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Sunil Dutt is no more

     Mumbai: Union Sports Minister and senior Congress leader Sunil Dutt passed away at his Nagris Dutt Road residence in Bandra in Mumbai at around 11.45 a.m. this morning following a massive heart attack. He was 76 and is survived by son and film actor Sanjay Dutt and two daughters. Before his foray into politics in 1981 as Mumbai (then Bombay) Sheriff, Dutt had acted in nearly 100 movies, produced eight and directed six movies. In 1984 he joined active politics at the instance of late Rajiv Gandhi and won the Mumbai North West seat. Since then he has retained the seat all through and joined Dr. Manmohan Singh's cabinet last year.

      Born on 6th June, 1929, in a non-descript village of Khurd, (now in Pakistan) in district Jhelum. Like millions of Punjabis his family too had to under undergo the travails of Partition, leaving their home and hearth, to lead the life the of paupers on footpaths. With the passage of time, they were allotted a tract of land in Ambala in Haryana, in lieu of what they had left behind in Pakistan. Those who wallow in the past only learn to hate and do not move ahead in life. This sagely advice of his mother helped him to grow out of the nightmare of Partition and he left for Mumbai. There he joined Jai Hind College as an undergraduate and took up a job as well. A stroke of luck fetched him an additional assignment with Keymers, a flourishing British advertisement company and he could supplement his income by a few hundred more rupees. While working for Keymers he got introduced to the cream of film industry including Nargis, whom he later married. In deference to the wishes of his mother, Dutt first completed his graduation and then did his maiden film, Railway Platform directed by Ramesh Sehgal, with Johnny Walker and Nalini Jaywant as co-stars.

     Success came his way with B R Chopra's, Ek hi Raasta, 1956 which was an instant hit. But it was Mehboob Khan's greatest work, Mother India, 1956 which catapulted him to stardom and helped him to tie the nuptial knot with Nargis. Sadhna, Sujata and Main Chup Rahungi followed. Film after film came and Dutt hit the peak of his career in mid sixties. Yeh Raastein Hain Pyar Ke, Mujhe Jeene Do,Yaadein, and B R Chopra productions Gumraah, Waqt and Humraaz helped him gain ground tremendously and he developed his own style. He paired opposite the known names of filmdom like Waheeda Rehman, Sadhna, Meena Kumari and Nutan and always stood well above the mark. He introduced his son Sanjay in Rocky, 1981. The same year his wife Nargis died of cancer, leaving Dutt devastated. He turned pensively away from films to the cause of social work and politics. He set up the Nargis Dutt Foundation for the cure of cancer From the 1962 China war to the Kargil conflict, Sunil Dutt always enthusiastically went to the borders to encourage and cheer our valiant troops, engaged in do or die encounters.

     He walked from Bombay to Amritsar to pray for peace at the Golden Temple, when Punjab was hard caught up in the turmoil of militancy. He drove through Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal in the Hands Across the Borders expedition for peace in South Asia. Sunil Dutt didn't take long to tender his resignation as a Member of Parliament in protest against the mishandling of communal riots of Mumbai riots in 1993. But life without his wife has not been easy for Sunil Dutt at the home front. His son, Sanjay got bogged down in the quagmire of drugs in the eighties and with some uncanny relationships in the underworld during the nineties. On both the occasions Dutt Sahib put up a valiant struggle against all odds to free his son of these menaces. Of late, on the special request of his long time friend, Vidhu Vinod Chopra he acted in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. alongwith his son Sanjay. But that was out of sheer fun rather than any seriousness on his part to stage a comeback.

One-Day state mourning for Dutt  (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: As a mark of respect to Sunil Dutt, who died in Mumbai today, Government has decided that State mourning shall be observed throughout India today. During the State mourning, National Flag will be flown at half- mast throughout India, where it is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment.

NDA demands early polls in Bihar (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today demanded early elections in Bihar, before the onset of monsoon. A delegation of NDA leaders led by JD(U) leaders Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav and BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met the Election Commission and urged that polls should be held sometimes in the last week of June or first week of July and that it should not be spread out too long. "We urged the EC to hold early elections in Bihar, before the onset of monsoon and in less number of phases instead of staggering them over a longer period," said Nitish Kumar after the meeting. The delegation told the Commission that since preparation of voters list and other things had already been completed there should be no problem in holding early elections. They said, the urgency shown in dissolving the Assembly 'in the midnight' should be shown in holding the elections also. Taking exception to Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj's statement that there could be extension of President's Rule if elections were delayed, the delegation told the Commission that EC alone had the powers to decide the poll schedule. ''All we want is free, fair and objective elections to take place,'' they said. The NDA delegation also urged the Commission to ensure that the ruling UPA partners did not take advantage of the President's rule and wanted it to appoint an independent official as Chief Election Officer, besides adequate deployment of Central Paramilitary forces. Arun Jaitley, who was the Law Minister in the NDA Ministry, said that the President's Rule in Bihar was in force from March seven and the new Assembly should be in place before September six. He said the Election Commission should not presume that the Parliament will pass the bill to extend the President's rule in the state and hence should go ahead to hold polls before the monsoon. Jaitley, who led the BJP in Bihar during the February-March assembly polls, said the alliance was sure to return to power as the people were very unhappy with the way the RJD and Congress attempted to manipulate the mandate, which was against them.

Bhindranwale declared martyrs by Taksal  (Go To Top)
by Ravinder Singh Robin

     Amritsar: Twenty one years after Operation Bluestar, Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale, the 14th chief of Damdami Taksal, was today declared a martyr by Damdami Taksal, (Jatha Bhindran) in the presence of Singhs of Taksal, Pritam Kaur and Inderjit Singh wife and son of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale, respectively, at Taksal's headquarters at Gurdwara Gurdarshan Parkash Mehta about 45 kilometres from Amritsar. Baba Harnam Singh declared that Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale was martyred at 8.45 am on June 6, 1984 while fighting with the Indian army at Akal Takht. Speaking to reporters Baba Harnam Singh said that the Taksal had now cleared all the myths surrounding the status of Bhindranwale. ''There should be no more controversy and all the queries regarding martyrdom of Jarnail Singh would finish", he said. Harnam Singh and others at the Taksal, however declined to give any reason as to why the Taksal maintained for more than two decades that Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale was in chardi kalan and would appear at right time.

     Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale, who was in the forefront of the Khalistan movement, was already declared a martyr by the Akal Takht jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti at a function jointly organised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and few other Sikh bodies at the Diwan Hall of Gurdwara Manji Sahib in the SGPC complex, on the occasion of Ghallughara Divas on June 6, 2003. In a telephonic conversation from the US, Convener of the American Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Pritpal Singh while hailing the decision of Damdami Taksal said that they had been observing the martyrdom of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale but after declaration of same by the organization to whom Bhinderanwale belonged, all ifs and buts have finished. He said they had already declared Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale as Man of Century. Giani Harnam Singh said that martyrdom day would be observed on June 12. It is believed that Taksal could also announce its future programme for the cause of Panth. Pritam Kaur wife of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale and Inderjit Singh son of Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale both approved the decision taken by Damdami Taksal. They however parried giving any reply to media queries.

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