Lt Gen Bikram Singh's ancestral village gets statue, memorial and library

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 12

On November 22, 1963, the day the former US President John F Kennedy was assassinated, a numbing incident also unfolded here in India. A copter crash at Poonch in Jammu consumed five senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Air Force.

Lieutenant General Daulat Singh, General Officer Commanding In Chief, Western Command, Lieutenant General Bikram Singh, General Officer Commanding, 15 Corps, Air Vice-Marshal Erlic Wilmot Pinto, Air Officer Commanding, Western Command, Major General Nalin Kumar Dhirajlal Nanavati, Military Cross, General Officer Commanding 25 Infantry Division, Brigadier SR Oberoi, Military Cross, Commander 93 Infantry Brigade and Flight Lieutenant SS Sodhi were the victims.

The generals were en route a reconnaissance mission and the accident impacted a protocol change wherein senior generals of the army were banned from traveling together in future. “This was the first major accident in which Indian Army and Air Force officers lost their lives,” Brig (retd) Onkar Singh Goraya says.

A native of the Kahma village in Nawanshahr, Lt Gen Bikram Singh, also famous as the ‘hero of Ladakh’ is all set to get a memorial at his ancestral village (Nanka pind) of Siana (in Nawanshahr). Last year on November 22, Finance Minister of Punjab Manpreet Badal unveiled a statue and laid the foundation stone of a library and museum in his memory there.

“In think in the crash we lost a future army chief. He was a hero. The government of Punjab thinks people ought to have a sense of history to get a sense of destiny. We want the future generations to remember him. The government is installing a statue and setting up a library in his memory. We are open to contributions of documents and other memorabilia from the Rajput Regiment and his family as well for the memorial,” the minister says.

Lost in obscurity, this revival of his legacy has triggered nostalgia among people. In Jammu and Ladakh, his portraits can still be found in houses, while grocers, dhabas and paan walahs don’t charge money, as a token of respect, from the family whenever they visit and a Jammu committee still fights to get his statue shifted to a more prominent location of the town. A gurdwara at Bikram Chowk (named after him) in Jammu is also graced by his portrait.

Brig (retd) Goraya, tells, “The general perception among people was that he saved Ladakh. I was posted as a second lieutenant in the early 60s. The first time I travelled to Kashmir Bikram Singh was the Corps Commander at the headquarters in Udhampur. He was worshipped by most of the Kashmiris because he maintained peace and was apolitical. They were very happy with him and many households had his photographs hung.”

Lt Gen HS Panag talks about his departed counterpart. “Bikram Singh had a sterling reputation as a general in Ladakh. People were quite happy to see him. There is no doubt that Ladakh was a much better battle than the one fought in NEFA. However, the withdrawal from Chushul remained controversial.”

Twin committees keep him alive

• Two separate committees – Lieutenant General Bikram Singh Society at Kahma village and the Lieutenant General Bikram Singh Yadgaar Committee in Jammu – hold ceremonies, akhand paths, blood donation camps among other events to remember him.
• Lalita Sharma, chairperson of the Shaheed General Bikram Singh Yadgaar Committee, Jammu, says: “His statue is at the Bikram Chowk by the Tavi. We had asked the govt in 2007-08 to shift his statue to a more prominent place. We made the committee 20-25 years ago. Now, they have made a chowk here. Every family has people he has helped. His cremation was also held at Bikram Chowk because locals wanted to conduct his last rites here. His mother herself approved of the ceremony because people loved him.”
• Rs 4 lakh was spent by the Kahma village committee for the museum and statue at Kahma village. Jaswinder Singh, a resident of village, shares, “In 2007 and 2008, we started camps and memorial ceremonies. In 2011, we held his 100th birth anniversary. Siana is his ancestral village. He was born here and we would hear his stories as kids.

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