LETTERS Issn 0012-9976

Ever since the fi rst issue in 1966, EPW has been India’s premier journal for Journey through the Arts grammar, I inherited a love for it from her. comment on current affairs The vocalist Maharajapuram Santhanam and research in the social sciences. It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949–1965), revelled in the absorbing piece on and violinist M S Gopalakrishnan were which was launched and shepherded by Sachin Chaudhuri, ICarnatic music titled “Crossing the her favourites. They are still my comforts. who was also the founder-editor of EPW. Vindhyas” by Kamala Ganesh (EPW, Kalpana Kannabiran As editor for 35 years (1969–2004) Hyderabad Krishna Raj 13 January 2018). It got me thinking about gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys. my own journey through the classical arts. Doctor, Poet, Visionary Editor When I was seven, I was initiated into Lina Mathias dance by an elderly, single man from aljit Singh was one of those rare per- Editor–DESIGNATE GOPAL GURU Kuchipudi, who lived in a single room Dsonalities who, despite possessing SENIOR Assistant editorS around the corner from our home in strong views, had no adversaries in life. lubna duggal Marredpally, Secunderabad, cooking for He enjoyed the respect of the broadest ABHISHEK SHAW himself and teaching dance. I remember, possible spectrum of social life, from the copy editorS I would dance without tiring, and the President of India to the most ordinary jyoti shetty Tejas Harad worn-down fl ooring in his room would man on the street, and from rightist politi- Assistant editorS crack, and he would spend the rest of his cal streams to extreme leftist ones as well. SANGEETA GHOSH day cementing the cracks so that I could Born on 11 October 1934 in Amritsar, he ANISHA GEORGE Ishan Mukherjee dance again the next morning. One day, lived most of his life in the city, until he ASSISTANT Editor (DIGITAL) a year or so later, he dropped dead while breathed his last on 27 December 2017. SHIREEN AZAM waiting in the queue for a bottle of milk His father, Sahib Singh, was a respected editorIAL Assistant early in the morning. I was too young to scholar of Gurbani, and his interpretations JEMIMAH GOMES know that he had left us forever. are considered most authentic in academic production u raghunathan When we moved to Hyderabad soon and religious circles. The compassionate suneethi nair after, in 1972, my mother heard a young humanism of Gurbani which was nur- Circulation MANAGER talented vocalist, Vajendra Ashrit, at the tured at home, turned Singh into a B S Sharma Guruvar Mandal, a hub of Hindustani doctor who served humanity in the best Advertisement Manager Kamal G Fanibanda music where upcoming artists performed of terms. After becoming an ophthalmo- General Manager every week, and asked whether he would logist, he served for 23 years in govern- Gauraang Pradhan teach my sister and me, by then 10 and 11 ment medical colleges at Amritsar and Publisher years old respectively. I continued to learn Patiala, before opening the Dr Daljit Singh K Vijayakumar under Vajendra Ashrit until I fi nished Eye Hospital at Amritsar, which has treated editorial: [email protected] my MA. In 1986, when I moved to Delhi, many patients over the years. Singh was Circulation: [email protected] Advertising: [email protected] he asked me to meet Pandit Amarnath of a pioneer in the surgery of cataract extrac- Economic and Political Weekly the Kirana Gharana, a disciple of Ustad tion and intraocular lens (IOL) implants. 320–322, A to Z Industrial Estate Amir Khan. I sat in on Pandit Amarnath’s The fi rst IOL implant surgery in India Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel Mumbai 400 013 classes at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala was carried out by Singh in 1976. He Phone: (022) 4063 8282 Kendra, silently absorbing his teaching continued with this technique even EPW Research Foundation for more than a year. I sang off and on, by when most eye surgeons shifted to outer EPW Research Foundation, established in 1993, conducts research on fi nancial and macro-economic issues in India. myself, trying to repeat what I had heard. lenses. He was specialist doctor to the Director On my return to Hyderabad in the early former President of India, Giani Zail Sin- J DENNIS RAJAKUMAR 1990s, I revived my contact with my gh, and earned many awards, including C 212, Akurli Industrial Estate Kandivali (East), Mumbai 400 101 teacher, who also began to teach my little the Dr B C Roy award in 1994. He was Phones: (022) 2887 3038/41 daughter. But we trailed off. Now, fi nally, awarded the Padma Shri earlier, in 1987. [email protected] I have returned to music after 15 years. My Apart from a successful doctor, who Sameeksha TrusT voice is frayed, and I hope I can reinvent it. served the poor at very affordable costs, (Publishers of Economic & Political Weekly) Board of Trustees And I have moved from khayal to dhrupad! Singh was a political and social commen- Deepak Nayyar, Chairman There was a time when my grand- tator, a political activist, and a sensitive D N Ghosh, Managing Trustee André Béteille, Deepak Parekh, mother, an accomplished Carnatic singer poet, choosing to express himself in his Romila Thapar, Rajeev Bhargava, “with a voice like a silver bell,” as one mother tongue, Punjabi, instead of Eng- Dipankar Gupta, Shyam Menon of her admirers described it, learnt lish. His book on eye care was published by Printed and published by K Vijayakumar, for and Hindustani music from my music teacher’s Punjabi University, Patiala, but his other on behalf of Sameeksha Trust and printed at Modern Arts and Industries, 151, A–Z Industrial Estate, guru, Bhim Shankar Rao, at the music books of sociopolitical commentary were Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai–400 013 and published at 320–322, A–Z Industrial Estate, college in Marredpally. This was in the published by various other publishers in Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai–400 013 1970s and 1980s. We would sing together. Amritsar. He wrote around 300 poems in Editor: Lina Mathias (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act) Although I never learnt Carnatic and its Punjabi in three collections, of which I

4 FEBRUARY 10, 2018 vol liII no 6 EPW Economic & Political Weekly LETTERS translated 90 selected poems into Hindi. daughter-in-law Indu Singh, a retinal The role of the police and the local But it is his books like Duja Pasa (The expert, who was tearfully trying to ex- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Other Side) and Sach di Bhaal Vich (In plain to them that their vision could not the legislative assembly in particular has Search for Truth), which carry his most be restored. raised serious suspicions of the state’s in- radical views on world polity. The Dr Daljit Singh Eye Hospital was tention in shielding perpetrators and po- Singh always remained sympathetic also a home to many Punjabi writers, for larising communities. According to local to leftist movement in Punjab, and any along with the treatment, they received activists on the ground, the fi ling of the number of comrades would petition him great hospitality, and were hardly charged, police complaint was deliberately delayed for medical or fi nancial help. Bhagat Singh despite being able to afford it, either in by the station house offi cer (SHO), and the was his favourite hero, and he wrote their personal capacity, or through means investigations conducted thereafter were numerous poems as a tribute to him. An of the government treasury in their offi cial cursory and repeatedly transferred from idealist to the core, Singh was a member capacity. Amritsar was known for its two one team to another. Copies of the fi rst in- of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from its formidable social personalities, Daljit Singh formation report and the medical exami- inception, and despite his age, became one and playwright Gursharan Singh. The city nation report have not been provided to of its most respectable faces during the now misses both. And I, for one, will the family. Despite the local community 2014 parliamentary elections, when he greatly miss the “custodian of my eyes.” having a strong inkling of the identity of was pitted against political bigwigs like Chaman Lal the perpetrators, after the child’s body was Amarinder Singh and Arun Jaitley. Such New Delhi recovered, a single individual, a 15-year- was his conduct, that not a single ugly old boy was arrested as the sole culprit. Communalising Sexual Violence word was spoken from his campaign The case also exposes a long-standing pat- against his rivals. He enjoyed immense n response to a question in the Jammu tern of communalising issues that take respect, often attending his rivals’ election Iand Kashmir (J&K) legislative assem- place in Jammu, by local and Jammu rallies to make contact with people to ask bly, the government stated on 16 January politicians, particularly from the BJP. for votes, and no one would object to it. He 2018 that there were 297 reported cases of Local activists told JKCCS that the majority lost the elections, but won the hearts of rape in 2017, in contrast to 189 in 2016, as Hindu community, which was initially the people, polling more than 80,000 per media reports. supportive of the agitation for justice, votes despite competing against formi- The recent case of the rape and murder has now been “persuaded” to withdraw dable rivals. Singh was also a part of of a minor girl, in the second week of their support. In a familiar move, police AAP’s disciplinary committee in Punjab, January in Rasana village, Kathua district also arrested local activist Talib Hussain, but was disillusioned. Although he tech- of Jammu region, reveals the vulnerability who was vocal in voicing the communi- nically joined the Congress party later, of communities living in highly milita- ty’s misgivings, and have threatened to he remained practically aloof from rised border areas. Members of the Gujjar– apply the preventive detention provi- politics and limited himself to his writ- Bakarwal community, a predominantly sions of the Public Safety Act. ing. AAP rebel and member of Parlia- Muslim minority community in the Jammu The case requires greater attention and ment Dharamvir Gandhi—who was his region, have had a long history of persecu- follow-up to prevent communalisation and student in the 1970s at the Government tion, exploitation, violence and displace- impunity for perpetrators. JKCCS appeals Medical College, Amritsar—considered ment at the hands of the state forces due to to women’s groups and civil societies in Singh his mentor. their nomadic lifestyle, and knowledge of Jammu and elsewhere to come out in Until about two years ago, Singh was the local terrain. Increased militarisation support of the local Gujjar–Bakarwal still attending to patients in his hospital, and high incidences of sexual violence community’s struggle for justice, and following a gruelling schedule, which have particularly affected the lives of the closely monitor developments in the case began at 4 am and would end late in the Gujjar–Bakarwal women, who must try to to prevent miscarriage of justice, and in- evening. I met him last year at his home, earn a living in these precarious and vio- timidation of witnesses. The authorities when he had fi nally given up his hospi- lent conditions. The “exceptional” circum- should ensure that there is a fair and time- tal practice, and was not keeping well. stances of border life, including denial of bound investigation in this case and Yet, he persevered with his writing. His access to their villages and grazing greater transparency and disclosure of wife Swaran Kaur predeceased him a grounds, landmines and frequent shelling, information to the public to settle local decade ago, and now his two sons and mean that an issue like sexual violence concerns of a cover-up. two daughters-in-law, who are all doc- fades into the background. Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society tors at the Dr Daljit Singh Eye Hospital, take care of his legacy. The impact that EPW Engage Singh had on his family was profound. I The following articles have been published in the past week in the EPW Engage section (www.epw.in/engage). witnessed this fi rst-hand, when last year, (1) Why Indian Universities Are Places Where Savarnas Get Affection and Dalit–Bahujans Experience Distance I saw Kashmiri youth and older victims of — P Thirumal, Carmel Christy police brutality unleashed through the use (2) Can the Government Continue Unhindered Wiretapping without Flouting the Right to Privacy?—Zubin Dash of pellet guns, being attended to by Singh’s

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6 FEBRUARY 10, 2018 vol liII no 6 EPW Economic & Political Weekly