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‘Khushwant held a mirror to the society’s follies and was still loved and admired’

LAHORE:

Hadali, Khushwant Singh’s ancestral village, is perhaps the most fitting metaphor that could be used to describe Singh, Senator Aitezaz Ahsan said at a session on Politics, Pluralism and Khushwant Singh’s Punjab on the first day of the Lahore Literary Festival.

He said only Singh had the audacity to urge Indira Gandhi to release Pakistan’s 90,000 prisoners of war held in India in the wake of the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Singh had never forgotten his roots even though he had made a name for himself in India, Senator Ahsan said.

The panelists at the session were Aitezaz Ahsan, Basharat Qadir, Rahul Singh and Shobhaa De. Author and art historian FS Aijazuddin was the moderator.

Aijazuddin said he had first met Singh in 1981 and called on him several times during the 1990s. He said Singh had inscribed a book he had presented to him with “mein Hadali dee pedaaish hega. Mein Pakistani hega”.

Aijazzuddin recalled his trip to New Delhi to bring back Singh’s ashes to Hadali. “Ashes do not need visas,” he observed.

Singh’s son Rahul Singh regaled the audience with anecdotes and read out some of his select works. Singh always spoke his mind without fear of consequences, he said.

Singh belonged to a minority who believed in promoting amity between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs through compassion, even though he himself had been affected by the Partition, his son said. “My father had a zest for life… and he was completely devoid of hubris.”

Columnist Shobhaa De said Singh had a complex personality. “He had a knack for holding a mirror to the society’s follies and still be loved and admired.”

De said Singh was particularly susceptible to flattery and the charm of “society ladies”. She said they had often exploited this weakness to “further their own ends”.

Singh was renowned for his courage but his “flip-flops” had anguished several people.  De said this included his love-hate relationship with former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and his “love-love relationship” with Sanjay Gandhi, her reviled son. De said Lahore was part of Singh’s DNA.

Lawyer Basharat Qadir spoke of Singh’s love for Lahore and his enduring friendship with former foreign minister Manzur Qadir. He said humility was the hallmark of both Qadir and Singh’s personalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2015.