A rebel for good …Daulat Ram Sankhyan

Time to introduce another Galant freedom fighter from Himachal’s past. He had the vision to bring in freedom and guts to be a part of the churning time machine.

  Daulat Ram Sankhyan from Bilaspur. A name which denies to go down in the history. His name rebuts the antiquity and commands the respect. It is for the selflessness with which he and his family have walked on the sword’s edge.

The 19th century saw the birth of many lionlike  and noteworthy people. One amongst the league of the illustrious was a man with sharp features and an unconventional personality. He was from district Bilaspur of Himachal Pradesh. Daulat Ram Sankhyan was born on 17th day of the 12th month(December) in 1919. His birthplace was  Panjtan village which was in Tehsil Parangana Bahadurpur of Bilaspur Riyasat that time. Born in an  opulent business family of Bilaspur, his life could have been a child’s play but he opted to walk on the broken glass to bring the light of freedom to his state and country . Sankhyans had an income of Rs two lakhs in that time.The income came from the licensed distillery , the cloth mill and the  land  they owned. Their business ran under the name ’Gaswun Mal Lakhu Ram’.Daulat Ram Sankhyan was in class ninth when his father got off his feet. He was forced to knock off his school life to toe the line of his business.Now he became the custodian to a pair of younger brothers and sisters.But God’s will was different. He became a cop of the freedom struggle. For him, the movement evoked from his own home ground.It was opposing Raja Anand Chand.

The moot point of conflict  became the conditioned donation by the Raja  .It was angled in favor of an industrial unit. If this was commissioned the locals would have made a harvest of employment opportunities. The Raja on one hand  agreed for the donation but on the other conditioned it to be used solely for a bank . Therefore, it became a point of conflict which was aggressively taken up Dault Ram .

During this time  a strong voice has started to upheaval the begar pratha.In 1930-1931 a protest was organized under the name of ’Dandara’ which converged on propelling the raja to make the land settlement.The reluctance of Raja was such that he degreed a lathi charge . A freedom fighter was captured and jailed in Faridkot jail .  He was a weighty figure in Daulat Ram’s life. 

He was sensitive to the unrest which was building against the Riyasti Raj in Himachal. He was influenced by Kalisa Das Phenga who became sankhyan’s political guru as well. In the year 1935 in Udaipur, Daulat Ram became a formal member of Congress party. Raja of Bilaspur was aghast  with the development.In 1946 Raja ordained kill at sight orders in Daulat Ram’s name(Desh Nikala).He had to vamoose his home.This did not deter him.He kept his struggle alive from out side the boundaries of his riyasat Bilaspur.

In his truancy all the businesses were forced to close down. The licensed were quashed. The family which was surrounded by splendour managed in  the  merest of earnings from the land.

In 1946 Pandit Padam dev came with the  group of freedom fighters to Namhol. It is a place that fabricates the boundary of Bilaspur. Here they were  tanned by a jaildar named Paras Ram. He not only thrashed them but also made off with a watch and Rs60 from them. This villainous act was rewarded by the Raja.Paras Ram Jaildar was also presented with a gun for his dastardly act.

Daulat Ram and his family was taken to task by the Raja on every pretext.They were crumbled and crushed but he was  not able to break their dauntlessness. After a forced closure of all their businesses , the family was still content  and did not give in. To perk up  his rancors  , Raja sealed their house and gave the keys to khadku Ram number Dar.Now the family lived with their relatives and sustained on the daily ration of daal and rice from their own kitchen. Kahdku Ram  dispersed the ration to Daulat Ram’s family.

Still standing tall against the atrocities of the Raja, Daulat Ram’s family which comprised of his mother, wife, two sons and a daughter, his sister, a brother, daughter -in – law and grandchildren did not break down under the pressure. 

Raja anxious after not getting any whereabouts of Daulat Ram, interrogated the relative they lived with. The relative did not hint, therefore, in his frustration, Raja directed to break the fingers of the relative with iron rods by striking hammer on it.

Bilaspur assumed in the form  of India later , after the partition. It was on 12th October 1948 that Bilaspur signed an accession to join Indian union.

Daulat Ram Sankhyan walked in Bilaspur to mark the occasion with the red letter but not before his face was painted red with the blood oozing out his mouth. It was due to the shower of stones pelleted on him on Raja’s orders. He lost his tooth that day.

Strong and focused Daulat Ram Sankhyan stayed active in the development work. He gave more than five decades of his life to the Congress party. He remained a minister in the state cabinet for eight years. 

After understanding the speed, growth, and direction of future politics. He always warned his sons to stay away from it. Though he warned them his dedication to the society was such that they do aspire to contest and win to serve as their father did.As they have seen the contentment that came with the opportunity to serve