Partap Singh Kairon (1 October 1901 – 6 February 1965) was the Chief Minister of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

province (then comprising Punjab,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

and part of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

), and is widely acknowledged as the architect of post-Independence Punjab Province (or Punjab, Haryana and Himachal as of today). Moreover, he was an

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

leader. He was jailed twice by the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

, once for five years for organizing protests against British rule. His political influence and views are still considered to dominate politics in Punjab.

Early life

Partap Singh Kairon was born on 1 October 1901, into a Dhillon

Jat Sikh Jat Sikh (also known by the more conventional endonym Jatt Sikh) is a sub-group of the Jat people and the Sikh religious group from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in the Punjab owing to their large land holdin ...

family. His last name was taken from the village of Kairon in the

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

district, of Tehsil Tarn Taran in province of

during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

era. His grandfather was Sardar Gulab Singh Dhillon. His father, Nihal Singh Kairon (1863-1927), was a pioneer in initiating women's education in the province. Partap studied at Col. Brown Cambridge School in Dehra Dun and

Khalsa College, Amritsar Khalsa College ( pa, ਖਾਲਸਾ ਕਾਲਜ ''khālsā kālaj'') is a historic educational institution in the northern Indian city of Amritsar in the state of Punjab, India. Founded in 1892, the sprawling campus is located about eight ...

and then went to the United States for further studies. During his time in USA, he supported himself by working on farms and in factories. He received his Master's degree in political science from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He also received his Master's degree in Economics from

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

before going to Michigan. He was impressed by farming methods practised in the U.S.A and hoped to replicate the same in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

later.

Family

Partap Singh Kairon had 11 children, including

Surinder Singh Kairon Surinder Singh Kairon (8 December 1927 – 16 March 2009) was an Indian politician from Punjab. He was a member of Indian National Congress and represented Taran Taran in 10th Lok Sabha. He was son of ex-chief minister of Punjab, Partap Singh K ...

, Gurinder Singh Kairon and Sar Brinder Kaur respectively. While the younger Gurinder remained Congressman like his father, Surinder later joined

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...

. Surinder's son Adesh Partap Singh Kairon is married to the daughter of

Prakash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He ...

, Preneet Kaur and has been a minister in the

government (Shiromani Akali Dal).

Political career

Entry into politics

Kairon returned to India in 1929. On 13 April 1932 he started an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

weekly paper called ''The New Era'' in Amritsar. He joined politics and the newspaper was eventually shut down. He was first a member of the

, and later of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. He was jailed in 1932 for five years for participating in

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

. He entered the Punjab Legislative Assembly as an Akali nominee in 1937, defeating the Congress candidate,

Baba Gurdit Singh Baba Gurdit Singh (25 August 1860 – 24 July 1954) was the central figure in the Komagata Maru incident of 1914, one of several incidents in the history of early 20th century involving exclusion laws in both Canada and the United States design ...

Sarhali Sarhali Kalan is a town and a municipal council in Patti subdivision of Tarn Taran district in the Indian state of Punjab. Origins The nearby village of Dadehar is more than 400 year old. It was created by a man named Dadehar who originated fr ...

. From 1941 to 1946, he was the General Secretary of the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee. He was jailed again in the 1942

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

and was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946.

In power

After Independence in 1947, Partap Singh Kairon held various offices in the elected state government including Rehabilitation Minister, Development Minister (1947–1949) and Chief Minister (21 January 1956 to 23 June 1964).

Minister for Rehabilitation

As Minister for Rehabilitation in the days immediately after

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

, Kairon handled the task of resettlement of millions of refugees who had migrated from

West Punjab West Punjab ( pnb, ; ur, ) was a province in the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 159,344 km2 (61523 sq mi), including much of the current Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Te ...

(Pakistan). Over three million migrated people were resettled in East Punjab (India) by allotment of dwellings, employments and land distribution, in a very short period of time.

Assassination

In 1964, following the publication of the report of the commission of inquiry which had exonerated him of the bulk of the allegations made against him by his political adversaries, Partap Singh Kairon resigned from his position as chief minister of the Punjab. On 6 February 1965, he was on his way from Delhi to Chandigarh when he was waylaid near Rasoi village,

Sonipat district Sonipat district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North India. Sonipat town is the district headquarters. It is a part of National Capital Region. It is bordered by Delhi, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind, Jhajjar and Baghpat (Uttar Pradesh) ...

, and shot dead along with his personal assistant — an IAS officer, and the driver. The three were murdered by Sucha Bassi, Baldev Singh and Nahar Singh 'Fauji'. Sucha had planned the killing of Kairon in revenge, because he believed that Kairon had taken a personal interest in securing the conviction of one Ajit Singh and his father Bir Singh in a murder case. Sucha Bassi, Baldev Singh and Nahar Singh 'Fauji' — were convicted and hanged in 1969 while the fourth accused, Daya Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment and released in 1994.

References

External links

Partap Singh Kairon materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kairon, Partap Singh 1901 births 1965 deaths History of Punjab Indian Sikhs Indian murder victims Assassinated Indian politicians Indian independence activists from Punjab (British India) Politicians from Amritsar Chief Ministers of Punjab, India People murdered in Punjab, India Punjabi people People from Amritsar district Punjab, India MLAs 1957–1962 Punjab, India MLAs 1962–1967 University of Michigan alumni Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Shiromani Akali Dal politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India 1965 murders in India Prisoners and detainees of British India