Tag Archives: Bombay

Manmohan Singh Bedi (1924-2014): the first Sikh Mayor of Bombay

03/14/2022 Pippa Leave a comment

Caption from The Times of India, April 5, 1983. “The new mayor of Bombay. Mr Manmohansingh Bedi, cheered by Bhangra dancers in a victory procession in the Fort are on Monday. Photo by Girish Dikshit.”

On 30 October 2014 Manmohan Singh Bedi, the first Sikh Mayor of Mumbai (then Bombay) died, weeks short of his 90th birthday. He was a restaurateur and the founder of Sher-e-Punjab Restaurant chain in Bombay in 1937, and the President of Hotel & Restaurant Association of Western India. But it was his Bombay mayoral victory in April 1983 that caught my eye. Below are three articles from The Times of India. They cover the victory of Bedi.

Bedi is city’s first Sikh mayor By A Staff Reporter, April 5, 1983.

R. Manmohansingh Harnamsingh Bedi of the Janata Party today became the first Sikh mayor of Bombay, amid unprecedented scenes of jubilation. Mr. Bedi polled 102 votes, the first time that a mayoral candidate crossed the 100-vote mark, against 32 of his lone opponent, Mr. Rameshkumer Mataprasad Dube of the Congress-I. No sooner was the 58-year-old Mr.Bedi declared elected by the outgoing mayor, Dr. P. S. Pai, than the house broke into thunderous cheers. Councillors and scores of supporters who had waited in the public gallery surged on to the dais with garlands end bouquets. A large number of Sikhs bad turned up to greet the new mayor, whose election was a foregone conclusion,

GARLANDS GALORE

Dr. Pai was the first to embrace and garland Mr. Bedi, followed by the municipal commissioner, Mr. D. M, Sukthankar, Mr. Dube, leaders of civic political groups, other councillors and the general public. Slogans hailing the Janata Party and the ruling Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) were raised to the accompaniment of the chant, “Bole So Nihe! Sat Sri Akal”. Security men, who had initially screened visitors to the corporation hall, relented in the face of popular enthusiasm and threw open the gate for streams of visitors carrying bouquets and garlands. As the crowds surged forward to greet him, Mr. Bedi was pushed back and the security men held on to the ornate mayoral chair to prevent it from toppling over the dais. Mr. P. H. Sehgal, a councillor, appealed to the crowd in Punjabi to disperse quickly. The new mayor was garlanded on behalf of a host of organisations, including the Guru Singh Sabha, the Punjab association, taxi-men’s unions and the association of automobile spare parts traders. The candidature of Mr. Bedi was submitted by the Janata Party last Thursday, after the party got the mandate from the PDF’s six-party constituents comprising 76 members in the house of 138. Of these, the Janata Party’s councillors total 40, followed by 20 of the BJP, 11 of the Congress-S, three of the Muslim League (Bukhari group) and one each from the CPM and the RPI. Mr. Bedi got the support of the Shiv Sena, a non-PDF group, with 20 members. The Sena decided support Mr. Bedi to prove its bonafides as “a truly anti-Congress-I organisation”.

“UNHAPPY FINANCES”

Two Muslim League councillors from the Banatwalla group, three from the CPI and an independent voted in favour of Mr. Bedi. The election was boycotted by three other independents-Mr. B. K. Boman-Behram, former mayor. Dr. (Mrs.) Bhaktawar Mahajan and Mr. G. B. Dutia—who said they resented the “bargaining” of the mayoralty and chairmanships of committees. Mr. Dube’s 32-strong Congress-I group stood firmly behind him. Delivering his first speech as mayor Mr. Bedi said the city of Bombay had honoured the Sikh community by electing him to the position. Hailing the old ties between Maharashtra and Punjab, he recalled the visit of Sant Namdeo to the Punjab region and the establishment of Sikh Centre at Nanded in Maharashtra by Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru. Mr. Bedi described the financial condition of the corporation as “not that happy” and said inflation was to blame. The corporation’s wage bill which was Rs. 39 crores in 1978-79. had risen to over Rs. 100 crores for 1983-84. The financial resources available to the corporation were limited and almost static. The new mayor called upon both the Central and state governments to assist in slum clearance. He said the state government was in arrears of Rs. 9.13 crores in the matter of slum improvement dues. He reminded the house that slum improvement formed part of the government’s 20-point programme. He also focused on water supply projects and said the government had yet 10 fulfil its commitment of Rs.23 crores for the first phase of the Bhatsai project which has been completed. Mr. Bedi pleaded for the implementation of the middle Vaitarna project for augmenting the water supply. He also called for the release of surplus lands under the Urban Land Ceiling Act to co-operative housing societies to ease the city’s housing problem.

Born on December 27, 1924 at Sargodha, now in Pakistan, Mr. Bedi’s family migrated to Bombay before the partition. Educated at Bharda New High School in Bombay, Mr. Bedi’s academic career was cut short by the “Quit India” movement. A councillor since 1957, Mr. Bedi represents the Bori Bander (VT) Constituency. He has served as the chairman of the markets and gardens committee (1961-62), of the works committee (1963-64), improvements committee (1967-68) and the BEST committee (1980-81). Now a treasurer of the state Janata Party, Mr. Bedi was a prominent Congressman in the past, holding the position of general secretary of the BPCC in 1968. A successful hotelier, owning a chain of restaurants, Mr. Bedi is a soft-spoken man, but a popular member of the house.

Moments after his maiden speech as mayor, which was delivered in English, Mr. Bedi garlanded the statues in the corporation hall, including those of Mahatma Gandhi, Shivaji, Sir Phirozshah Mehta and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. He was taken in a procession to Hutatma Chowk where he paid a floral tribute at the Martyrs memorial. The procession included Bhangra dancers. Mr. Manohansingh Bedi is the third Janata Party mayor in the present house, after Mr. Raja Chimbuikar and Dr. A. U. Memon. Mr. Baburao Shete, who served as the first mayor in the present house was elected on the Congress-(S) ticket but later joined the Congress-(I). Dr.P. S. Pai whom Mr. Bedi succeeded, is a BJP councillor.

Vasantrao – was for unanimous election of mayor By S. T. Almeida, Bombay April 6, 1983

The chief minister, Mr Vasantrao Patil, was in favour of the Congress (I) candidate withdrawing from the race for the mayoralty as a gesture to enable Mr. Manmohansingh Bedi to become the first Sikh mayor of Bombay unopposed, it is reliably learnt. Mr. Patil had conveyed his feelings to the Congress (l) candidate, Mr. Rameshkumar Dube. saying that he was sure to lose and that gesture towards the Sikh candidate would be well-appreciated. Mr. Bedi had intimated to chief minister his wish that he be elected unopposed. But Congress (I) members in municipal corporation felt that mayoral election was too politicised an affair and that such a gesture would have been appropriate if Mr. Bedi was an independent candidate. They disapproved of Mr. Patil’s logic in supporting a candidate from minority community by recalling that when Congress (I) put up Mr. Zail Singh for presidency. Janata party went ahead in its support for Mr. Justice H. R. Khanna opposition candidate. Ironically, Mr. Bedi had lost the mayoral election to the Shiv Sena’s Mr. Wamanrao Mahadik in 1978. At that time. Mr. Bedi was a Congressman, but Mr. Vasantrao Patil, who was chief minister then, had instructed Congress (l) councillors to vote for Mr. Mahadik. Mr. Patil’s action had offended Mr. Bedi and other Congressmen, prompting them to leave the party.

Electing a mayor, by a Staff Reporter, April 11, 1983

Close on the heels of the election of the country’s first Sikh President, the city fathers voted Bombay’s first Sikh mayor and 54th in line, Mr Manmohansingh Bedi (59), at one of the noisiest mayoral polls in recent history. A huge gathering of the turbaned fraternity had ridden in their beflagged cars to the venue of the corporation meeting and rolled out three-metre-long chai crackers to announce the Sikh leader’s triumph. Not even the police could dampen their enthusiasm after warning them of the likely danger the crackers could cause to nearby cars and offices. The lane between the two MBC buildings and the main thoroughfares were choked with a major traffic snarl as vehicles continued to stream towards the civic building, reflecting the popular esteem in which Mr Bedi is held by a vast cross-section of the people. A troupe of bhangra dancers bedecked in their colourful regalia of bright yellow salwar-kameez topped by black tunics pirouetted to do a jig or two to celebrate the mayor-elect’s victory. The proceedings were redolent of the feisty nature of the Punjabis, extroverts to the core with their earthy style of living.

Epilogue

The dominant party in present-day Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, was established in 1966 and in 1971 the party had its first victory under the mayoral candidature of Dr H. S. Gupte. Since 1985 the Shiv Sena has more or less dominated the mayoral seat of Bombay. In 1983 the BJP, the present ruling party in India had barely any presence, having only been established in 1980. This was also the year before Operation Blue Star in Amritsar, Punjab, when under PM Indira Gandhi the Indian security forces were sent into the Sikh’s sacred Harmandir Sahib to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in June 1984. This eventually culminated with the assassination of the prime minister, followed by the anti-Sikh pogroms in Delhi in November 1984.

Poetry Corner

Mottled Dawn – Subh-e Azadi

11/06/2020 Pippa Leave a comment

This post is inspired by the sky outside, which immediately reminded me of Manto’s Mottled Dawn. Saadat Hasan Manto, born in Samrala, Ludhiana, is considered one of the most iconic Urdu writers of the twentieth century. He lived in Bombay until 1948 and worked as a successful screenplay writer for the film industry, but even he finally relented and left India for Pakistan. Khalid Hasan writes, “Manto left Bombay, a city that he loved and a city that he yearned for until his dying day, soon after Partition. He felt deeply disturbed by the intolerance and distrust that he found sprouting like poison weed everywhere, even in the world of cinema. He could not accept the fact that suddenly some people saw him not as Saadat Hasan but as a Muslim.” Mottled Dawn: Fifty Sketches and Stories of Partition (Intro. Daniyal Mueenuddin and trans. Khalid Hasan, Penguin Modern classics), brings together stories of dark humour and horror, powerfully capturing the tragedy of Partition. The book begins with the opening lines of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Subh-e Azadi – Mottled Dawn.

Below is the full poem by Faiz, courtesy of Penguin.

Subh‐e Azadi
Yeh daagh daagh ujaalaa, yeh shab gazidaa seher
Woh intezaar tha jiska, yeh woh seher to nahin
Yeh woh seher to nahin, jis ki aarzoo lekar
Chale the yaar ki mil jaayegi kahin na kahin
Falak ke dasht mein taaron ki aakhri manzil
Kahin to hogaa shab-e-sust mauj ka saahil
Kahin to jaa ke rukegaa safinaa-e-gham-e-dil
 
Jawaan lahu ki pur-asraar shahraahon se
Chale jo yaar to daaman pe kitne haath pade
Dayaar-e-husn ki besabr kwaabgaahon se
Pukaarti rahi baahein, badan bulaate rahe
Bahut aziz thi lekin rukh-e-seher ki lagan
Bahut qareen tha haseenaa-e-noor ka daaman
Subuk subuk thi tamanna, dabi dabi thi thakan

Suna hai, ho bhi chukaa hai firaaq-e-zulmat-o-noor
Suna hai, ho bhi chukaa hai wisaal-e-manzil-o-gaam
Badal chukaa hai bahut ehl-e-dard ka dastoor
Nishaat-e-wasl halaal, o azaab-e-hijr haraam

Jigar ki aag, nazar ki umang, dil ki jalan
Kisi pe chaaraa-e-hijraan ka kuch asar hi nahin
Kahaan se aayi nigaar-e-sabaa, kidhar ko gayi
Abhi charaag-e-sar-e-raah ko kuch khabar hi nahin
Abhi garaani-e-shab mein kami nahin aayi
Najaat-e-deedaa-o-dil ki ghadi nahin aayi
Chale chalo ki woh manzil abhi nahin aayi
 —Faiz Ahmed Faiz

The Dawn of Freedom, August 1947
This light, smeared and spotted, this night‐bitten dawn
This isn’t surely the dawn we waited for so eagerly
This isn’t surely the dawn with whose desire cradled in our hearts
 
We had set out, friends all, hoping
We should somewhere find the final destination
Of the stars in the forests of heaven
The slow‐rolling night must have a shore somewhere
The boat of the afflicted heart’s grieving will drop anchor somewhere
When, from the mysterious paths of youth’s hot blood
The young fellows moved out
Numerous were the hands that rose to clutch
the hems of their garments,
Open arms called, bodies entreated
From the impatient bedchambers of beauty—
 
But the yearning for the dawn’s face was too dear
The hem of the radiant beauty’s garment was very close
The load of desire wasn’t too heavy
Exhaustion lay somewhere on the margin
 
It’s said the darkness has been cleft from light already
It’s said the journeying feet have found union
with the destination
The protocols of those who held the pain in their
hearts have changed now
Joy of union—yes; agony of separation—forbidden!
 
The burning of the liver, the eyes’ eagerness, the heart’s grief
Remain unaffected by this cure for disunion’s pain;
From where did the beloved, the morning breeze come?
Where did it go?
 
The street‐lamp at the edge of the road has no notion yet
The weight of the night hasn’t lifted yet
The moment for the emancipation of the eyes
and the heart hasn’t come yet
Let’s go on, we haven’t reached the destination yet
—Translated by Baran Farooqui

India, Short Essays

Reportage: 1 Nov 84

11/01/2018 Pippa Leave a comment

Army Controls Kanpur. Paris AFP 0628 GMT 1 Nov 84

Army troops took control of the industrial city of Kanpur in northern Uttar Pradesh state early today following violence triggered by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by two Sikh members of her security guard yesterday.

Earlier, authorities clamped an indefinite curfew on four districts of the city or nearly four million people, PTI said.

PTI, quoting official sources, also reported a number of cases of arson and looting, but no further details were available.

Sikhs came under attack from angry Hindu crowds in several Indian cities, including New Delhi, yesterday as news of Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination spread.

Sporadic Violence in Country. Delhi Domestic Service 0837 GMT 1 Nov 84

There are reports of sporadic violence in some parts of the country following the assassination of Mrs Gandhi.

In Delhi, arson and violence have been reported from several areas. According to agency reports, curfew has been imposed in some places including Jammu, Kanpur, Patna, Sagar, Varanasi, and Raipur.

In Bombay, shops and business establishments have closed down as a mark of respect to the departed leader. In Trivandrum, people are wearing black badges to mourn the passing away of Mrs Gandhi.

AFP on Violence, Arrests. Paris AFP 0936 GMT 1 Nov 84

The authorities today imposed a curfew on the Indian capital as angry Hindus went on a rampage of burning and looting, seeking fresh revenge for the murder of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by Sikh gunmen yesterday

A police announcement said the decision was made to stop the violence which last night left at least three Sikhs dead, according to eyewitnesses, and 200 injured, according to police.

Army troops patrolled the streets, amid reports of sporadic gunfire between police and unidentified gunmen holed up on rooftops.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, son of assassinated leader Mrs. Gandhi, held an emergency Cabinet meeting to review the situation. officials said.

In other parts of India, the Army reportedly took control of the industrial city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh while police in Bihar State were under orders to shoot troublemakers on sight.

Curfews were in force in most states.

Para-military forces fanned out across this city of six million people today as mobs armed with choppers and clubs set fire to houses, cars and other properties belonging to minority Sikhs in retaliation for Prime Minister Gandhi’s assassination, eyewitnesses said

“It is terrible, they are setting fire to houses, stopping vehicles and looking for Sikhs… it appears that we are in a jungle”, said a panicky resident from the southern district, where foreigners generally live.

One Sikh was found dead here, police said, but witnesses said they saw at least two bodies near the one recovered by police.

Police sources also said 200 people, mostly Sikhs, were injured and half of them were admitted to hospitals here as buses, trucks, cars, scooters, shops and Sikh temples were set on fire last night by outraged Hindus.

Security was tightened around New Delhi’s Sikh temples, which had come under attack yesterday.

Authorities banned the assembly of more than five people in public places were, but there was no report of any arrest.

There were no reports of any new casualties, as Sikhs here appeared to have gone underground for fear of reprisals.

Police this morning also reported cases of arson and looting in Ahmednagar, in the western coastal state of Maharashtra, where police had to open fire to disperse rioters, injuring three of them.

A total of 64 people were arrested following the incidents, in which about 30 shops and 13 vehicles were burned, police sources added.

In the central city of Jabalpur, police also burst tear gas shells to disperse looters and arsonists and similar incidents were reported in other localities, press reports said.

BBC on Worsening ‘Violence’. London BBC World Service 1200 GMT 1 Nov 84

Dispatch by correspondent Tim Llewelyn

There is no doubt that this worsening violence and uncontrollable anger is aimed at the Sikh community. Even as the Army took to the streets, backing up the police and paramilitary security units, large tracts of Delhi were the preserve of the mob. I saw taxis, taxi ranks, smart stores, and small shops and kiosks – almost exclusively Sikh-owned – set alight and burning furiously. Crowds besieged Sikh temples, though the police and Sikhs themselves mostly managed to prevent casualties or damage, the Sikhs brandishing their swords and clubs.

The violence has spread all over the city – residential areas as well as working class and commercial. Casualty figures are vague, but we know of at least five dead in Delhi over the past day, two of the policemen in an exchange of shots involving a mob outside a Sikh temple, and two Sikhs burned alive by frenzied attackers. In one incident, I watched a crowd surrounding a house and finally stuffing blazing wicker chairs to the windows to act as fire torches. Eventually the Army showed up, bayonets fixed, the crowd evaporated.

It is not just Delhi by any means. A similar pattern of anger harassment, and then burning and stealing has brought the Army out onto the streets in at least five other towns – Calcutta, Allahabad, Indore, Varanasi, and Kanpur. Curfews are being imposed in uncountable towns and districts in north and central India.

Sikhs I talked to in Delhi are not satisfied with the protection offered in the capital, and it did look in some incidents as if the police could have done more.

‘Large Scale Violence’ Reported. Paris AFP 1603 GMT 1 Nov 84

At least 65 people were killed, several hundred injured, and thousands rendered homeless today in an orgy of violence that swamped India in the wake of yesterday’s assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two Sikh members of her security guard, local news agencies reported.

Large-scale violence hit 18 towns across India, forcing the administration to call out the Army and impose an indefinite curfew in certain parts of the capital. Curfews were also imposed in most other states.

The PTI news agency said that as many as 65 people, mostly Sikhs, died in the clashes. UNI put the death toll at 60.

An official government spokesman put the nationwide toll at 10.

In two cities of Kanpur and Patna police were given shoot at sight orders after Hindu mob violence against Sikh communities erupted. Earlier similar shoot-at-sight orders were issued in eastern Bihar State.

Source: all daily reports are from the Foreign Broadcast Information Service Archive.