My memories with Chaudhary Sahab
My memories with Chaudhary Sahab.
I would have been about 8 and it was the summer of 1990, still remember the Daak Bangla of Basti vividly. I was sitting next to my father and on the opposite side was this gentlemen wearing a white kurta with a smiling face having his breakfast. More than 30 years have passed, my father was explaining politics (which I hardly understood) and he was listening patiently all along, never did the smile fade away one bit. I still remember that Papaya that he was having, later on in life I realised why my father picked up this habit of eating Papita and we kids at home had to comply.
The gentleman in the white kurta happened to be an engineer from IIT Kharagpur, a post graduate from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago and one of the first Indians to work for IBM. After spending 17 years in the Silicon Valley where he worked as a computer scientist he had come back to look after his ailing father, a former Prime Minister of India.
Came the elections of 1991, the smiling evergreen face was the Chief Ministerial candidate from Janta Dal. My father went on to become an MLA from Janta Dal, my mother told me later that the ticket he got was from his quota, as VP Singh had left the ticket discussion room when Basti Sadar cropped up. VP Singh Ajit Singh Singh Jindabad Jindabad, one thig that will remain etched in my memory forever. Have grown up listening to this slogan that was the start of politics for me, that is still and will remain the politics for me.
I lost my father at a very early age. There was this smiling man once again. Of all the political leaders Ch Sahab came to Basti and consoled the family. We did a meeting in 2006 in Basti I think and he came and I so fondly remember the first words he said – राजमाता कह रही थीं की बस्ती का किसान बहुत संघर्षशील है. What a beautiful dialect he had to complement his smile. Having spent his youth in the US and majority of his life in West UP his words were crystal clear, the best of speakers in Hindi would fail to have this clear a tone in their voice.
I remember sitting next to him when the press conference was going on, and there was no press initially. Here was the Agriculture Minister of India, accompanied by 4 other state ministers and my mother like most mothers was ensuring the press have their lunch first. I quickly barged into the dining room where they were eating and asked them to eat fast as the Union Minister was waiting, the sound of their spoons hitting the plates became more pronounced. I told Ch Sahab that the press was eating lunch and he was so cool about it, the smile never left him and he told me to relax. First question asked was like a bullet and he fended those off with so much calm, the smile still intact. 10 years later I saw him again on that same seat fending off those bullets, but this time it was his son, reminiscent of his father, calm, soothing. I remember seeing him off and he was leaving for a public meeting in Rudhauli, he raised his hand to shake his hand with me, but there was my father in front of me and we Indians don’t shake hands. I bent and touched his feet, something that I kept doing all my life on meeting him, something he always said doesn’t happen in Arya Samaj but I never listened to him.
I could notice the dirt on his sandals, the dirt was part of the struggles he did for the farmers of India. History may be unkind on him but he never compromised on his principles, no matter in which capacity he was but he never buged – चौधरी साहब का कलम नहीं चलता जबतक किसानो का पेमेंट नहीं होता है. He reduced the distance between sugar mills from 25km to 15km and setup many sugar mills in UP and brought prosperity and strength to West UP. West UP thrives on the Agriculture Model setup by him, and he was responsible for no taxation on Agricultural income and many more pro-farmer policies in India.
I made it a point to visit him at least once every two years even before I officially joined his political party, his welcome and affection was second to none. He asked if I could come on board in 2006 but I had to complete my engineering and TCS happened. My chance finally came 10 years later when Munna Singh ji called me to meet Jayant ji, and I came back to my family.
Even during political campaigns he had the warmth for me. I remember Varanasi it was and I was so late, that the meeting was over and Ch Sahab and all the senior leaders were having their lunch. I entered the room with a sense of guilt but the smile eased all my anxiety and the first thing he said was that Aeshwarya ko pehle khana khilao.
Someone recently told me that when he came to Basti for the first time perhaps in 1988, as someone who had recently come back from the US, foreign return as we called them then, my father had arranged an elaborate meal for him. The elaborate meal in 1988 was Chinese food and the chef had to come all the way from Gorakhpur. Ch Sahab would have eaten maybe some noodles but for the rest of the folks in east UP back then it was completely new, they weren’t sure whether the noodles were meant to be eaten or were kept there for display.
I remember the last conversation I had with him. I think it was post his rally in Bulandshahr. He had recently developed his infatuation for the mobile phone. I had sent him his speech, he was so happy, he called back and said you have send me my complete speech today, how do you do that. Now make sure that you send the full speech to all the reporters and all the main members of the party.
I have always told my wife that his smile is infectious, that smile will always elude me now. It’s like losing my father all over again. Rest in peace Chaudhary Sahab.!
– Aeshwarya Raj Singh
