SALUTING PARTAP SINGH KAIRON (01.10.1901–06.02.1965): MAKER OF PROGRESSIVE PUNJAB
Chief Ministers (CMs) should be judged by history and not by short-term popularity. Good policies become popular in retrospect. Greatness is easier to achieve when enabling policies are not encumbered by cunning politics. Despite cataclysm of partition, food-deficit Punjab emerged as the food basket of India and a comparatively industrialised state by 1980 primarily due to stewardship of Partap Singh Kairon from January 1956 to June 1964.
Kairon was not only a CM; he was a phenomenon. His regime marked a change from the era when Tehsildar and Thanedar held sway over their area and the Collector was the benevolent lord to accountability of the government at different levels. Despite ill-health being his constant companion, he was working — files, interviews, conferences, travel — all the time. In manifest energy he could beat the smithereens out of men 20 years younger. He seemed to gain strength from his contacts with the people, especially the villagers. He was always accessible and invariably surrounded by people.
ASSASSINATION
Our 9th grade science teacher Surinder Singh announced assassination of Kairon on 6 February 1965 without any pretence of hiding his giggle. We did not know much about his stellar contributions except that the giggle was a manifestation of hatred and ridicule which was spewed against him and ‘Kairon-shahi’ during the last years of his life by some newspapers and opponents in other parties and the Congress. We received quality free education from resolute government schoolteachers. Surinder Singh was not one of them.
EDUCATION
Shortly after the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, Kairon had gone to USA for higher studies. He earned Master’s in Economics and Political Science from Universities of California and Michigan. The lad from Kairon village worked on California farms and Ford Motor Factory to fund his studies. He returned to India in 1929, hiding for two months in Amritsar to grow beard before going to his village.
LAYING FOUNDATIONS OF PUNJAB’S TRANSFORMATION
Kairon was a force of change for Punjab. He was the architect of post-independence Punjab comprising the present states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh (HP). He was a man of masses and had the firm backing of Prime Minister Nehru. He had earned his spurs as Punjab’s Minister for Rehabilitation and Development for seven years.
Kairon transformed Punjab by implementing enabling policies and administrative reforms and developing institutions. He envisioned development of agriculture and industry like California and Michigan in USA, respectively. He was aggressively secular, vehemently opposing Punjabi Suba (present Punjab) demand of Akalis. When the language controversy took a communal turn, his opposition to Hindi Raksha Samiti was steadfast.
DEVELOPING EFFICIENT CIVIL SERVICE
Kairon ran a lean, efficient, and responsive government. The first point of his Ten-Point Programme was “To provide efficient, clean, and impartial administration.” He was a firm administrator who prioritised efficiency over seniority. He mentored and was supported by competent, accountable, and un-politicised bureaucracy and technocracy. Secretaries were expected to objectively analyse proposals as per rules and facts. The CM and ministers made deviations, if any, owning responsibility for their actions.
When Jallandhar Division Commissioner Fletcher complained against Amritsar Deputy Commissioner RN Chopra, Kairon brought him in ‘Lion’s den’ as Secretary to CM. Impressed by his performance, he assigned his pet project of developing hill areas to him. The CM and his ‘Hilarious Commissioner’ spared no effort to develop what is now HP.
By this time, the Indian Civil Service was disappearing, and competent Indian Administrative Service officer got to leadership roles in departments and districts under Kairon’s watchful eye. These officers served Punjab and India admirably well for 30 years after his death.
Special efforts were made to recruit women. Focus of surplus budgets was on capital investments to generate growth and expand public goods. Nothing was free. Subsidies were unheard of. Striking Patwaris and Punjabi Suba agitators were dealt with a heavy hand. Kairon tried to root out corruption (dishonest, unsocial, efficiency-impairing practices) but tolerated ‘wangling’ (game of life, commerce, and politics to be exploited with skill and objective). When a Chief Engineer, who was also Secretary to Punjab Government, was arrested, Kairon remarked “This means the Government is in Jail” and appointed ICS/IAS officers as Department Secretaries.
EXPANDING QUALITY EDUCATION
Kairon had a strong belief in the centrality of education for uplifting left-behind sections of society. He established Kurukshetra, Punjabi and Punjab Agricultural Universities (PAU). He brought Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research to Punjab. He set up Sainik Schools and Industrial Training Institutes. School education was expanded and made free.
INVIGORATING AGRICULTURE
Realizing his mistake in appointing a mediocre Hardwari Lal as Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Kurukshetra University, Kairon appointed a competent administrator PN Thapar as the founder VC of PAU and gave him a free hand and liberal funding. Thapar’s job was to make PAU a magnet for attracting and retaining the best talent by offering attractive salaries and promotions. The day PM Nehru inaugurated PAU, Thapar was talent-scouting in US universities. Within a few years PAU became the cradle of green revolution.
Kairon implemented land (consolidation of land holdings, ownership rights to tenants, 12 ha land ceiling) and agriculture marketing reforms, construction of Bhakra dam, canals and drains to provide the underpinnings for transformation of Punjab agriculture. He promoted poultry and piggery and set up milk plants.
DEVELOPING INDUSTRY
Kairon aggressively courted industrial projects. These included a fertilizer and heavy water factory at Nangal, a sugar factory at Dhuri and the HMT factory at Pinjore. He brought Indo-Swiss Training Centre to Punjab. He developed two large industrial estates at Ludhiana and Faridabad. Smaller industrial estates were set up at Jallandhar, Amritsar, Moga, Phagwara, Panipat and Batala.
BLIND SPOTS
Kairon was a man of strong loyalties. He never forgot a friend or broke his word. Some persons took advantage of his confidence, giving him a bad name. He trusted some officers, who had a flair for immediate actions and ostensible results, far too much. The 1962 election was won with some strain and untidiness, especially his own constituency. When his Chief Secretary told him that his reputation was being sullied by his sons and officials connected with them, Kairon replied that his family was blaming him that his sons were unable to achieve their potential because they were CM’s sons. He eventually paid a heavy price for not keeping his sons on a tight leash.
Kairon was abrasive when rubbed the wrong way. Overtime, the clout of his opponents grew. Three probes looked into complaints against him. A fortnight after Nehru’s death he resigned. He was hounded by his opponents, family properties were raided, and the compound of his ancestral home was dug out to find the hidden gold, but nothing was recovered. The main findings of the Das Commission were that he did not control misconduct by his sons, certain colleagues and subordinate officials and a government doctor had accompanied the diabetic Chief Minister on official trips!
Kairon was assassinated near Rai while returning to Chandigarh after meeting PM Shastri for possible appointment as Home or Defence Minister of India. Maligned during the last years of his life, after death Kairon ambled his way to the hearts of grateful Punjabis.
Successor CMs did not disrupt the institutional architecture and the development programs launched by Kairon. By 1980 Punjab was the Number 1 State in per capita income and agriculture, and the Number 2 in industry. It was known for relatively good governance, prudent use of fiscal resources, enabling policies, progressive structural reforms, and efficient execution. It was a role model for other states.
CONSEQUENCES OF ABANDONING KAIRON’S TOOL KIT
During the last four decades successive governments have abandoned the tool kit which had served Punjab well for 35 years following independence. Freebies, ignoring competence and integrity in appointments to key positions and politicisation of civil service have hurt the once-progressive Punjab. The results are obvious. At the time of division of Punjab in 1966, the average Punjabi was 1.5 times richer than the Haryanvi. Now a Haryanvi is more than 1.5 times richer than a Punjabi. Punjab’s multidimensional decline is disappointing for a state that used to boast of prosperity. In unemployment, substance use, mental health and pollution issues it ranks higher than the national average.
In 2018–19, per capita income of a Punjabi slipped below national average. In terms of per capita capital expenditure, debt trapped Punjab is at the bottom, below every state and union territory in the country.
It is not only that agriculture has lost its sheen, once thriving industrial estates of Gobindgarh, Ludhiana, Phagwara, Moga and Jallandhar are fast turning into a rust belt due to lack of new investment, crumbling infrastructure, high recurring costs, poor work ethics, gangsterism, and entrenched rent-seeking. Exodus of trade and industry continues. The prevalent anti-private sector tirade is a stark divergence from the courting of Oswals, Munjhals, Pahwas, Purewals, Nandas, Jaijees, Gurmukh Singh, Manmohan Singh, and others by Kairon for setting up industries in Punjab.
Kairon actualised a medium- and long-term vision for Punjab. Farsightedness of present political leaders of all hues on the contrary is fixed on the next assembly, Lok Sabha, Panchayat, municipal or by-election, which is rarely more than a year away and must be won by promising the moon!
Partap Singh Kairon rendered great and meritorious service to his people. Tragedy of Punjab is that the headstrong visionary with compassion for the ordinary Punjabi was murdered on the national highway in bright glare of Indian sun.
