By Prem Nath Kirpal
DYAL SINGH was not a politician.
Parliaments, Councils, Ministers, electorates, parties, majorities - such
words were not in common use during his lifetime. The times during which he
lived were non-political, generally in India and particularly in the Punjab.
The country was experiencing a quiet and slow renaissance in all the spheres
of life. Men had begun to question things and to apply reason to old customs
and conventions of society. The modern man was becoming conspicuous. All
over India, great leaders arose whom themselves appreciated and asked their
countrymen to adopt some of the most commendable features of western
civilization. People were deeply interested in education, reform of social
customs and material prosperity. Men were too busy to think of political
rights. Interest in politics was only confined to a very small fraction of
upper classes, the almost negligible minority of graduates of the
universities. Even their attitude towards the Government was more of
admiration than criticism. The admiration of that generation was inevitable.
The university graduate received his education in English, studied the
literature and institutions of the English people and acquired great
interest in them. The Government in England was strong and benevolent and
the masses had not risen to the standard of enlightenment and prosperity
necessary for the birth of political consciousness. Parliamentary Government
in England was at the height of its success and utility. Issues were simple;
a small electorate took active interest in political questions; and the
leadership of an enlightened and liberal upper class never failed to produce
great statesmen of the caliber of Gladstone and Disraeli, men who worked
Parliamentary democracy almost to perfection. The Government of England
stood to the whole world as a model of what a government ought to be. The
Indian graduate in the last seventies read the impassioned utterances of
Gladstone reported by the newspapers; he had already studied the orations of
Burke in his textbooks. Out of these arose an academic interest in liberty.
The men of the last eighties who founded
the Indian National Congress were utopians; the few of them who had
practical programs were not democrats. In fact, politics only formed an
aspect of the Liberal Movement, which was gradually transforming society,
and in the second half of the nineteenth century this aspect was not
prominent though it was coming increasingly into the limelight. Sardar Dyal
Singh evinced much interest in politics but he realized that his countrymen
must deserve political rights before they could be enjoyed. To deserve
political rights it was necessary to liberalize social customs and remove
social shackles by the spread of liberal education. To this end his
countrymen were to devote their energies. The public must be educated and
the duty of an enlightened leader like him was to articulate public opinion
and to keep the Government in touch with it. For this end he started The
Tribune newspaper and managed educational institutions. The Tribune, under
his wise direction and tactful management, began to exercise an influence in
the Punjab. Under the Lieutenant-Governorship of Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick, a
Punjab civilian once wrote to the "Pioneer" newspaper at Allahabad that the
Punjab was being ruled by the Governor and The Tribune and that the
Secretaries and district officers were nowhere. The Sardar was very well
informed about current politics and sometimes wrote very able editorial
notes for The Tribune. He loved the spirit of British institutions; he
adored parliamentary government of England and he was loyal to British rule.
But he did not like the bureaucracy and never went to humor the much-humored
executive officers. With his education, his position, his family and wealth
he could have easily won official honors and favors; but he never cared for
them and hated the highbrow attitude of the bureaucrat. He was independent
and did not care to please even the highest officers. Dyal Singh associated
himself intimately with the Indian National Congress from its foundation. In
1888 he went to attend the Congress session at Allahabad. The Congress of
that year met under the open disapproval of the Governor of the United
Provinces and only bolder spirits joined the ranks. Dyal Singh had no mind
to go to Allahabad but the official attitude made him firm in his decision
to stand by the Congress at that juncture. In 1893 the Congress was held at
Lahore under the presidency of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, M.P. Sardar Dyal Singh
was elected as the Chairman of the Reception Committee and delivered a
remarkable address which deserves to be quoted at length. The address
illustrates the politics of the times, with which the Sardar was in full
accord. At the outset the Sardar praised the advantages of British rule,
which were gratefully acknowledged by even the most patriotic Indians of
those days. "It is our peculiar good fortune to live under a Government
which, by the spread of liberal education and the annihilation of distances,
has made it practicable for us - the inhabitants of the remote parts of this
vast empire - to meet every year at different centers to discuss those great
problems so intimately connected with the advancement and prosperity of our
Fatherland. We have a glorious past, of course, of which we need not be
proud, and clearly see the
