Maharaja Karni Singh of Bikaner

Karni Singh was the Maharaja of Bikaner in Rajasthan, a member of the Lok Sabha for a quarter of a century and an Olympic marksman. He sat on the Parliamentary Committee on the Demand for Punjabi Suba of 1965 to 1966 and wrote one of the notes added to its report.

Wikipedia gives his birth as 21 April 1924 at Bikaner and his death on 6 September 1988 in New Delhi. It says he succeeded his father, Maharaja Sadul Singh, in 1950, represented Bikaner in the Lok Sabha as an independent from 1952 to 1977, and competed in shooting at several Olympic Games. The committee's report lists him among its Lok Sabha members as H.H. Maharaja Karni Singhji of Bikaner.

His note. The note appears fourth among the members' notes in the report. In it he wrote:

• Since linguistic States had in principle been accepted by the country, the demand of the Punjabi-speaking people for a separate State could not be resisted too long, and he supported it.
• He nevertheless felt it would have been better if the unilingual formula had been effectively implemented, keeping the great State of Punjab as it was and bringing about the emotional integration of its Punjabi and Hindi-speaking regions, because dividing the State into smaller units might make their long-term economic stability or viability doubtful.
• He agreed with the committee's conclusion in paragraph 69 that Punjab be reorganised on a linguistic basis, but wrote that this should not open the flood gates for changing the boundaries of other States. He argued that Rajasthan, formed 17 years earlier by the merger of former princely States, should not lose or gain territory because of the division of Punjab.
• He wanted it stated clearly that the new Punjabi-speaking State or Haryana would be carved out of the existing Punjab alone, citing the assurance given by Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda in the Rajya Sabha on 5 November 1965. The report itself says, in paragraph 71, that the question of parts of Rajasthan being added to either new State was beyond the committee's competence.

What he is remembered for. In the story of Punjabi Suba he is the committee member who accepted the demand while asking that no neighbouring State pay for it in territory.