Sher Jung's pivotal role

Rajendra Rajan

THIS is a small slice from the numerous narratives on Sher Jung, an ardent, passionate freedom fighter, eminent author and conservationist. Soon after Independence, he was entrusted with the arduous task of preventing communal riots in Delhi and other parts of the country by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

I was the District Public Relations Officer at Nahan in Himachal Pradesh in the 1980s and had an opportunity to interact with Sher Jung on a few occasions. In his eighties then, he was hale and hearty, with plenty of anecdotes to narrate when prodded. I had heard the tales of his valour and daunting spirit, but he was not the one to delve in self-glory.

Born in 1906 at Nahan, Sher Jung had spent several years of his youthful life beginning 1930 in jail. He was sentenced to death in the Ahmedgarh (near Ludhiana) train robbery case on October 15, 1929. The death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Sher Jung and his associates wanted to loot the safe of the train, like in Kakori, to procure arms and ammunition as part of their plan to storm Lahore jail to get Bhagat Singh freed. The train robbery bid proved to be unsuccessful. In 1947, a locality in Ludhiana near Clock Tower was named after Sher Jung for his heroics.

Sher Jung’s entire life had been a saga of upheavals. His father, Chaudhary Pratap Singh, was the Diwan of the erstwhile state of Sirmaur. He had groomed his son to be a skilled marksman; at the age of 15, Sher Jung had killed a tiger. Later in life, though, he dedicated himself to save the tiger.

Around 1925, his parents sent him to his sister Vidya Devi’s house in Lahore due to his rebellious temperament. Her husband, Prof Udaivir Shastri, was a diehard revolutionary. Bhagat Singh and his associates were regular visitors. In Lahore, Sher Jung joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Earlier, he led a march from Paonta Sahib to Nabha to join Jaito Morcha, launched by the Akalis to restore the throne to Maharaja Ripudaman, who was forced to abdicate on July 9, 1923. In 1930, Sher Jung met Batukeshwar Dutt in jail, who instilled in him courage and confidence.

An interesting story narrated by Sher Jung was about a young girl who had embraced the spirit of nationalism and patriotism. Nirmala Devi was working as a reporter for The Tribune in the 1930s. She would be sent to Lahore jail to interview the freedom fighters. That’s where she met Sher Jung and both fell in love. When he was released in 1938, they got married. But as World War II broke out, he along with several other national leaders was again put behind bars from 1940 to 1944.

In 1944, Sher Jung was released but remained confined within Delhi’s Civil Lines as a preventive measure till Independence. No one was willing to rent out a house to a diehard revolutionary, he recalled, as this could invite trouble from the British. Having no shelter, he started living in a tent, along with his wife and children. Buta Singh, owner of a huge estate, offered a burnt cottage on which Sher Jung was allowed to raise a hut at a place known as Khyber Pass in Civil Lines. The area was dominated by Muslims.

Amidst an atmosphere of turbulence, fear and agony, thousands of refugees flooded Delhi within a few weeks of August 15, 1947. Pandit Nehru had great admiration for Sher Jung and picked him for the job of controlling communal riots. He was appointed the Magistrate of Narela and Kingsway Camp area in October 1947.

He was made in charge of three camps where he settled the refugees coming from Pakistan. He set up two more camps for the Muslims who wanted to migrate to Pakistan. With meticulous planning and persuasion, he would pacify the rioting mobs and disperse them. Within no time, he succeeded in instilling a sense of security and safety among Muslims.

Sher Jung recalled how a mosque close to the ridge in Delhi was set ablaze by rioters with a maulvi inside. “I had no option but to rush inside and pull him out. An unknown man hiding in ambush fired at me with a country-made pistol. By God’s grace, I escaped unhurt, overpowered the shooter and thrashed him for poor marksmanship,” he said.

In another incident, while trying to control the riots in Calcutta and Bengal’s rural areas in March 1948, a young fanatic tried to pierce a dagger into his chest. “I took out my revolver and shot him. Meanwhile, another miscreant stabbed me. I shot him too. I was bleeding profusely but got saved by a doctor.”

Once a man came to him in Kingsway Camp and told him that a house of Muslim inhabitants was about to be set afire by a Hindu mob. At first instance, Sher Jung thought it to be trap. But realising that the information might be true, he took the informer in his jeep and rushed to the crowded spot, where he evacuated the occupants. The mob soon dispersed. When asked why he (the informer) being a Hindu wanted to save Muslims, he started weeping and told Sher Jung that his entire family had been massacred in Lahore, and he could not imagine a Muslim family meeting the same fate in Delhi.

During Partition, Kingsway Camp had emerged as a hub for thousands of refugees from Pakistan. Here, decades back, barracks were raised for the visit of King George V. As a result, the place came to be known as Kingsway Camp. In his crusade against communal riots, Sher Jung was accompanied by dedicated workers such as Mridula Sarabhai, Jagat Sankhdhar, Prof Yashpal, and of course his lecturer and author wife Nirmala. Apart from Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi was a regular visitor to the place and an inspiring face amidst the turmoil, Sher Jung recalled.

The PM was deeply perturbed over the loss of life in riots and had to face tremendous criticism. On October 11, 1947, he wrote a letter to Sardar Patel, the then Home Minister: “I am rather worried about the developments in Delhi city. During the last week, there has been widespread acquisition of Muslim houses in the city, including Chandni Chowk… it seems to me that much of the trouble is not due to Delhi citizens but rather due to a certain official element which is bent upon carrying out a policy not in conformity with ours. Where any attempt was being made to further our policy, it succeeds, such as in Narela recently where Sher Jung has brought about a very amicable arrangement among the people.”

With trouble ensuing in Kashmir, Sher Jung was sent to Srinagar on October 25, 1947, to raise a guerrilla force against Pakistani attackers. Soon, two battalions, one of men and the other of women, were raised as ‘Kashmir National Militia’. They supplemented the efforts of the military force and were even responsible for protecting and safeguarding the airfields in the Valley. For his services rendered in Kashmir, he was given the honorary rank of Colonel on March 28, 1948, at Srinagar in the presence of Pandit Nehru. Sher Jung also played a part in guerrilla activities in Goa before its liberation from Portugal, and was associated with the Mukti Bahini in the 1971 war.

An eminent writer, he authored as many as 10 books, earning appreciation for ‘Prison Days’ and ‘A Tryst with Tigers’. For all his achievements, he remained an unsung hero.

He breathed his last at the ripe age of 90 in Delhi. His grandson, Samaresh Jung, is a top shooter who has won many medals.

— The writer is based in Hamirpur

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