Poet, nature lover and freedom fighter Sher Jung remembered

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 27

Freedom fighter Col Sher Jung was remembered at a function, organised by the Himachal Pradesh People’s Progressive Group, to celebrate his birth anniversary here today. Installation of his statues was sought in Nahan and Shimla.

Former ADGP KS Sadial, IAS KS Narang (retd), Brig LS Thakur, Col Harish Chauhan and a number of other dignitaries remembered the services rendered by the great patriot and paid rich tributes to him. Shakti Singh Chandel, president of the HPPG, distributed his book “Sher Jung–The warrior son of India” among the members.

Chandel said former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar appreciated the initiative of the group, adding that he had already written an extensive letter on October 21, 2016, to former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, and again another letter dated May 22, 2019, to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur with a request to install the statue of Sher Jung in Nahan. The state government has not responded so far.

Sher Jung was born in Nahan on November 27, 1906, to Chowdhary Pratap Singh, who was then the collector to the princely state of Sirmaur. He left schooling in protest against the misconduct of a teacher when he was in Class IV. He killed a man-eater tiger at the age of 14 and spent his formative years with a French tutor, who infused in him the spirit of French Revolution. In Lahore, he joined the Hindostan Socialist Republican Association and Sardar Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Chandrashekhar Azad were his close associates.

In 1929, posters were pasted in all cities and towns of India and the British government launched a massive search for an Indian, who had stopped a train at Ahmedgarh near Ludhiana, to loot it. It was Sher Jung, who did it as per the direction of his party with a purpose to use the money to buy arms and other logistics to forcibly free Bhagat Singh and his associates from the Central Jail, Lahore.

The clueless British police announced an award of Rs 30,000 on his head and Sher Jung disguised for months and finally surfaced before the police on the direction of his father. He was tried and sentenced to death. However, later the death sentence was commuted to life term. He spent 14 years in jail and four years in confinement in Delhi. Post-Independence, he organised refugee camps in Delhi, for which he was praised by Jawaharlal Nehru. He passed away on December 15, 1996.

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