Bhim Sen Sachar

Bhim Sen Sachar was a Congress leader of Punjab who served twice as Chief Minister, in 1949 and from 1952 to 1956, and whose name is given to the Sachar Formula, the language scheme of 1949 for the schools of Punjab. Wikipedia gives his birth as 1894 at Peshawar and his death as 18 January 1978. The Tribune calls him a freedom fighter who practised law at Gujranwala in 1919 and left his practice after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to join the struggle against British rule.

Key moments

• 13 April 1949: J.S. Grewal says he replaced Gopi Chand Bhargava as Chief Minister; Wikipedia gives the end of that first term as 18 October 1949, when Bhargava returned.
• October 1949: a language formula, evolved according to Grewal by Giani Kartar Singh and Sachar, takes his name. A Punjabi zone, six districts and some tehsils, was to have Punjabi in Gurmukhi script as the medium of instruction up to matriculation, with Hindi taught; in the Hindi zone the positions were reversed. Grewal says the Akalis welcomed it, though they objected to the option given to parents, while the Arya Samaj institutions refused to implement it.
• 1952: Grewal writes that when Sachar was sworn in again after the 1952 elections he chose Swaran Singh, Partap Singh Kairon and Ujjal Singh as his cabinet colleagues from among the Sikh legislators. Wikipedia gives his second term as 17 April 1952 to 23 January 1956.
• January 1955: Gurmit Singh says Chief Minister Sachar invited Master Tara Singh for talks. Gurmit Singh says that after the meeting Sachar played upon certain words of Master Tara Singh, said out of context, and said that Master Tara Singh wanted a Sikh State.
• 6 April 1955 to 12 July 1955: the Amritsar District Magistrate bans the slogan for Punjabi Suba, Master Tara Singh courts arrest on 10 May, and on 4 July the police enter the Golden Temple complex. The ban is lifted on 12 July.
• 1955: Grewal says Sachar visited the Akal Takht to offer a personal apology. Gurmit Singh says he apologised before the congregation after Master Tara Singh declared on 20 September 1955 that Sikh resentment would continue unless he did so.
• January 1956: Gurmit Singh says Congressmen criticised him for apologising and for pampering the Akalis, that he resigned, and that Partap Singh Kairon succeeded him in January 1956. Wikipedia gives 23 January 1956 and says he left office because of internal party politics.
• 1956 to 1962: Governor of Odisha, then of Andhra Pradesh (Wikipedia).

Remembered for: the Sachar Formula of 1949, and for the police entry into the Golden Temple complex in July 1955 under his government and the apology he made at the Akal Takht.