Kurukshetra's debt to Kairon 

After reading a book review on the life of the Late Chief Minister of Punjab, Pratap Singh Kairon, in The Sunday Tribune, a number of old memories flooded into my mind, particularly how Mr. Kairon was instrumental in establishing a number of educational institutions, including in the historic Kurukshetra area of what was then a neglected part of the state of Punjab, later carved out as Haryana.

His efforts went a long way towards developing the Kurukshetra area. In his very first year as Chief Minister, in 1956, he established a Sanskrit University at Kurukshetra. This university was later converted into an all-faculty university, in 1961, which went on to develop a national reputation under Hardawari Lal, and then Lala Suraj Bhan, as regular Vice-Chancellors. Kairon used to visit Kurukshetra, Nilokheri and Karnal frequently for supervising the development of educational institutions in the region.

The Kurukshetra University got a real fillip with Lala Suraj Bhan joining as Vice-Chancellor. Lala Suraj Bhan, who was earlier Principal of DAV College, Jalandhar, a well-known college in the country, was close to Mr. Partap Singh Kairon, which helped him to attract significant funding for the new University at Kurukshetra.

In addition to the University itself, the small town of Kurukshetra, with a population of just eighteen thousand at the time, received another great developmental contribution from Kairon, for which it must be grateful. I remember a chilly-cold winter evening in 1963, when the then Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Lala Suraj Bhan, dropped in to discuss an urgent matter with my father, Dharambir Sabharwal. He requested support for a project that he said would transform both the University and the town of Kurukshetra itself. Lala Suraj Bhan explained that the Union Government had promulgated a scheme to open one Regional Engineering College (REC) in each State of the country, and that he had already drawn up a blueprint and plan for how and why this should be situated in Kurukshetra, within the state of Punjab.

Lala Suraj Bhan said that he was aware that the Chief Minister wanted the proposed Regional Engineering College to be built in Jalandhar, and a decision to the effect was to be taken at a high-level meeting in Delhi the next day. Hence, it was very necessary to influence Mr. Kairon, in order to have him agree to the proposed Regional Engineering College to be situated at Kurukshetra, instead of Jalandhar.

My father immediately contacted four of his bosom friends, including Dr. Sohan Lal Dhawan, then President of Municipal Committee at Thanesar, freedom fighter Giani Mehar Singh, and Dr. Shanti Swaroop Sharma. They left for Chandigarh early next morning to meet Mr. Kairon and plead for the proposed Regional Engineering College to be developed at Kurukshetra, the historic venue of the Mahabharata, where Lord Krishna imparted wisdom and insight to the warrior Arjun.

Mr. Kairon, a large-hearted and truly progressive personality, a statesman in every sense of the word, was happy to receive this delegation of respected citizens from Kurukshetra at his official Chandigarh residence at around 7 a.m., in the morning, barely an hour before his scheduled departure for Delhi. He knew all the visitors rather well, and did not need much persuading before acceding to their request. As he himself laughed out loud: “I can understand that Lala-ji (Lala Suraj Bhan) must have planned and sent this august delegation here to change my mind!”

Today, Kurukshetra is a well-known educational destination, and for this the town owes a deep gratitude to Kairon.