Ex-minister Master Gurbanta remembered
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 5
Former minister Master Gurbanta Singh was paid rich tributes on his 40th death anniversary at his native Dhaliwal village today.
His son and Jalandhar Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, grandsons Kartarpur MLA Surinder Singh Chaudhary and former PYC chief Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary organised an event to mark the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh described Master Gurbanta Singh as the messiah of the marginalised and downtrodden.
“He is still remembered as a great social reformer, educationist, able administrator and leader of the state,” he said.
He went back to recall his father’s political career. “It started in 1932, when society was badly gripped by the evil of casteism. He, along with his associates Babu Mangoo Ram and others, started a revolutionary tirade against these divisive forces under the aegis of the Adi-Dharam Mandal, Jalandhar. October 10, 1929, was the historic day when Master Gubanta Singh and his associates presented a memorandum to Sir Geoffrey Fitzervey de Montomorency, the then Governor of Punjab. This was the first attempt for the amelioration of the downtrodden community and has been hailed as the ‘Magna-Carta’ in the historic struggle for eradication of untouchability and inequality. The minister christened the Scheduled Castes communities as ‘Ad-dharmi’,” he said.
The MP further shared: “Master Gurbanta Singh was first elected to the Assembly of united Punjab in 1945 and remained a member till 1977. He was popular among people and was, hence, declared elected unopposed in the 1972 Vidhan Sabha elections. He remained in the Council of Ministers of the Khizar Hayyat Khan Tiwana Government before the Partition, then in Partap Singh Kairon and Giani Zail Singh governments during which he held various portfolios. He got abolished the law which debarred the SC community from purchasing land in their name known as the ‘Mutation Land Act’. He worked to get government vacant lands allotted to members of the SC community and to appoint a SC nambardar in every village.”
Santokh Singh Chaudhary said: “Besides, Master Gurbanta Singh’s major contribution was establishing Punjab Agricultural University at Ludhiana, which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to bring Green Revolution in the state. He held the Ministry of Agriculture portfolio for a decade.
He opened innumerable schools and technical and degree colleges in the Doaba region.”
MLAS Santokh Singh Bhalipur and Sushil Rinku, former ministers Amarjit S Samra and Mohinder Singh Kaypee, DC Varinder K Sharma, Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Rural SSP Navjot Singh Mahal, ADC Jasbir Singh and PPCC spokesman Navjot Dahiya were among those others present.
