I got the list Captain, and you had promised!

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CHANDIGARH: Of all the ministers in the Akali Dal, of all the leaders around Parkash Singh Badal, there was one person that journalists taunted the most in private: “Why don’t you speak out against turning the Akali Dal into one family’s fiefdom?” When Sukhbir Singh Badal was made the party president, journalists accosted him at his residence: “Why are you not commenting what you really feel?”

Last Sunday, even as Captain Kanwaljit Singh lay gasping for life in the PGI and hordes of thousands gathered outside, shocked journalists were recalling their many encounters with the Akali leader. The doctors were maintaining that the fight is on, but those who had information from the accident site in Kharar and the local civil hospital there where he was taken knew the grim reality. “I feel bad that I always accused him of not saying openly what he felt about the degeneration in the party and the way it was being led, but you know the reason why we all did that? Because Captain Kanwaljit Singh was one person in whom we still had a hope that he has the guts to take on the rot in the party. Show me now whom can we expect to call a spade a spade?” a journalist told me.

The Captain is no more. He played his innings, and after the first eulogizing accounts of his tenure, there will be more dispassionate analyses in the times to come. But he will always be remembered as the man who had earned enough strength and goodwill to be a potential serious obstacle to those who wanted to take the party into a wayward direction of feudal control and unprincipled politics.

“Show me someone who heard abusive language from Captain Kanwaljit’s lips,” said a senior Akali leader. The poise and the affability, the charm and the warmth is something everyone remembers.

And by God! Was the man candid? I called him up on the morning when Sukhbir Singh Badal was named as the Deputy Chief Minister. He was still to take oath. “Captain Sahib, vadhayee hove. Sardar Parkash Singh Badal da family planning operation safal ho gaya hai. Deputy CM deliver kar ditta hai.” He laughed out a hearty laugh. “Kar lai mazaak,” he said, and let out a loud guffaw. Then added: “Par ikk gall dus. Why does so much blatantism succeed? Why do people gulp it all? And don’t say why people like me gulp it. Politicians do many things and should be judged on the whole, not the parts.” This was a serious question, and I knew it was possible to speak truth to power when you were speaking to Captain Kanwaljit Singh.

“They succeed Sir in such family planning operations because we are all a big family of family planners. Dhindsa Sahib planned for Paramjit, you are planning for Jasjit Bunny. With so many family planners around, why should the family head not plan one?”

He was silent for a moment, and then let out a loud guffaw. In that laughter, you could always be sure that he has not missed the point.

Captain Kanwaljit Singh was among the last frontier of gentlemen in politics. There will be questions about his role in the dark days of Punjab and there will be analysis and opinions on his equation with the Centre, the basis of his lifelong deference to Surjit Singh Barnala, and his high acceptability levels among the Indian establishment, but there will also be respect for the way the man had evolved over the years.

He was always sure of the ground he stood on, he was not dependent on someone for his Assembly ticket, even when he lost to Preneet Kaur in Patiala in 2004, he had to be defeated with the help of party insiders as rivals.

But he knew how to build bridges. At the height of Amarinder Singh-Parkash Singh Badal bitterness, Kanwaljit remained untouched by the bitterness. He was bothered by issues concerning democracy, human rights, the power levers slipping outside the hands of those who were wedded to the panthic cause, the issue of increasing patit numbers in the Sikh community.

One of his biggest achievements which perhaps the Indian media failed to mention at all was his success in escaping the fate of most politicians: the allegation of corruption. Even his worst enemies never accused him of corruption. At a time when Punjab’s body polity is riddled with corruption allegations flying all around, this is quite an achievement.

As Cooperatives Minister, it was easy to engage him on any pro-people issue. In mid-January when he told me his department was planning to hold a national level meeting of Cooperatives Ministers and secretaries to focus on farm credit policies, I found it a good opportunity to ask him about a provision that was creating problems for those ensured under the department’s Bhai Ghaniaya health insurance scheme. While the insurers paid by cheque directly to private hospitals, patients were expected to pay cash to civil hospitals and then get reimbursement from insurers. “Please do not mention this to journalists. Then the newspapers will start splashing it and vested interests will come into play. But I will remove the lacunae right away,” he said. Sure enough he immediately called his Financial Commissioner B C Gupta and told him to rectify the situation.

It was the Sikh in him that ensured that the Sanjivini scheme be renamed Bhai Ghanaiya scheme.

Generations of politicians and journalists have sat in his Sector 9 Chandigarh home drawing room and discussed politics and society. A huge painting of the tenth Sikh master has stayed there for years now. “This is my inspiration. I look at it when I need strength, and I get it. Anytime I feel weak, I just have to remember a hymn from Gurbani and I feel better. I am sure the Guru will guide our community through touch times. I am sure the Akali Dal will emerge a better party, a party truly for the welfare of the panth,” he used to tell me.

The thousands who thronged the cremation grounds in Chandigarh on Monday were proof enough of the popularity of the man. For those engaging with the way the Akali polity is going, there will always be a void. Whom will you now accuse of not speaking up against the powerful taking the party away from its agenda?

Adieu Captain Kanwaljit Singh. You did try to be a good Sikh. What matters is that you tried. Akal Purakh is merciful, and we pray that you reside at His feet in peace and eternal bliss. Catch up with you some day up there for a quote about some panthic issue, and hope to hear your hearty laughter and feel your arm around my shoulder as you admonish me: “Phir baaz nahi aunda tu, phir shararat karda hain mere naal. O madad karya kar saadi.” I am still here Captain. You left. How far was Kharar from Chandigarh? And you had promised to push through so many more reforms in the cooperatives sector. And you had asked me to make a list of the ideas that are implementable. What do I do with the list now? You promised, Captain. But you promised!

But then death has its own logic. It is just that we do not understand it.