M A I L B A G

Plight of Punjab archives

THIS is with reference to the editorial “Irreparable loss” and the related news items in The Tribune on January 29, 30, drawing attention to the pathetic plight of the Punjab State Archives at Patiala.

On behalf of the community of historians and researchers, we thank The Tribune for exposing the shocking mishandling of the irreplaceable archival documents and rare books in the process of shifting them from Rajindra Kothi to the Punjab Languages Department. We are particularly grateful to your paper for forcefully pleading for the preservation and proper maintenance of archival records, which constitute our heritage, rather our memory whose loss could eventually prove very costly to society.

It was heartening to note that PUDA has stopped tampering with the Rajindra and that the Archives Department has stopped the “transfer process” for the present. We strongly feel that steps should be taken first to immediately bring the precious records back to where they were sent from and then to catalogue and maintain these records in a state of easy access to researchers. If they could work in a more pleasant environment, it would only serve as an additional incentive.

P.L. Mehra (member, Standing Committee, IHRC), J.S. Grewal (former VC, GNDU), Kiran Pawar, J.K. Sharma, Reeta Grewal, Veena Sachdeva, Supriya Verma, Indu Banga (Deptt. of History, P.U., Chandigarh), Sheena Pall, Sasha, Kuldeep, Charu Plaha, Researchers, P.U., Chandigarh

Reorganise state archives

It is in a state of deep anguish that we are responding to the news item on shifting the Punjab State Archives to a destination which is yet unknown.

Perhaps the bureaucrats and politicians of Punjab have not yet learnt to cherish the value of their archival material. For a researcher of the past society, culture, religion and values of Punjab, the State Archives have proffered material of inestimable value. It was with some reason that scholars of the eminence of Dr S. N. Bannerjee, Dr Ganda Singh and V.S. Suri had decided to house these records of the past in one of the heritage buildings of Patiala. They nurtured and enriched the archives with great love and diligence. The library and the archival material have been utilised by every historian of name. For any scholar who has done research on any topic related to Punjab from India or abroad, a visit to the State Archives has been absolutely necessary. All members of the history departments, both past and present, have produced research works and made valuable contribution to the world of scholarship after making use of materials at the State Archives.

It must be kept in mind that whenever the records have seen shifted, a lot many documents have been either pilfered or damaged or have just “disappeared”. Intriguingly, a large number of precious documents are now stacked in the offices of the micro-film companies in Switzerland and the New York State Library. And kindly do not take the information with scepticism that scholars from the USA, the UK and Australia have already managed to procure a lot of material through questionable means.

We therefore appeal to the Government of Punjab (1) that the records of the past heritage should remain in the heritage building; (2) that the archives should be reorganised on scientific lines under the competent guidance of the National Archives of India; (3) that a whole-time Director with professional competence be appointed to look after the archives; and (4) that a research room should be opened for the exclusive use of researchers.

We also take this opportunity to appeal to the Chief Minister to kindly look into the matter and give an assurance to the academic community of Punjab that the government would desist from taking any mis-step which proves to be detrimental to the cause of the academic life of our universities. Any hasty step to transfer the archives is bound to result in losses which it will be very difficult to redress.

Prof Harish Sharma, Prof Joginder Singh, Prof Sulakhan Singh, Dr Sukhwant Singh, Dr Amandeep, Prof Gurdev Singh, Prof Radha Sharma, Dr S.S. Sohal, Mrs Sarabjeet Kaur, Faculty of History, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar

More space for readers

The Tribune deserves kudos for giving a new look to its editorial and op-ed pages and allotting more space to readers’ letters. The changes certainly justify your claim of being “reader friendly”.

However, your Saturday and Sunday magazines (“Windows” and “Spectrum”, respectively) do not seem to reflect your new policy in their letters columns. The space for readers’ feedback has, in fact, been drastically reduced during the past six months or so. In “Windows”, the letters column is now carried only once in a while, while earlier it was published every week.

Similar is the position in “Spectrum”. The column is not only irregular but also carries letters most of which are related to women’s page only! Why the magazine has been doing so is beyond my comprehension. I have never seen any other magazine or newspaper where readers’ views pertaining to only one section/column are welcomed.

SURINDRA MIGLANI, Kaithal

Masterji’s statue

The statue of Master Tara Singh, recently installed near the Parliament House in New Delhi, remained embroiled in a controversy for many years.

Masterji was an outspoken and upright leader, who dominated the Sikh politics for about four decades. He was a strong protagonist of Punjabi Suba. Selflessness was the hallmark of his personality.

Instead of feeling disheartened when some of his close associates left him, he pursued his Panthic and political activities more vigorously. His determination often reminds me of the verse: “Main akela hee chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar/Log saath aatey gaey aur kaarvaan banata gaya.”

He was so fearless that he cut the Pakistani flag with his sword and shouted “Pakistan murdabad” in the presence of a large number of big leaders of the Muslim League in Lahore in 1947. He spurned Mr M.A. Jinnah’s proposal to join Pakistan under a specific arrangement.

Immediately after partition, there was a big gettogether of the leaders of different parties. Mr Diwan Singh Maftoon, Editor of The Riyaasat, told Masterji that the meat served at the dinner was of the goats forcibly taken from the displaced Muslims, who were going to Pakistan. Expressing his displeasure on the cruel treatment meted out to those people in distress, the veteran Akali leader left the function without eating anything.

The said statue has been installed to commemorate him. It is, however, mentioned that Sikhism does not allow the worship of idols. Is not the installing of a statue of a Sikh against “Gur maryada” when iconolatry is forbidden? Master Tara Singh was a stickler for strict religious discipline. Could not some institution be set up after his name to honour the memory of this great son of Punjab?

“Yaadgaar-e-zamaanah hain ye log.

Yaad rakhna fasaanah hain ye log.”

BHAGWAN SINGH, Qadian