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Indian Express
03-05-2025
- General
- Indian Express
Somnath to Pahalgam: The Indus river runs through it
Clipping from The Indian Express edition on September 20, 1960 The trust behind the consecration sought soil, flora and water from across the world to offer at the temple. This included 12 ounces of water of the Indus river from Pakistan. Documents preserved at the National Archives show what followed. 'Canal water treaty signed in Karachi' — September 20, 1960 (Express Archives) On February 20, 1951, the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar wrote to Khub Chand, the Acting Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, saying: 'We have been advised that for the (Somnath) ceremony, not only waters, vanaspati (flora) and soils from all over India but… from all over the world (are needed). So far as Pakistan is concerned, we need – 12 ounces of water from the river Sindhoo (Indus)… The packet should be directed to be labelled indicating its contents and sent by air mail, so as to reach me not later than the 15th March, 1951 (the day of the consecration).' Acting promptly, Chand sent a packet containing Indus water a fortnight later to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in Delhi and informed the South Block. 'I enclose a copy of the correspondence exchanged with His Highness the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar regarding supply of some water from the river Sindhu (Indus) for ceremonies connected with the restoration of the Somnath Temple… Would you please have it sent to His Highness by air mail… Please treat this letter as IMMEDIATE,' Chand wrote to MEA Deputy Secretary S K Banerji on March 7. A picture of the old Somnath temple. (Express archive photo./ Photo credit Somnath Temple Trust) The same day, Chand wrote to the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, informing him that he had sent the water, adding: 'I take this opportunity to offer you my very best wishes for the success of the functions connected with the restoration of the Somnath Temple.' In Delhi, Banerji forwarded the Indus water packet to K M Munshi, then Minister of Food and Agriculture, and wrote to Jam Sahib telling him that the latter would carry the water for the installation of the Ling ceremony at the Somnath Temple. The then Agriculture Minister K M Munshi seen with archaeologists and engineers with the ruins of Somnath Temple in the background. (July 1950 – Express Archives) However, the archives show, a week after the Indus water packet was received in Delhi, Chand started worrying about how this may be received in Pakistan. 'There must, under no circumstances, be any publicity to the effect that Sindhu (Indus) water was sent by the High Commission for India to Pakistan… (or its) utilization for the ceremonies. Such publicity is bound to cause much bitter comment in Pakistan,' Chand wrote to Banerji on March 19, 1951. Banerji forwarded Chand's no-publicity request to Munshi, even while asking the Acting High Commissioner, in a letter on March 28, what possible objection could Pakistan have to Indus water being used in Somnath consecration. Two days later, Chand replied: 'The Pakistan Government is not going to take any objection but there is likely to be some comment in the Pakistan Press. This may be somewhat on the following lines:- (a) India 'pretends' to be a secular democracy. Yet She indulges in great pomp and ceremony connected with restoration of a temple destroyed by a Muslim conqueror. (b) India has not reconciled herself to Partition. The Indus is no longer an Indian river. It is the lifeblood of Pakistan. The use of Indus water shows that India still considers this river sacred to her.' Chand added: 'This is, of course, a historic occasion for us to be able to restore the Somnath Temple. But I should personally much prefer if no mention is made of the fact that the High Commission sent the Indus water. That Indus water was used in connection with the celebration, along with water and earth from various other places in the world, may be modestly advertised if considered desirable… It is not so much the effect in Pakistan that is important but the effect on foreign opinion conditioned by observations in the Pakistan Press or by their propagandists.' The issue eventually reached Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who expressed his disapproval through Foreign Secretary K P S Menon. (Nehru had been opposed to any association of his government with the consecration, though many Congress leaders wanted it.) Conveying Nehru's message, Menon wrote to Chand on April 25, saying that the PM wanted to convey that the request for Indus water by the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar 'does not have his approval', and that 'if any such request is received in the future, you should bring it to our notice before complying with it'. Chand wrote back to the MEA on April 30, 1951, saying: 'We sent the Indus water through the Ministry of External Affairs so that proper screening of the request could be made if desired. IN this connection I may add that I have already made a request that no publicity should be given to the fact that the High Commission supplied Indus water for the consecration of the Somnath Temple.' Chand's concerns about negative publicity of the consecration ceremony proved valid. On May 21, 1951, a 12-page dossier for the MEA compiled by Deputy Principal Information Officer V R Bhatt detailed reports in the Pakistani Gujarati press accusing India of religious bias and revanchism. Bhatt noted that the Somnath ceremony had become a pretext for intense anti-Hindu and anti-India propaganda.
Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Dilip Kumar broke up with Madhubala because she couldn't bear children, doctor told her she'd die if she tried: ‘When he found out…'
Veteran actor Mumtaz recalled a conversation that she had with the late Madhubala, about her relationship with Dilip Kumar. Madhubala worked with him on the legendary film Mughal-e-Azam, and the two were one of Hindi cinema's most iconic pairs, both on and off the screen. Her sister said in an interview once that they would've gotten married were it not for a court case that she filed against director BR Chopra; it caused a rift between the couple. However, Mumtaz said in a new interview that they broke up because she couldn't have children. Speaking to journalist Vickey Lalwani, Mumtaz recalled, 'She didn't break up with him. He broke up with her because she couldn't have children. Instead, he married Saira Banu, who is a very nice person. She took such great care of him till his dying breath. She was his fan originally. They had a huge age difference, but these things don't matter when you're in love.' She continued, 'Nobody can ever doubt that she was madly in love with him. She was madly in love with him. But Dilip saab ko aulaad chahiye thi (Dilip saab wanted a child, you see). Perhaps it was in this desperation to have a child that he married Saira. Madhubala told me herself. I would go to meet her, and she was not well at all. She would say, 'If I ever loved anyone in my life, it was Yusuf. But when he found out that I can't conceive…' She would call him Yusuf. The doctor told her that she would die in childbirth, because of her heart problem.' Mumtaz said that she doesn't blame Dilip Kumar for what he did, because every man wants a child. 'Despite being in love with her, he might have thought, 'Let me try with another woman'. It's so tragic that he didn't have a child with Saira as well,' she said, adding that Saira is a 'sweetheart'. She added, 'I feel sorry for Saira, she's a wonderful person. If they had a child, she would've been taken care of too.' For Dilip Kumar, she was an obedient daughter who treated her father's word above everything else. (Photo: Express Archives) Madhubala and Dilip Kumar were together for nearly a decade. They also worked together on the films Tarana, Amar and Sangdil. After he tied the knot with Saira Banu, they met at her insistence. 'Soon after our nikah (marriage), while we were staying in Madras, I received a message from Madhubala that she wished to see me urgently. I confided in Saira as soon as we returned to Bombay about the message. Saira at once insisted that I should meet Madhu since it must be something she was distressed about,' he recalled in his autobiography. Madhubala eventually married Kishore Kumar, but that relationship ended in tragedy as well. She died at the age of 36 in the year 1969. Dilip Kumar died at the age of 98 in 2021.
Indian Express
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Nargis insisted on Muslim burial, Sunil Dutt refused to cremate her despite pushback from others: ‘Many said that as she was married to a Hindu…'
The late Nargis, often regarded as one of the finest movie stars in the history of Indian cinema, breathed her last in 1981. She died after a prolonged battle with cancer mere days before her son, Sanjay Dutt, made his acting debut with the film Rocky. Her daughter, former politician Priya Dutt, was only a teenager at the time. In an interview, she reflected on how turbulent that period was for the family, and how her father and brother dealt with it. Both of them suffered immensely during Nargis' illness, especially when she was being treated in the United States. In an interview with Vickey Lalwani, Priya said that Nargis underwent seven surgeries in a single week at her lowest, and that the doctors had even warned Sunil Dutt that she might not survive the procedures. But she came through against all odds, and insisted upon returning to India. She knew that she didn't have long, and remarked during an anniversary party that she was sure she wouldn't be around for the next one. She died not too long afterwards, just four days before the premiere Sanjay Dutt 's first film. She had assured him that she'd be there even if she had to be rolled in on a stretcher. They left a seat vacant for her, in her honour. Before her death, Nargis had made it clear that she wanted to be buried next to her late mother. In the interview, Priya said, 'It was extremely hard on Sanjay that she wasn't there to see his first film, and to see his career take off. Rocky's premiere happened, and we kept a seat next to Papa, empty, for mom. Her funeral was a very surreal kind of a scene. My father, of course, had priests from all over who came and prayed for her. He said, 'Many people told me that she was married to a Hindu, so she should have a Hindu funeral'. But he said, 'No, it was her desire to be buried, and we will do everything according to her wishes'.' Sunil Dutt conducts Nargis' last rites. (Photo: Express Archives) Priya continued, 'My mom wanted to be buried in her family kabristan. Then, we went to Haridwar also, mitti leke, with dad. When we brought her body home, there was all this press, and one person asked me how I was feeling. I must've said something, because Papa took us to a room and told us that if we want to cry and scream, we should do it with him, but outside, we must maintain our composure.' Priya said that her father was a 'broken man' after Nargis' death, and that he would have difficulty doing basic tasks. He would often wake up in the middle of the night and sit besides her grave, all alone. But he seemed to snap out of his grief overnight, once he realised that he would have to be there for his children, and especially Sanjay, who had spiralled into a drug addiction.
