Partap Singh Kaironਪ੍ਰਤਾਪ ਸਿੰਘ ਕੈਰੋਂ

Partap Singh Kairon (1901–1965) was Punjab's chief minister from January 1956 to June 1964 and is widely remembered as the architect of post-Independence Punjab. Born in Kairon village near Patti, now in Tarn Taran district, he resettled millions of Partition refugees, built institutions that shaped the Green Revolution, and was assassinated in 1965.

Early life

Kairon was born on 1 October 1901 in Kairon village, in the Majha region. The village then fell in Amritsar district and is now in Tarn Taran district. He came from a Dhillon Jat Sikh family but preferred the village name as his surname. His father, Nihal Singh, promoted girls' education: in 1916 he set up a boarding house for girls at Kairon, now the Government Girls Senior Secondary School.

Kairon studied at Khalsa College, Amritsar, then went to the United States with his brother Jaswant, paying his way by picking fruit and working on farms and at the Ford Motor Company. He earned a master's in economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's in political science at the University of Michigan, where he joined the debating team. He was back in India by 1929, and what he had seen of American farming stayed with him.

Career

Kairon entered politics through the Akali movement and was arrested for civil disobedience. By 1934 he was general secretary of the Akali Dal. In the 1937 Punjab election he defeated the Congress candidate Baba Gurdit Singh of Komagata Maru fame, for whom Jawaharlal Nehru had campaigned.

After Partition he became Minister for Rehabilitation and Development. Hindustan Times credits him with resettling about three million refugees from West Punjab in under ten years, giving them land and loans rather than doles. He also pushed land reforms, including ceilings on holdings and the consolidation of scattered plots, which Hindustan Times says no other Indian state matched.

He was chief minister from 21 January 1956 to 23 June 1964. The Tribune notes that his tenure saw the founding of Kurukshetra University (1956), Punjabi University (1962) and Punjab Agricultural University (1962). Free compulsory schooling arrived in 1961 and Chandigarh's PGIMER opened in 1963. He drew industry to the state, including a fertiliser and heavy-water plant at Nangal, a sugar mill at Dhuri and the HMT factory at Pinjore. Historian M Rajivlochan writes in The Tribune that he levied a betterment charge on irrigated land to help pay for the Bhakra Nangal project.

He also took firm political positions. Hindustan Times and BBC Punjabi note that he opposed the demand for a Punjabi-speaking state, the Punjabi suba, a stand for which he is still criticised.

His second term was shadowed by corruption allegations. Hindustan Times reports that three probes cleared him, but a month after Nehru's death in May 1964 and the Das Commission's charge-sheet, he resigned.

Death and legacy

On 6 February 1965, as he returned from Delhi, Kairon was stopped near Rasoi village, about 35 km from Delhi, and shot dead. Wikipedia says his personal assistant and driver also died, and three men were later hanged. BBC Punjabi notes that police traced the killing to personal enmity, while his son Gurinder Kairon has called it a political murder.

A year later, on 1 November 1966, Punjab was split into three. His name is still the benchmark for chief ministers: MS Gill, a former chief election commissioner who served under him, told Hindustan Times that Punjab's later chief ministers have lived off his legacy. His grandson Adesh Partap Singh Kairon has been the Patti MLA four times, and a memorial stands in the village.

Where was Partap Singh Kairon born?

He was born on 1 October 1901 in Kairon village near Patti, in the Majha region. It lies in today's Tarn Taran district, then part of Amritsar district.

Why is Partap Singh Kairon called the architect of modern Punjab?

As chief minister from 1956 to 1964 he backed land consolidation, new universities, Bhakra Nangal, Chandigarh and industry, and as a minister he resettled Partition refugees.

How did Partap Singh Kairon die?

He was shot dead on 6 February 1965 on the road from Delhi, near Rasoi village. Three men were convicted of the killing and hanged.