reportedly raised the dailies’ standards during his stint with them.

As a writer, he was equally successful. One cannot forget the classics he had written. He was also well conversant with Urdu poetry. He was an excellent political commentator. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called him a “gifted author, candid commentator and a dear friend”. He had also said that Singh “lived a truly creative life”.

As a parliamentarian, Singh was a vociferous speaker and took active part in debates over bills benefiting the common man. He believed in secularism and this showed when he vehemently criticized Lal Krishna Advani, the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, for his reported role in the Babri Masjid demolition. After retiring from his various public duties, Singh concentrated on writing and contributed columns in various newspapers and magazines regularly. Even at the age of 95, he wrote his last novel, The Sunset Club, that brought him more fame and success.

In a nutshell, Singh lived a fruitful life spanning nine decades. In his epitaph written by himself in Death at my Doorstep, he says: “Here lies one who spared neither man nor God/ Waste not your tears on him, he was a sod / Writing nasty things he regarded as great fun/ Thank the Lord he is dead, this son of a gun.” One hopes that Singh’s legacy will be carried forward by his able son, Rahul Singh.

Yours faithfully,
Jayant Mukherjee, Calcutta

Sir — The Vintage Sardar of India, Khushwant Singh, studied law at the prestigious Government College of Lahore. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, had invited Singh to become a judge in Pakistan, but Singh chose to pursue a career in the United Kingdom instead. However, some unfortunate incidents resulted in him resigning from his post and coming back to India. His literary works were largely inspired by his own life, which, reportedly, had so much spice that Singh never had to look elsewhere for inspiration. His influential book, Mano Majra, was a documentation of Partition. It was later published as Train to Pakistan.

As the editorial, “To his rest”, points out, Singh was witness to a lot of interesting events because of his proximity to the political class — such as “Jawaharlal Nehru’s dalliance with Edwina Mountbatten”. A great journalist, he took his work seriously and himself lightly, and always welcomed criticism. He was intellectually independent and in spite of his Sikh background, was an unrepentant agnostic. Singh was also a nature lover and had a sound knowledge of different trees and birds.

Yours faithfully,
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad

Changing colours

Sir — Poll-bound Odisha is now seeing the true colours of veteran politicians who used to mark themselves out as believers in value-based politics. They have now proved that they do not have a fixed ideology. It is political expediency that matters most to them. Veterans like Bhupinder Singh, Ramkrushna Patnaik and Sarat Kar have quit the Congress on some pretext or another. But it seems that the main motive behind their defection is self interest.

Yours faithfully,
Rajesh Jena, Bhubaneswar

Sir — The leader of Opposition in the Odisha assembly, Bhupinder Singh, is a classic example of someone who throws values to the winds. His joining the Biju Janata Dal adds fuel to the allegations that in spite of being the leader of Opposition, he had been hobnobbing with the ruling party for the past several years. Without doubt, Singh owes his rise to the Congress. But he left the party without sparing any thought to the Congress’s contribution to his career.

Yours faithfully,
Bisweswar Mohapatra, Puri

Sir — Naveen Patnaik, once a political novice, has apparently matured a lot over the years. He has learnt the game of political expediency. In 1997, he had joined hands with the BJP to gain political mileage. Twelve years later, he dumped the BJP dubbing it as “communal” and joined hands with the Left. To complete the circle, he has now, for all practical purposes, dumped the Left parties. In politics no one is a permanent foe or a friend.

Yours faithfully,
Manmath Mohanty, Jajpur

Sir — The Congress is apparently haunted by a sense of insecurity when it comes to its old guard. Veterans are quitting the party one after the other, probably because they are feeling insecure about the emergence of the young generation under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. They think this is the last chance for their survival in politics and are quitting the party in search of a safer place.

Yours faithfully,
Arati Swain and Sahadev Khunta, Balasore

Sir — The BJD president, Naveen Patnaik, is, ironically, facing a problem of plenty with so many politicians from various political parties joining the regional outfit prior to the elections. He has to choose the electoral candidates for the party by balancing the conflicting interests. He has to woo young voters by fielding youth icons. At the same time, he has to satisfy senior politicians.

Yours faithfully,
Jayant Mishra, Bhadrak

Special cases

Sir — Amidst all the political battles going on in Bihar, the cases involving Misa Bharti and Shatrughan Sinha baffle me the most. The first individual, who is well-known for her lineage, has entered the political foray all of a sudden. The move saw Ram Kripal Yadav, the most trusted man of the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Lalu Prasad, leave the party and join the Bharatiya Janata Party. The fact that Prasad did not try, not even once, to convince Yadav to come back proves that he has always wanted his family members to dominate the RJD even at the cost of sacrificing men who have stood by him in both good times and bad.

Bharti, who no doubt is trying hard to win the hearts of voters in the Pataliputra seat, has got very little political experience. Her comment about the senior BJP leader, L.K. Advani, was ridiculous.

Prasad’s daughter will definitely have a hard time winning the seat as her opponent, Yadav, is politically mature. At this point of time, the sympathy factor will work in Yadav’s favour as well. The RJD has always earned a bad reputation for itself. This is on account of the antics of the members of Prasad’s family — be they his two brothers-in-laws or his elder son.

The second gentleman in question is Sinha. The actor and leader of the BJP has been shown black flags on two occasions since he landed in Patna. His dialogue, “khamosh”, may sound impressive on screen. But it is evident that he has not succeeded in keeping the electorate happy in real life. This is only because the constituency that Sinha represents, Patna Sahib, remains beset with numerous problems that have gone unattended for a while.

Perhaps this is because Sinha has not found the time to visit his constituency on too many occasions. He must consider himself to be lucky to have been given a ticket by the BJP. If he wins, he should stop delivering popular dialogues and start working for the people seriously.

Yours faithfully,
R.K. Singh, Patna

Parting shot

Sir — I have been reading about the Patna municipal commissioner being a strict man and the steps he has been taking from time to time. However, the basic work of collecting garbage from roads and localities is still not up to the mark. Each day, I see heaps of garbage piled up in one corner of the S.P. Verma Road and it remains there all day. No municipal worker is ever seen clearing it. A few days ago, I saw a tractor and a few men from the corporation collecting garbage at the Boring Canal Road locality at 12 noon. It is strange that garbage is collected at noon time when traffic along the road is maximum. Last week, I saw the same scene at the same place and at the same time. It is strange that the PMC is ignoring such a vital issue. One of the main jobs of a municipal corporation is to ensure that a city remains clean.

Yours faithfully,
Manoj Mishra, Patna