Sir,
Manu Khajuria’s tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh on his 121st anniversary is an ever inspiring anecdote from a young London based scholar. London,I feel is the right place, to know who is who, where British historians would have made unbiased compendium of rulers of colonial India. No occasion could be more appropriate to bring out that Maharaja Hari Singh was purposely wronged by all the political forces of England and India to serve post partition British interests in Northwestern region of India facing USSR. Hence Mnau’s effort and Daily Excelsior’s coverage are commendable.
Besides social and political reforms, Manu has glorified the ruler for standing firm and tall against the political storm unleashed against him by the vested interests. She is to be appreciated for proving that he was am true patriot and great nationalist. While historians have raised doubts about his secular credentials but Mnau has proved that he lived by his words ‘Justice is my Religion’. Being an imaginative, progressive and modern ruler was amply proved by the Maharaja himself by his bold social and political reforms and living by the pledges he made to his subjects but the way it stands sanctified by the young scholar adds to its currency. Manu’s assertion that ‘One side of the story has been told and other needs telling’, is a call / reminder that the time to tell the other side of the story has come. Since time and tide wait for none, the truth about Maharaja Hari Singh’s maligned role is just about to step out of the threshold. Finally the way young scholar has depicted State’s strategic importance & Maharaja’s befitting military and political prowess under the circumstances, both unparallel, is admirable. No Indian historian, to my mind, has covered both the aspects justly.
Yours etc….
Col J P Singh, Retd
Gandhinagar
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