Late Shri Ngangom Tompok Singh (Ex MP) : As a leader and politician
- Part 1 -

Prof Ngangom Gopal Datta Singh *

Shri Tompok Singh with Swami Sivananda at Rishikesh, Himalayas. :: Pix - TSE

Shri Ngangom Tompok Singh was born on 2-12-1913 and passed away on 22-8-1985. From his early boyhood he showed unmistakable signs of leadership. He was intrepid, large-hearted, noble and athletically built. He was tall and towered over his friends and colleagues. He was also exquisitely handsome and endowed with sharp, big nose. He possessed a prominent forehead which likened a leader's. As days passed, when he entered the teens he became a very strong, tall and handsome man with an athletic physical build. No wonder in sports and games like sprinting, high-jump, long-jump, swimming, wrestling, football, hockey, volley ball and badminton, he was the undisputed champion in the school and college where he studied.

He represented Manipur in games like football, hockey, volley ball and badminton and distinguished himself in these games. He was also a champion swimmer who stood first in many forms of swimming. Sir Srijut Churachand Maharaj, the then king of Manipur was so pleased with his top-class performance that he gifted Shri Tompok Singh with many medals and a costly shirt decorated with medals. Even a few years before he died he participated in the Badminton tournament of the MPs of the Rajya Sabha. He displayed tremendous fighting qualities at the age of 70 years when he played a much younger Player-MP who was in his early thirties. Shri Tompok Singh lost the match narrowly, but still he was awarded the Best Loser's Prize of the tournament.

Besides being a superb athlete and a player Shri Tompok Singh was academically brilliant. He secured letter marks in history and Sanskrit in his Matriculation Examination conducted by the Assam Board. He prosecuted his graduate studies at the Cotton College, Guwahati. He possessed a very good command over three languages English, Sanskrit and Manipuri. With all these extraordinary qualities it was but natural that he would grow up to be a born leader of men. One of the great qualities of a leader is his ability to sacrifice and do good to the people.

Shri Tompok Singh, as he hailed from an extremely wealthy family did not hanker after money and wealth. In short, he was in search of the meaning of life. "What is the objective of life? Why was I born?" In fact, these were questions which continuously nagged his restless mind. In his boyhood he studied the religious scriptures specially the Hindu scriptures like the Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedanta and the Puranas. Inspired by the Hindu religion and philosophy he was determined to sacrifice, do good to the people and lead them.

He was a "Karma Yogi" who believed in doing the work (Karma) for the sake of work (Karma), not caring to reap benefit from it for himself. For all the work he did for the people, he never asked for money and favour in return. He continued to live in "Kacha" house throughout his life and dressed modestly in Kurta and dhoti. As he saw and experienced God in every living being, he was against killing and eating them. He became a complete vegetarian in his early twenties and continued to be so throughout his life.

Such were the great qualities of Shri Ng. Tompok Singh, a born leader of men, who became one of the greatest figures of the 20th century Manipur. Motivated and inspired by the Hindu religion and philosophy, he set out to achieve a mission in politics as a peoples' leader. To him, politics involved purest service and enormous sacrifice. He wanted to do good to the people and ameliorate the conditions of the masses, the marginalized, the poor and the down trodden. He first joined the Indian National Congress as a Primary member and held many posts in the party.

In 1942, he became a member of the "Samaj Seva Sangha". In 1959, along with Shri Morarji Desai, the former Prime Minister of India, he underwent a training at AICC Co-operative Training Camp, at Gandhigram, Madras. He was the main force behind the co-operative movement in Manipur and became the founder-secretary of the Manipur State Co-operative Union. He organized and expanded the co-operative movement on a massive scale throughout Imphal and Manipur at large. He was also mainly instrumental in establishing the "Manipur Khadi and Village Industries Board" and became its founder –secretary and later on its chairman in 1970. He was mainly responsible for taking the Khadi Movement to the masses in Manipur by sanctioning numerous loans to the people without asking anything in return for sanctioning the loans.

When Shri Tompok Singh was in his teens, the freedom movement of India led by Mahatma Gandhi was going on in full swing. Shri Singh was inspired by the ideals and philosophy of Gandhiji. He wanted an India and Manipur free from the foreign yoke. Hence, he joined the freedom movement in Manipur against the British. He also actively participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942, though the movement was quite subdued in Manipur.

When India became independent on 15 August, 1947, the leaders and people of Manipur recognized his services and there was a clamour from them to make Shri Singh a representative of the people of Manipur. In 1953 when the first Parliament of India was formed and convened, Mr. Singh became the first member of the Rajya Sabha from Manipur. He continued to be a member till 1956. In the corridors of the Parliament, he rubbed shoulders with the Indian stalwarts like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabbhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Dr. S, Radhakrishnan, Morarji Desai and a host of other leaders. He brought up the issues afflicting Manipur in the Rajya Sabha and earned a lot of plaudits for it.

Shri Singh was only 40 years old when he became the first member of the Rajya Sabha from Manipur. In New Delhi he had a bicycle with him. He avoided the vehicle transport provided by the Indian Govt. to go to the Parliament instead he used to cycle all the way from his flat to the Parliament. For displaying such uncommon energy, Shri Tompok Singh was given the epithet "The young MP" by his colleagues.

Another interesting story about Shri Tompok Singh as an MP was in the way of his relationship and interaction with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India. Shri Nehru knew that Shri Singh was a smoker of cigarettes. One day when the two stalwarts were together, Shri Nehru asked Shri Singh to give him a stick of cigarette.

Accordingly Shri Singh gave him one. Shri Nehru then broke the stick of cigarette in half and gave one half to Shri Singh to smoke saying, "If you smoke only a half stick of the cigarette, then you will smoke less". From this episode it is obvious that the two personalities were close to and fond of each other. In fact, Shri Nehru held Shri Singh in deep affection and esteem. Shri Singh returned the complement to the Prime Minister. The two were photographed together at the Johnstone High School Imphal when Pandit Nehru visited Manipur for the first time in the early 1950's.

Soon after India gained Independence there was a move to merge Manipur with Assam. The plan was that Manipur would no longer have a separate identity and administration but would become a district of Assam. This was vehemently opposed by Shri Singh as he was quite proud of his Manipuri roots and a state which had 2000 yrs. of history and culture and blessed with great traditions, customs and a distinct identity. His efforts were finally rewarded and Manipur never became a district of Assam and the Govt. of India gave assent to it.

After retiring as a member of Parliament, Shri Singh became deeply religious and spiritual. He intensively and extensively studied the Hindu scriptures and other religions and personally met Swami Sivananda Saraswati, the world renowned saint of Rishikesh who founded the Divine Life Society. Shri Singh took "Diksha" from him and translated into Manipuri Srimadbha-gavatgita of Swamiji written in English. Shri Singh also gave many talks in the All India Radio, Guwahati and later on All – India Radio, Imphal on religious and spiritual matters on holy and auspicious occasions. During this period he was also deeply involved in political and social works, organizing sports and games, volunteers' clubs and educational activities. He was not only a politician but also a constructive statesman of the highest order.

His next significant political move came in 1967 when elections were held to the Manipur Assembly when the state was still a union territory. He stood in the assembly elections but was narrowly defeated. He would not go from door to door to canvass votes. He was against such a practice. He used to say that if the people voted for him, then they would be served, redeemed and liberated by him. If they did not vote for him, then they would go astray. It was for the people to decide which way they wanted to choose. Thus, Shri Singh inspite of being a politician, displayed a streak of high individualism and care-free approach.

From 1966 to 1969, the Indian politics was in deep turmoil. Smt. Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India in 1966 and there was a great struggle for power between Indira and the Syndicate inside the congress. Those who were opposed to Indira wanted to overthrow her because of her autocratic and dictatorial style. The Indian National Congress split into two. One was congress (I) and another was congress (Organisation) led by Shri Morarji Desai, Shri Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and others. Shri Singh threw his weight behind the Congress (O). He became a prominent member of the congress (O) in Manipur.

The next significant political move of Shri Singh happened in 1974 when Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan launched his "Total Revolution" movement to fight corruption. The Govt. of India led by Congress party under Indira Gandhi became authoratarian and dictatorial after just having won the 1971 war with Pakistan resulting in the liberation of Bangladesh. Moreover the Congress Govt. at the centre was deeply steeped in rampant corruption.

Shri Jayaprakash Narayan gave the call to the police and paramilitary forces to disobey Govt. orders. Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975 and arrested many of the opposition leaders. Shri Jayaprakash was manhandled badly. The opponents of the Govt. became furious. Shri Singh also joined the movement of Shri Jayaprakash and went underground fearing arrest. In 1977, Emergency was withdrawn and General Elections were held. The Janata Party, a conglomerate of opposition parties, formed under the guidance and inspiration of Shri Jayaprakash Narayan came to power.

Shri Singh became the vice-president of the Janata Party in Manipur. He tried very hard to make Shri Yangmasho Saiza the Chief Minister of Manipur and ultimately succeeded. When there was a competition among the Manipuri politicians for nomination to the lone seat of Rajya Sabha from Manipur, the then Prime Minister Shri Morarji Desai favoured Shri Singh to get the nomination as the latter was personally know to the former for the las 25/30 yrs. Thus Shri Singh became a member of the Rajya Sabha from Manipur for the second time in 1978.

He continued to serve Manipur until 1984. During his second term as an MP, Shri Singh became a member of the Central Silk Board. He was also included as a member of the Parliamentary Panels on agriculture, small and micro industries, water resources and sericulture. He actively participated in the debates and discussions of the Rajya Sabha and urged the Indian Govt. to include Manipur Language in the 8th Schedule of the Indian constitution.

At the fag end of his life, just after he retired as an MP of the Rajya Sabha in 1984, Shri Singh was considered to be appointed as the Chairman of the North Eastern Railway Board by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. But nothing came of it, as he expired soon on 22nd August, 1985, before he could consider the appointment.

To be continued....