Recollections of the Akali past
Translated anecdotes on the life of Giani Kartar Singh, the president of Akali Dal during the Partition, and Mohan Singh Tur, the president of Akali Dal in the early 70s.
Foreword
Giani Kartar Singh was the president of Akali Dal during 1947 and was a leading proponent for the creation of a Punjabi suba. Mohan Singh Tur was the president of Akali Dal after Sant Fateh Singh after supporting him through the Master Tara Singh-Sant Fateh Singh schism.
A village tale
Giani Kartar Singh, also known as ‘the brain of the Sikhs,’ often quoted this tale during his speeches:
There were once two brothers in a village who had a serious argument. The elder was crafty and the younger one was a simpleton. They owned one buffalo and one blanket. The elder one proposed a settlement that the blanket would be kept by the younger brother during daytime and by him during night time, and the buffalo would be split by the front half be given to the younger and the bottom half be given to the elder. The younger brother agreed, and fed the buffalo fodder all day while the older brother would obtain the milk for himself. The younger kept freezing through the night and the older would sleep comfortably during the night. The younger brother was frustrated and asked that he was not satisfied with this agreement. He went to some village elder for advice and he proposed that since you own the front half of the buffalo and you feed it all day, every time the elder brother goes to milk hit it with a club on the face. As for the blanket, since you own it during the day dip it in cold water before giving it to him during the night. The younger brother agreed to this advice and within a few hours, the elder brother started sharing both the milk and the blanket fairly.
Imprisonment as a 17 year old
Karnail Singh Panjoli’s (current SGPC leader) perspective on the Akali leadership during the Punjabi suba movement
I was a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal since childhood. My great grandfather, my grandfather and father were all Akalis. One of my most important memories is when I was 17 years old. I had joined the jatha of Jathedar Mohan Singh Tur (then President of Shiromani Akali Dal) and was imprisoned in the Karnal jail. This was during the Punjabi Suba movement. There were two chairs and one table upon which the jail munshi (clerical officer) was leaning and filling the jail register. The opposite chair was occupied by Mohan Singh Tur. I was standing nearby and what I witnessed would dramatically shape my consciousness for the rest of my life. The officer asked him ‘Jathedar Sahib, what is your name?’ Tur answered: ‘Jathedar Mohan Singh Tur.’ The Munshi asked ‘What is your father’s name?’ Tur answered ‘Guru Gobind Singh Sahib.’ The Munshi then asked: ‘What is your mother’s name?’ Tur replied ‘Mata Sahib Kaur.’ Lastly, the Munshi asked ‘What is your address?’ and Tur replied with ‘I am a resident of Sri Anandpur Sahib’ After Tur, Jathedar Rattan Singh Lahuran came and sat on that chair. He would register the same details as Tur. This was followed by Sardara Singh Kohli and then Kartar Singh Takkar (prominent Akali leaders of the time). Following them, it was my turn. Tur then spoke to me: ‘Young man, you should do as we all have done’. There, in the jail of Karnal, for the first time I confessed that ‘My name is Karnail Singh Panjoli, my father is Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, my mother is Mata Sahib Kaur and I am a resident of Anandpur.’ I had thus received from that Karnal jail the spark of the love of the Path (panthprasti).