His own courage his ‘backing’

Surinderjit Singh Sandhu       

BE it top anchors or debaters, most of them are curious to know who is ‘behind’ Kanhaiya Kumar. Whenever an individual, that too from a humble background, dares to take on the mightiest of the land, he is suspected to be working for some powerful people/lobby with vested interests. Napoleon used to call himself the ‘man of destiny’ despite his super-human attributes. Circumstances produce icons and heroes, who make people follow them. Men of destiny have been seen in all ages and all times. The statement of the great martyr of India, Madan Lal Dhingra, is significant in this context. Asked about the complicity of any other revolutionary in the murder of Curzon Wyllie, he said: ‘I have conspired with none, but my own conscience, and consulted none, but my duty.’ I am proud to belong to the city where this great man was born.

In every general election, it was common for people to speculate if the CIA or KGB was behind the victory of a party.

There was a young IAS officer, who was posted as SDM in a big city of Punjab — his first appointment. This young man worked hard and made his presence felt in every nook and corner of the subdivision within a short period of his posting. Roads were widened by removing encroachments; powerful and corrupt revenue officials were suspended; government land under the possession of mighty politicians was vacated; conduits of revenue officials for registration works were raided and caught with bribe money, to the tune of about Rs 1 lakh a day. Document writers, whose writ ran large in the tehsil and sub-tehsil, were made to face criminal cases. 

One day, my distant relatives came to me one day, urging me to speak to the SDM regarding the release of their impounded registration deed. ‘He does not listen to MLAs and MPs. Even ministers feel diffident to speak to him for any favour. He does not fear anybody; goes to raid liquor vends alone with his driver late at night.’ I knew that I was not going to do anything to help them. They continued: ‘Bhaji, people say he is a 6'4” tall Jat from Haryana and always keeps a pistol with him. He is a close relative of the Chautalas, and so even Badal saheb is at his beck and call.’ ‘Achha?’ I enquired. ‘We tried our best to find some sifarish, but in vain. So we thought, he is your junior....’ 

I politely told them: ‘The SDM belongs to Haryana, but is not related to the Chautalas. He is a Yadav, not a Jat, and belongs to a poor rural family. He is honest, fears no one, and acts only as per rules, come what may. He can spend many sleepless nights to help genuine sufferers. He is 5’5” tall and very frail. But is mentally very strong. He has the backing of no one but his own attributes — a pure soul and a genius. I cannot tell him to do something wrong and cut a sorry figure in front of this ideal man. And he does not carry any pistol.’