By now, the NDF had received Rs 2 crore in cash donations. From other parts of the country, 5.327 kg of gold was donated. The MPs of the Congress collected 0.6 kg of gold to gift to the National Defence Fund (NDF). Of the 12,000 gold coins collected, some were from the times of the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.īN Mullick, Nehru’s intelligence chief, noted that Kairon had promised Nehru that the people of Punjab would support his efforts to defend the country with ‘gold and blood’. This was what had been donated to the government by the people of Punjab in the form of necklaces, bangles, rings, nose pins, medals, old coins and other items from their personal collection. Half of this had come from the people of Amritsar. On his 73rd birthday, Jawaharlal Nehru was given a gift of 130-kg gold by the Punjab Government. Thousands of young men and women attended it and pledged to defend the country and undertake military training. The first meeting of this group was held at the Gobindgarh Fort in Amritsar. General Mohan Singh, a veteran from the Indian National Army, was encouraged to organise a training programme for students so that they could be well equipped to defend the country in the face of an enemy attack. Kairon’s hold over the soldiers was such that even Radio Ceylon, the most popular radio station in India of the time, broadcast his address, along with religious hymns and shabads, to soldiers early in the morning, which encouraged them to remain on the path of righteousness and fight for justice. Na daro ari seo, jab jaye laro nischey kar apni jit karo.ĭeputy commissioners were ordered to take special care of any soldier or family members who would approach the administration with any problem. He reminded the soldiers of the great Sikh Gurus, their exhortation to fight for a righteous cause and never hesitate: Subh karman te kabahu na daro. He went out of his way to talk to gatherings of soldiers on the eastern border, duly dressed in Army fatigues, assuring them that they need not worry about their families back home, that the Punjab Government would do everything possible to ensure that their families were well taken care of. Kairon announced the allotment of Rs 2 crore to provide relief to the families of the jawans killed while defending India from the Chinese aggression. The women were also given weapons’ training.Ī large number of Sikhs were working as soldiers and officers in the Army. The government also planned to train over two lakh women for civil defence, Home Guards and the Raksha Dal. The state Education Department began the process of providing military training to all college students, and for those in high school and higher secondary school. He persuaded all ministers and MLAs of Punjab, below the age of 50, to sign up for active service those above 50 offered to do whatever work could be found. Indians, he added, needed a shake-up as they had become soft and complacent and had started leading a life of ease and comfort.Ī new side of Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, who was then CM of Punjab, came to the fore as the war continued. On November 10, 1962, President S Radhakrishnan, in an address to the Young Men’s Sikh Association in Delhi, said the Chinese aggression was in a way good for the country. The war with China in 1962 began on October 22 and ended on November 2.
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