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The man who will be PM — in pictures
SAD elated over Manmohan’s election
Ludhianvis from Dhan Pothohar elated Father foresaw
a PM
‘I was sure Manmohan would rise one day’
How friends view Manmohan
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Jhelum gives India its second PM Chandigarh, May 19 Mr Inder Kumar
Gujral, first Punjabi to become the Prime Minister of India, also migrated from Jhelum at the time of the Partition. Situated in north of Rawalpindi, this historic district has produced many eminent Punjabi writers, bureaucrats and even defence officers. The Jhelum forms its boundary on the East and to South lies the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Mr Gujral was accorded a warm reception when he visited his ancestral district after relinquishing the office of the Prime Minister of India a few years ago. Both Mr Gujral and Dr Manmohan Singh were born in Jhelum district. While Gujrals settled in Jalandhar, Dr Manmohan Singh’s family made Amritsar its home district. Last time when Mr Gujral became the Prime Minister, Akalis went overboard and hailed his appointment and announced support for him. This time, too, they did not lag behind in lapping up the “son of Punjab” by declaring full support to him. “We expect the new Prime Minister to visit Amritsar to pay obeisance both at Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir,” remarked a senior police officer and added that the state police was geared up to make arrangements for the anticipated visit. “India has proved to the world that minorities have as much say in the political system as in any other liberal democracy elsewhere,” says Mr Tarlochan Singh, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities. “Every Punjabi in general and Sikh in particular feels elated at Dr Manmohan Singh’s becoming the Prime Minister of the country.” Mr Umrao Singh, a former MP and Punjab Minister, said the election of Dr Manmohan Singh as leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party
(CPP) was a big slap on the face of the Akalis, who had been projecting the Congress as an anti-Sikh party. “It was the Congress which had made Giani Zail Singh, also a Sikh, the President of India. And now it has honoured the community by making Dr Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister. Dr Manmohan Singh has made the Sikh community proud and now the people of this region can hold their head high because of the respect he enjoys the world over,” he added.
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SAD elated over Manmohan’s election Chandigarh, May 19 Secondly, Dr Manmohan Singh is free from any sort of bias against the Akalis, especially the Akali leadership. Otherwise, there is a long history of Akali-Congress confrontation. However, it is a political compulsion of the Akalis to support Dr Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister because he will be the first Sikh to hold this office. When Mrs Indira Gandhi had put up Giani Zail Singh as the presidential candidate, the Akalis — forgetting for a while that he was a Congress candidate — voted for him as he was the first Sikh to hold such a prestigious office. The Akali leadership has information that Dr Manmohan Singh had cautioned the Amarinder Government for not going beyond a limit against Mr Badal and his family as it could boomerang on the party. Akali leaders say Dr Manmohan Singh had also opposed the arrest of Mr Badal by the Vigilance Bureau. Because of this reason, Capt Amarinder Singh asked the bureau not to arrest Mr Badal and his son but put up a challan in the court against them.
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Ludhianvis from Dhan Pothohar elated Ludhiana, May 19 A regular visitor to the city, he was last here to preside over a function organised by the Dhan Pothohar Brotherhood and to attend the marriage of the daughter of a relative. He also presided over a lecture of intellectuals on May 6, which was organised by Prof Satish Sharma of Arya College. Talking to The Tribune, his nephew Kanwarjit Singh Sahni, who runs a cloth house in Kapurthala, was happy that his uncle would now be the Prime Minister. “It is a great feeling and the people in our neighbourhood in Vasant Vihar are pouring in to convey their greetings. We have also called up our aunt and congratulated her, through she was surprised yet happy at this unexpected development,” he added. He said he last met his uncle at the marriage function of one of his cousins in Ludhiana. “Dr Manmohan Singh took part in all the ceremonies, though he is a reserved man. He takes keen interest in the affairs of the family and does not hesitate to give his opinion in times of crisis,” he
added. Amanpreet Singh, another nephew of Dr Manmohan Singh, said he had come to know about the latest development on the television. “It is a great feeling and all members of the family are now greeting one another. Our neighbours in South City, too, are pouring in with greetings. The telephone lines at our gas agency in Miller Ganj and at our home were held up for two hours,” he added. He said that his aunt had invited them to Delhi and witness the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Manmohan Singh. He said he would be leaving tonight with all members of the family. Prof Satish Sharma, who knows Dr Manmohan Singh for the past 12 years, said he rightly deserved to occupy the august chair and would take the country to greater heights. “He is a patient listener and has a good grasp of everything going around him. Another little known fact about him is that he is frugal in his lifestyle and dietary habits.” Recalling his last visit a few weeks ago, Mr
N.S. Nanda said it was not well known that he is a Kohli and hails from Chakwal in Pakistan. This region would now have the distinction of sending two Prime Ministers — Mr I.K. Gujral and Dr Manmohan Singh — to the highest elected post in the country. The entire brotherhood was happy and would organise a public reception in his honour, he said. He added that the soft-spoken leader was well versed with the ills plaguing the country and would work towards taking the reforms launched by him to their logical end. It was a great honour for the Sikh community which had never seen someone among them elected as the Prime Minister.
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Father foresaw
a PM Amritsar, May 19 Dr Manmohan Singh is the eldest of the four brothers and six sisters and was born in Gaya village in Peshawar (Pakistan) in 1934 where his father was a dry fruit merchant. After Partition, his family moved to Amritsar and continued the business in Majith Mandi. After completing his schooling, Dr Manmohan Singh did his graduation from the local Hindu College and moved to Khalsa College, Hoshiarpur, to do his postgraduation in economics. According to his brother, Mr Surjit Singh, their father wanted Manmohan Singh to join his dry fruit business, but he wanted to pursue higher studies. It was his highly motivated commitment to continue his economics studies that he requested his father to send him to London where he did his Ph.D in economics from Oxford University.
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Celebrations in Amritsar Amritsar, May 19 The celebrations were not confined to Dr Manmohan Singh’s family. Ms Surjit Kaur, mother of Mr Marjit Singh Bhatia, a local
jouralist, recalled their old family ties. She said Dr Manmohan Singh’s mother was like a sister to her. A former Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr
R.L. Bhatia, welcomed Dr Manmohan Singh’s appointment as Prime Minister. In a statement issued here today, Mr Bhatia said he (Dr Singh) had done the city proud. Mr Bhatia said Dr Manmohan Singh would definitely give top priority to the development of the city, besides looking after trade and industry. Mr Bhatia congratulated the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, for taking a courageous step by appointing a highly respected economist as the Prime Minister. He said this would enhance the image of the country.
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‘I was sure Manmohan would rise one day’ Hoshiarpur, May 19 Meanwhile, old residents of this city still remember an affable Dr Manmohan Singh and his moving about on a green Hercules bicycle when he was a lecturer at Government College here. “Well done, Manmohan. It is a good news. He still remembers me and had enquired about my health from a friend recently. He was a member of the Tagore Literary Circle, of which I was the in charge. Apart from carrying on with his MA, he was a regular member and a visitor at the circle’s meetings,” recalled Mr Bharadwaj. Mr Bharadwaj said: “He was an extraordinary student and a cheerful and calm person, who used to interact with everybody. His teachers had predicted that he would rise one day and I am happy that the day has arrived during my lifetime.” He maintained that Dr Manmohan Singh was a favourite student of Dr K.K. David, in charge of the Economics Department, and Prof Bodh Raj of Punjab University college from where he did his MA (economics) in 1954.
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How friends view Manmohan Chandigarh, May 19 He has keenly observed Punjab’s politics, economy and governance and has also monitored the performance of successive governments in implementation of reforms, policies and programmes. His contemporaries have fond memories of him. Prof
S.N. Ahuja, a former Chairman of the Department of Economics at Punjab University, recalls: “He was always a voracious reader. Books seemed to be his only friends and reading the only hobby. He is very nice person and ever helpful. He is a man of few words and hardworking”. Staying on the Panjab University campus, Prof
M.L. Lakhanpal was his neighbour. He has since retired as the Vice-Chancellor of Jammu University. Asked about his impressions of Dr Manmohan Singh, he replied: “I am at least 16 years elder to him. As a neighbour, we were good friends but he is a great friend”. “After I became the Vice-chancellor of Jammu University in 1986, I found that the university had no money. I went to Delhi and met Dr Manmohan Singh, who was then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. I asked him how do I run the place when there is no money. I asked for around Rs 20 lakh. He sanctioned Rs 2 crore, Prof Lakhanpal recalls. “On return, I told this to Governor Jagmohan and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. They just laughed it off. But within a week, I got Rs 2 crore”. Prof Lakhanpal said: “In honesty, he is super, above board. And he still walks very fast as he used to those days”. Reacting to the news of Dr Manmohan Singh ready to occupy the high office, Panjab University Director (Public Relations) Sanjiv Tewari said: “We are privileged that one of our alumni is to head the country”. Prof
V.K. Gupta, a student of Dr Manmohan Singh, said: “It is difficult to find any fault in my teacher. He first taught me when I was in MA (second) year and later guided me as Ph.D student. We were also colleagues later. I owe my career to him. He was so humane that he would attend even to minor problems that we faced as students. We were always scared of disturbing him at work. He was a good and able teacher”, Prof Gupta teaches at Panjab University. Dr S.S. Johl, Vice-Chairman of the Punjab Planning Board, said: “He is the best bet for the country. No one else knows the economic pulse of the country better than him. He stands tall among politicians and intellectuals. He is the best gift the Congress can give to the United Progressive Alliance. Personally, I would have had no objection even if Ms Sonia Gandhi was to become the Prime Minister. Now that she has declined, her choice of him is the best”. Some of his family members live in Amritsar. He is the Chairman of the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh. During interactions at seminars and round-table conferences, he would freely express his concerns over Punjab’s governance and sustainability of agriculture. Recently, when he was in Chandigarh for a seminar on reforms in Punjab Dr Manmohan Singh told TNS: “The Punjab economy is not growing as fast as earlier. Rather it has trailed the national economy. Education and health are very important. We need to have a blend of traditional and modern technology. It should not be taken as traditional versus modern”.
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