The Dangs of Chheharta & legacy that endures

It was in the early 1950s that Communist Party of India leader Satya Pal Dang and his wife Vimla Dang made Chheharta, a small industrial suburb on the outskirts of Amritsar, their home. The Dangs never left, even during the long dark years of terrorism, choosing to invest their energies in selfless service of the people. Few public figures command respect across the political divide as the couple do, having gained a reputation across Punjab for probity in public life and their minimalistic lifestyle. Long after their demise, their legacy is intact, visible at an event held in Amritsar recently to commemorate Satya Pal Dang’s birth anniversary.

Dang’s victory over the then Congress Chief Minister, Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir, in the 1967 Assembly polls created a wave of jubilation across the state. For him, politics was never a matter of power and pelf as he infused a rare freshness in the political firmament. When he was inducted into the Cabinet in the United Front government, he chose to stay in the MLAs’ hostel and not the bungalow he was entitled to in Chandigarh. Whenever he would stop at a roadside dhaba, he would insist that his driver sit with him.

Back home, in Chheharta, he continued to live in the anteroom of the party office with Vimla Dang, his comrade-in-arms.

While Satya Pal Dang got elected as an MLA four times, Vimla Dang, too, was elected as an MLA in 1992.

Rattan Singh Randhawa, president of the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI), a splinter group of CPI (M), recalls his meeting with the couple in the late 1990s. “When, once, I went to meet Comrade Dang, Vimla was mending his kurta and said he needed a new one. Satya Pal would have none of it and insisted that it is was as good as a new one.”

CPI National Council member Amarjit Singh Asal mentions with pride the couple’s commitment to the principles they adhered to. “We were at least 12 CPI whole-timers in Amritsar district then. Despite getting MLAs’ pension, the Dangs would take only the amount that was paid to whole-timers by the party: Rs 2,500. They managed their personal expenses with only this amount. The remaining part of their pension was used for party work or public welfare,” he says.

Former CPI National Council member Harbhajan Singh, who was district secretary then, says, “I still remember Vimla behanji buying old clothes for Satya Palji from the footpaths in Hall Bazaar. These were then altered to fit him by a tailor who was a Communist too. At that time, Vimla was a former MLA and got a monthly pension of Rs 38,000 per month but would take home only Rs 2,000.”

On the issue of degeneration of society in general and political leaders in particular, Dang refrained from giving himself any credit for the unique example he had set. “The high courage of conviction and the level of principled involvement that one witnessed in the political practice of a large number of yesteryear politicians were basically products of the times they lived in,” he would say.

Born in 1920 at Ramnagar in Gujranwala district (now in Pakistan), he had a brilliant academic career, graduating from Government College, Lahore.

Dr Paramjit Singh Judge, former head of the sociology department at Guru Nanak Dev University, says that not much is known about Dang’s activities in the public arena during his younger days except for the fact that he was mentioned in the proceedings of a Syndicate meeting of Punjab University in Lahore in 1942. “That year, matric students started a protest complaining that their maths paper was out of syllabus. They went to the law college hostel to inform Dang, who was their senior, about the issue,” says Prof Judge, adding that it suggests that Dang was already an established student leader. The proceedings also suggested that Dang did not approve of the students’ action.

At 25, Dang became general secretary of the All India Students Federation (AISF) and moved to Bombay.

The Dangs shifted to Chheharta soon after their marriage in 1952. When Chheharta was made a municipality in 1953, Satya Pal was elected its first president. The couple repeatedly headed the local body. In fact, under the leadership of Vimla Dang, Chheharta became the first place in Punjab to have a creche for working-class women.

Former head of the English department at GNDU Dr Parminder Singh says workers came to the couple not only with their social and political problems, “but would also seek personal advice. They were much loved”.

He recalls how Dang highlighted the killing of a youth from Valtoha by the police. In this case, the police had brought a ‘dead terrorist’ to a government hospital in Tarn Taran. The man was alive and when the doctors pointed it out, the police took him back and later brought him dead to the hospital.

“The Supreme Court took notice of the Valtoha kand (scandal) after The Tribune published a report — ‘Killed once, twice’— on November 1, 1993, based on a statement of Satya Pal Dang. He never tolerated injustice. Though he was a leader of the working-class people, if a factory owner was being wronged, he would stand by him,” adds Harbhajan Singh.

Though Dang had made a name for himself when he defeated Musafir, he gained prominence at the national level due to his opposition to terrorism. A prolific writer, he faced threats from terrorists but never stopped criticising them for their wrongs.

The Dangs lived long enough to see the decline of the Communist parties as a force to reckon with in Punjab politics. None of the nearly 10 Communist parties active in the state has won any Lok Sabha or Assembly election after 2002. Among the reasons for the Communists losing ground include the breakup of parties, casualties during terrorism and the costly election process. According to Prof Judge, “Of all the reasons, the division of parties is the most plausible. It could have been a different scenario if they were united.” He says at present, “new kinds of social movements are building”.

Amarjit Asal lists the use of money power in elections as the biggest reason for the Communists failing to win any election. “In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, our total expenditure for the Amritsar seat was Rs 3 lakh. How can we compete with candidates who spend crores?” he says.

Rattan Singh Randhawa says “over 300 Communist leaders or workers were killed during terrorism in Punjab, and many more were forced to flee to other countries. The Communists could never recover from the loss as they have not been able to find committed party workers at the grassroot level”.

Vimla Dang died in 2009 and Satya Pal Dang in 2013. They did not have any children, money or property. The couple left an indelible legacy though, one that continues to inspire.