Special To The Express | Hindu College Amritsar: From Manmohan Singh to Kapil Sharma, a century of achievers
Hindu College Amritsar, founded in the nationalist atmosphere of pre-Independence Punjab, has shaped the lives of numerous scholars, soldiers, jurists, and sporting icons over generations.
Kapil Sharma in front of the Hindu College Amritsar (File photo). Written by Rakesh Kumar and Arun Kumar Grover
Nowadays, the century-old Hindu College Amritsar (HCA) is often projected as the alma mater of multi-talented comedian and television host Kapil Sharma, who anchors the widely popular celebrity talk show bearing his name. However, it is instructive to recall that, in the years following Partition, the college in the walled city emerged as a preferred destination for refugee students crossing into independent India from West Punjab. Among them was future Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who sought admission to the college in 1948.
Coincidentally, a college named Hindoo College was established in Calcutta in 1817 by social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy and others with financial assistance from the East India Company. The institution later transformed into Presidency College after the first education policy for colonial India was introduced through Sir Charles Wood’s dispatch from London. Presidency College subsequently became the nucleus of the University of Calcutta in 1857 and nurtured numerous leaders across disciplines until Independence. Its alumni included Jagadish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Ray, Meghnad Saha, Satyendra Nath Bose, Rajendra Prasad and Subhas Chandra Bose, among others.
Colleges in independent India affiliated with the University of Panjab at Lahore could not admit new students during the 1947-48 session because the matriculation and higher examination results conducted by the university could not be declared in 1947. The genesis of HCA lay in the Hindu Sabha High School, established by visionary philanthropists of Amritsar, imbued with nationalist fervour.
A public meeting preceding the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Baisakhi Day, April 13, 1919, was held in the hall of the Hindu Sabha High School on the evening of April 12. The meeting resolved to oppose the repressive Rowlatt Act and mobilise public opinion for the following day. The same historic hall serves as HCA’s main auditorium today.
The school was elevated to an Intermediate College in 1924 and a Degree College in Arts in 1936. India’s first Field Marshal, Sam Manekshaw, completed his Intermediate studies at Hindu Sabha College, Amritsar, in 1932.
HCA gains prominence
In independent India, HCA gained prominence when Manmohan Singh and two of his batchmates — Brijinder Nath Goswamy and Raj Kumar Pathria — secured first positions in the three streams of the Intermediate examination conducted by East Panjab University, then operating from Solan.
Manmohan Singh initially enrolled in the medical stream at Khalsa College Amritsar, located several kilometres from the walled city. However, he later chose to switch from science subjects to economics, political science and mathematics, along with English and French language papers. Goswamy topped the Arts stream, while Pathria, studying non-medical science subjects, topped the Science stream.
The college inscribed a Roll of Honour board to commemorate their achievement, and the three names continue to adorn it. Manmohan Singh continued at HCA for his two-year BA course and remained a topper, earning his name two more places on the Honour Board.
Pathria and Goswamy moved to Panjab University College, Hoshiarpur, in 1950. The pre-Independence Government Intermediate College at Hoshiarpur had been taken over in 1949 as a constituent college of Panjab University in India for postgraduate and honours schools in science subjects. Manmohan Singh joined his two friends there in 1952, and all three completed their respective Master’s degrees in 1954, each standing first in their disciplines.
Buoyed by the trio’s success in the Intermediate examination in 1950, HCA introduced the BSc stream, and a new Chemistry laboratory was established. It was inaugurated in 1952 by the legendary scientist Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar.
All three later became professors at a young age on the Panjab University campus in Chandigarh. Professor Manmohan Singh left Chandigarh in 1965, while Professor Pathria was invited from Canada in 1966 to serve as the first Professor of Theoretical Physics at Panjab University Campus. He overlapped briefly with Professor Goswamy before returning to Canada.
A 75-year bond
A common bond among the trio was their love for Urdu poetry, couplets and idiom. They remained in touch for nearly 75 years after beginning their academic journey together at HCA.
Goswamy became an internationally acknowledged scholar of art history, paintings, literature and oriental languages, including Persian, Urdu and Punjabi. Readers across the world fondly remember his long-running newspaper column, “Art and Soul”, in which he seamlessly connected art with history, poetry, philosophy and contemporary life. The light-hearted exchanges through Urdu couplets between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and opposition leader Sushma Swaraj also remain well known.
The globally acclaimed theoretical physicist Raj Kumar Pathria was the last among the trio to pass away earlier this year in San Diego, United States. After turning 60, Pathria took to serious Urdu poetry under the pen name “Qais”, the legendary lover of Laila. His compilation of Urdu ghazals, “Sahraa Sahraa” — meaning “desert after desert” — was to be released by Dr Manmohan Singh. However, by the time the book was published in 2005, Singh had become Prime Minister, and the release could not take place.
Other prominent alumni of HCA include upright jurist Hans Raj Khanna, veteran diplomat Maharaj Krishna Rasgotra, former Punjab Governor B K N Chhibber, cricket legend Bishan Singh Bedi, 1983 ICC World Cup-winning cricketer Madan Lal, and women cricketers Renuka Singh Thakur and Amarjot Kaur.
Rakesh Kumar is principal, Hindu College Amritsar; and Arun Kumar Grover is former vice-chancellor, Panjab University.
Share
