Punjab ‘misses’ Armistice date

Vikramdeep Johal
Tribune News Service
Patiala, November 11

Even as India joined nations from Europe and other continents in commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I, the country’s “sword arm” — Punjab — failed to rise to the occasion.

No official event was organised on Sunday to mark 100 years of the Armistice, not even at the Patiala State Forces Memorial, which commemorates the dead from the military units of the erstwhile princely state for both World Wars.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, grandfather of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, and other royals had contributed significantly to mobilising troops from undivided Punjab for World  War I.

For the record, Remembrance Sunday was observed in several parts of India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Puducherry. “The state government and the Punjab-based Army authorities should have hosted functions on November 11 to remember our long-forgotten heroes,” said Kulveer Singh, a history researcher based in Muktsar’s Doda village, which sent 41 men to the war (of whom two died).

Capt Amarinder Singh, a noted military historian himself, had recently paid homage to Indian soldiers at the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli (Turkey) and the Haifa Memorial in Israel. In September, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal had visited the Kranji War Memorial in Singapore, where he had saluted the supreme sacrifice of about 5,000 Punjabi soldiers in World War II.

Talking to The Tribune, Lt Gen TS Shergill (retd), senior adviser to the CM, said, “We will honour the families of WW-I soldiers during the upcoming Military Literature Festival. Moreover, a section dedicated to the conflict is nearing completion at the War Heroes’ Memorial-cum-Museum in Amritsar.”

Punjab was also not in the thick of things when the WW-I centenary commemoration was launched in 2014, even as Capt Amarinder Singh has been attending memorial events organised jointly by the British Deputy High Commission and the Canadian Consulate General in Chandigarh.

Meanwhile, the CM tweeted on Sunday: “As we complete 100 years of World War I, let us remember and salute the thousands of Indian soldiers who fought far from their land, and the millions of innocent lives lost in the senseless violence. And let us vow never to let the world plunge into such a war again.”

Royal celebrations in 1918

The then princely state of Patiala had celebrated the signing of the Armistice on a grand scale, in stark contrast to Sunday’s no-show. 

A 1923 publication, ‘Patiala and the Great War’, now digitised by the Panjab Digital Library, reads: "The Maharaja (Bhupinder Singh) ordered the firing of a salute of 101 guns… The day was observed as a public holiday. In the morning, thanksgiving services were held in all places of worship. In the afternoon, the city polo ground was thronged by people to witness hastily-arranged sports. Food was distributed to the poor in the big quadrangle outside the fort, and sweetmeats were distributed to all schoolboys. In the evening, the city and cantonment, which had all day been decorated with buntings and flags, were brilliantly illuminated.”

“The rejoicing spread over to the following day, then there were further sports, a prize distribution, and the release of some 107 prisoners… The programme on Armistice Day was brought to a close by a state banquet at the Maharaja's palace to which all European officers, civil and military, and the sirdars of His Highness' government were invited.