Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir

Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir was a Sikh poet and politician who headed Sri Akal Takht Sahib in 1930 and 1931, later became a leader of the Congress, and was the first Chief Minister of the Punjabi-speaking Punjab created in 1966. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says he was born on 15 January 1899 at Adhwal in the Campbellpur district, now in Pakistan. In 1918 he began teaching at Khalsa High School, Kallar, where Master Tara Singh had been headmaster; four years there earned him the title Giani, and Musafir was his pen name.

The Encyclopaedia says the massacres at Jallianwala Bagh and Nankana Sahib affected him deeply, and in 1922 he gave up teaching to join the Akali movement for gurdwara reform. It also says he served for a time as secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and as general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Key moments

• 1922: he was imprisoned for taking part in the Guru ka Bagh agitation, the Encyclopaedia says.
• 1930 to 1931: he was appointed head of Sri Akal Takht Sahib in 1930 and held the office from 12 March 1930 to 5 March 1931. He courted arrest in the Civil Disobedience movement in 1930.
• 1939 to 1949: jailed in the Satyagraha of 1939 to 1941 and in Quit India; he became president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee in 1949 and was a member of the All-India Congress Working Committee.
• 1952 to 1966: elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952, 1957 and 1962; he resigned in 1966 to become Chief Minister.
• December 1960: while Sant Fateh Singh was fasting, the Akali MP Ajit Singh Sarhadi and Sarup Singh asked him whether a compromise was possible; he went to see Nehru, who at first said "To fast is his mistake" and then suggested that he go to Amritsar. Gurmit Singh's notes cite a 1974 article by Musafir for the account.
• 1 November 1966 to 8 March 1967: Chief Minister of Punjab, according to Wikipedia's list. Khushwant Singh writes that President's Rule under Governor Dharma Vira had been imposed while the boundaries were redrawn, and that as soon as the lines were drawn he replaced Ram Kishen as Chief Minister of the Punjab.
• 24 December 1966: he went with Hukam Singh and Giani Zail Singh to the Golden Temple complex to ask Sant Fateh Singh to give up his fast, and failed, Gurmit Singh writes.
• February 1967: in the general election he was beaten by a young communist, Satyapal Dang, Khushwant Singh writes, and the United Front formed the government.
• 28 March 1968: he entered the Rajya Sabha.
• 18 January 1976: he died in Delhi.

He published nine collections of poems, eight of short stories and four biographical works, among them Vekhia Sunia Gandhi and Vekhia Sunia Nehru. The Encyclopaedia says he was decorated with the Padma Vibhushan after his death.