Sir Sikander Hayat Khan

Sir Sikander Hayat Khan was born on 5 June 1892. He led the Unionist Party, a party of landed interests drawn from all the Punjab's communities. After the 1937 provincial elections he became the first Premier of the Punjab, serving from 5 April 1937 until he died in Lahore on 26 December 1942 (Wikipedia).

The Sikhs in his ministry

The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says the Sikhs held 31 of the 175 Assembly seats and were split. The Khalsa National Party joined the Unionists and Sir Sundar Singh Majithia entered the cabinet, while the Shiromani Akali Dal sided with Congress and the opposition and was the government's sharpest critic. When the war began in 1939 the Premier opened talks with the Akalis. Wikipedia's summary says his coalition included the Akali Dal and Congress; the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism has them in opposition until the 1942 pact.

On 15 June 1942 he explained at a press conference in Lahore the terms he had conceded in a letter to Baldev Singh, the Akali nominee. Jhatka meat would be available in government institutions with separate kitchens. On religious legislation the community concerned would decide, with the Premier's support. Punjabi in Gurmukhi would become the second language, which he did not oppose in principle. Sikhs would have a 20 per cent share of government recruitment. He would back a Sikh claim to representation if the Central Executive Council was changed.

Baldev Singh joined the cabinet in place of Dasaundha Singh, a Khalsa National Party minister since Majithia's death in 1941, calling it a step in a personal capacity with only the moral support of the Akali Dal. The Akali legislators stayed in opposition, and the Akali Dal disapproved the pact at Gujranwala on 18 July 1942 (Encyclopaedia of Sikhism).

Jinnah and the Lahore Resolution

In October 1937 he signed a pact with Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Lucknow under which Muslim Unionist members joined the Muslim League; Jinnah repealed it in 1944 after Sikander's successor, Khizar Hayat Tiwana, refused League demands (Wikipedia).

On the Lahore Resolution of March 1940, accounts differ. Javed Jabbar, a former senator and federal minister, writes in Dawn that Hayat strongly opposed the draft and that the Unionists covertly helped arrange a Khaksar rally on 19 March 1940 to draw attention from the League's convention. V. N. Datta wrote in The Sunday Tribune (24 March 2002) that Sikander denied drafting it and had proposed only a loose federation. Wikipedia calls him one of its chief supporters and architects, while adding that he opposed the partition of India.

Key moments

• 5 April 1937: becomes first Premier of the Punjab.
• October 1937: the Sikander-Jinnah pact at Lucknow.
• June 1942: the Sikander-Baldev Singh pact, and Baldev Singh enters the cabinet.
• 26 December 1942: dies suddenly at his home in Lahore; Khizar Hayat Tiwana succeeds him.

What he is remembered for. He is remembered as the Unionist Premier who tried to hold Punjab's communities in one ministry and who, in 1942, brought an Akali nominee into it.