Kairon didn’t believe in political dynasties.

(HT Photo)Ī villager by conviction, an American by education, and a Lenin fan, Kairon did masters in economics and political science from Berkeley and University of Michigan in the US, where he lived for nine years. UNDONE BY SONS? Adaish Pratap Kairon and (right) Praneet Kaur, Adaish Pratap Kairon’s wife and CM Parkash Singh Badal’s daughter. A year after his assassination on February 6, 1965, Punjab was trifurcated. He believed the more you shrink Punjab, the more you will curb the aspirations of its people. His son, Gurinder Kairon, 82, claims there wouldn’t have been militancy, the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, or this fuss about Chandigarh, had he lived on.ĭr Jagroop Sekhon of the political science department at Guru Nanak Dev University says Kairon disliked parochial politics of the Akali Dal. “Above all, he contained communal forces, opposing both the Punjabi suba and the language movement,” says M Rajiv Lochan of the history department, Panjab University. He consolidated landholdings in undivided Punjab by pooling fragments of land into economically viable chunks - the only Indian state to do so - thus preparing farms for mechanisation. He rehabilitated refugees through training and direction. He boosted higher education with Punjab Agricultural University, Kurukshetra University and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. He invited industrialists such as the Oswals and Jaijees to invest in the state. Kairon set up Punjab for prosperity by preparing the ground for the Green Revolution and industry. He’s the benchmark for other CMs in India,” Gill says. “All Punjab chief ministers after him are living off his legacy. MS Gill, a former chief election commissioner of India who worked under Kairon, however, insists that his legacy lives on. Adaish Partap Kairon(HT Photo)įifty-one years on, his family name is almost forgotten but for grandson Adaish Partap Kairon, better known as chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s son-in-law. Then PM Jawaharlal Nehru with then Punjab chief minister Partap Singh Kairon in New Delhi on December 30, 1958.

To him goes the credit of rehabilitating three million refugees of Partition in less than 10 years and laying the foundation of a robust Punjab with the modern city of Chandigarh as its capital. This is a common refrain about Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, the iconic chief minister of undivided Punjab, who opposed its division tooth and nail until his assassination in 1965.

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