Bansi Lal is inconsolable: No father is so unfortunate

Surender Singh’s father, former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal, who had set off for Saharanpur, had returned to Bhiwani after being told that his son’s body would be brought to their hometown. ‘‘I am an unfortunate father,’’ Bansi Lal told The Indian Express on phone.

For Bansi Lal, the twist was particularly tragic. For, he and his elder son, Ranbir Singh Mahendra—BCCI president and Haryana MLA—had patched up just a few months ago after 14 years of estrangement.

With Mahendra at his side in the car, trying to console him, Bansi Lal was trying to face up to the biggest tragedy of his life—the death of his political heir. ‘‘How does it matter, what time they get the body? My world is in a shambles,’’ he said.

The father and younger son were different in temperament and style, but shared a tremendous bonding. While Surender Singh always stood by ‘‘mere bauji’’ (My father), Bansi Lal found in his son a perennial source of strength.

Post-Emergency, when Bansi Lal faced electoral defeat, expulsion from the Congress and the Shah Commission inquiry, it was left to Surender Singh to restore his father’s standing by winning the Tosham seat as an Independent in the face of a Janata Party wave.

Even Bansi Lal’s last major political decision—to merge his Haryana Vikas Party with the Congress—was taken on Surender’s advice. Late in the evening, senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, arrived at Surender Singh’s house to pay their condolences. Apart from the party chief, Ambika Soni, Ahmed Patel, Motilal Vohra and Sunil Dutt were among those who reached the Sunder Nagar residence.

Said Haryana minister Chaudhary Virender Singh: ‘‘We had studied together. Surender had big plans for the Agriculture sector.’’

The sense of emptiness at Surender Singh’s house, however, was in sharp contrast to the turmoil at the Jindal House on Prithviraj Road.

Jindal’s son Naveen Jindal, MP, had rushed to the crash site. Another son, Ratan, was driving back to hometown Hissar from Bahadurgarh following word that Naveen would fly over with their father’s body in the evening. ‘‘We still don’t know what is going on except that our bauji (father) is no more,’’ Ratan told The Indian Express on phone.

The Jindal Group scion’s cremation would be at Hissar, he confirmed. ‘‘Even bauji would have wished it that way,’’ said Ratan.

In Hissar, all markets, courts and offices had closed down spontaneously after the news of the crash came in a little after 1 pm. ‘‘It is like a people’s bandh here,’’ lawyer P K Sandhir told The Indian Express on the phone. Jindal’s counsel in several court cases, he said mourners were arriving in hordes to offer their condolences to the family.

A self-made man, Jindal, who began as a farmer in Nalwa village, rose to become the richest industrialist of Haryana.

It was Bansi Lal, who introduced him to politics rather late in life in 1991. Jindal was first elected to the Assembly and then to the Lok Sabha on HVP tickets. However, he fell out with Bansi Lal after 1996 and joined the Congress.

Today, destiny bound them together again—in the cruellest way possible.

(With Kavita Chowdhury)