Forgotten at home, not known in the country, Sher Jung’s pivotal role has been such in Indian history
has been overlooked by Indians.
birth anniversary falls on Nov 27th, and this year marks his 118th birth anniversary.
He is a celebrated freedom fighter, eminent author, and an ardent conservationist, who was given the task of curbing communal riots in Delhi, and other parts of the country by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, soon after India gained Independence, in August 1947.
Since, Pt. Nehru had great admiration for Jung, he picked him especially for the job and appointed him the Magistrate of Narela and Kingsway Camp area in October 1947.
His strategies were so effective and successful in maintaining order amidst the turbulent atmosphere of fear and agony, when thousands of refugees were flooding Delhi after the partition that he was made in charge of three camps where he settled the refugees coming from Pakistan. He set up two more camps for the Muslims who wanted to migrate to Pakistan. With meticulous planning and persuasion, he would pacify the rioting mobs and disperse them. Within no time, he succeeded in instilling a sense of security and safety among Muslims.
Author Shakti S. Chandel, in his book ‘Sher Jung: The Warrior Son of India’, writes how a mosque close to the ridge in Delhi was set ablaze by rioters with a maulvi inside and “Jung had no option but to rush inside and pull him out.
And in another incident, when an unknown man hiding in ambush fired at him with a country-made pistol. But by God’s grace, he escapes unhurt, then overpower the shooter and thrash him for his poor marksmanship.”
Another time in March of 1948, a young fanatic tried to stab him in the chest as he was pacifying riots in Calcutta and rural Bengal. He is said to have pulled out his gun and shot at him. At the same time, another miscreant guy stabbed him, causing him to bleed heavily but he was saved by doctors.
Not resting on the laurels of Independence in 1947, Sher Jung raised two battalions of Kashmir National Militia and fought along with Indian army against Pakistani raiders in Kashmir.
With trouble ensuing in Kashmir, Sher Jung was sent to Srinagar on October 25, 1947, to raise a guerrilla force against Pakistani attackers. Soon, two battalions, one of men and the other of women, were raised as ‘Kashmir National Militia’.
For his services rendered in Kashmir, he was given the honorary rank of Colonel on March 28, 1948, at Srinagar in the presence of Pt. Nehru. Sher Jung also led guerilla warfare against Portuguese in Goa from 1953 to 1961. Later, in 1967, he was part of Mukti Vahini led guerilla warfare against East Pakistan army in Bengal in the 1971 war.
The 1904 born spent several years of his youthful life in jail. In 1929 Chandra Shekhar and Bhagvati Charan Vohra had planned to forcibly free Bhagat Singh and his associates from Central Jail, Lahore, by way of group attack and Sher Jung was assigned the task to loot Ahmedgarh train and buy weapons with the looted money.
On 15 October 1929, he did attempt to loot the Ahmedgarh train but was identified and soon declared wanted – either ‘Dead’ or ‘Alive’ with a reward of Rs. 30,000 on him. His posters went up in nearly all cities and towns. He disguised in different identities but on the directions from his father, Jung surrendered before the police. Following that, he was sentenced to death on October 15, 1929, but it was later reduced to a life-term.
Though, the train robbery bid proved to be unsuccessful. In 1947, a locality in Ludhiana near Clock Tower was named after Sher Jung for his heroics.
To get rid of the rule of Kings and princes, Jung was part of the Praja Mandal movement against the king of Sirmaur.
Sher Jung’s whole life was a saga of upheavals. Chaudhary Pratap Singh, his father, was the Diwan of the state of Sirmaur. He taught his son how to be a skilled marksman, when Sher Jung was 15, he killed a tiger. But, in his life, later on, he made it his mission to save the tiger.
Soon after World Wild Life Fund launched a Tiger Conservation campaign in 1972, Jung was in the vanguard of the program. An eminent naturalist Kr Dushyant Singh from Dhami even proposed for a wildlife sanctuary to be named after Jung.
You can hear the tales of his valour and daunting spirit, but he was never the one to delve in self-glory.
Unfortunately today, Sher Jung is not even remembered in his home state Himachal and forgotten in India. An eminent writer, he authored as many as 10 books, earning appreciation for ‘Prison Days’ and ‘A Tryst with Tigers’. For all his achievements, he remained an unsung hero.
