Long before he represented Bidar in the Lok Sabha, Narayan Singh Dharam Singh had established a cultural connection with the heritage city Bidar.
An obsessive fan of Urdu poetry, he was a fixture at the mushairas in Bidar. His visits to the city did not come down even when he was a member of the State Cabinet or Chief Minister.
He would avoid the direct route between Hyderabad and Kalaburagi, and take a detour to visit or stay in the Public Works Department guesthouse in Bidar to attend the mushairas and qawali events.
Officials used to joke that leaders and officials who could not meet him in Bengaluru flew down to Bidar to find him in a relaxed mood there.
He introduced mushairas and qawalis in Bidar Utsav. “What is Bidar Utsav if it has no mushaira or qawali? Any other district can organise utsavs with film songs and dances, but Bidar cannot,” he used to say.
“Bidar hai jiska naam, woh Shehar-e-ghazal hai (Bidar is the city of songs),” Dharam Singh said at a press meet in 2009. As Member of Parliament from Bidar, he sought special permission from the Archaeological Survey of India to hold a grand mushaira in front of the Madrassa Mahamud Gawan. He arrived early and sat through the poetry recital that went beyond midnight. He was to attend all the five Bidar Utsavs in later years.
Dharam Singh invited popular poets, including Munawwar Rana and Nida Fazli, to a mushaira in Bidar in 2015, after he had lost the Lok Sabha polls.
He inaugurated the painting and photography exhibitions held in the Bidar Fort in 2012 and 2014.
Seeing the work of Manayya Badiger, a sculptor from Kalaburagi who attended the 2014 art camp, he exclaimed: “Where have you been hiding all these days?” He spoke to young artists and asked them to exhibit their works on Mumbai and Hyderabad, and promised to help them do so. He was keen on the establishment of the Mahamud Gawan heritage centre in Bidar. He maintained that apart from the study of history and statecraft, the centre should take up translation and publication of Gawan’s “Manzar-ul-Insha”, a pioneering work on poetics.
As Chief Minister, he held two meetings, one in Bengaluru and the other in Kalaburagi, to prepare for the All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan in 2005. He increased grants to the Kannada Sahitya Parishat and the district administration to organize the event. Sadly, however, he could not attend it, as he had to resign on the last day of the sammelan.
The man
The sobriquet, Ajata Shatru, or man with no enemies, fit him aptly. Those who knew him say that it was a very correct description of the man.
In the din and clatter of the political world, Dharam Singh was like a “cool stream of pure water in the mountains”, describes Khaji Arshed Ali , former MLC and a close family friend.
Dharam Singh never harboured any ill will for anyone. He never treated his political opponents as enemies. He only looked at them as fellow politicians with different strategies, Mr. Ali said.
“His door was open to anyone, including his critics and leaders from other parties. He and his family maintained cordial relationships with all those who they came in contact with,” said B. Narayan, backward classes leader and a close confidant.
The people of Bidar and Kalaburagi relate innumerable tales of how Dharam Singh helped individuals in need. Among them is the story of a former legislator who opposed Dharam Singh all his life. When the latter’s daughter faced several problems at her in-laws place in a neighbouring State, it was Dharam Singh who rescued her, they say.
Among his best friends in Bidar was advocate and labour leader Sangram Vakil.
Dharam Singh met Sangramappa Udgire, a young activist from Bidar, while attending post-graduation classes in Osmania University in Hyderabad. Though they differed greatly on political ideologies, they became friends for life.
Mr. Udgire, who came to be known as Sangram Vakil as he was a lawyer, went on to be the district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Mr. Udgire would strongly criticise Dharam Singh at press meets. But Dharam Singh would never forget to visit Mr. Udgire’s humble home near the district stadium, every time he was in Bidar. Dharam Singh met Mr. Udgire who was undergoing treatment for cancer. They spoke for over an hour and recalled their college days in Hyderabad. Mr. Udgire died the next day and his wife remarked that he must have held his breath till he met his best friend.
