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| An artist finishes the statue of Banda Singh Bahadur at Grewal’s Garry Art in Mohali. |
Even as the Punjab government readies to install a 15-foot statue of Sikh warrior Banda Singh Bahadur at Chappar Chiri near Mohali, Sikh industrialist Abninder Singh Grewal from Mohali is installing a seven-foot statue of the warrior for free at Lohgarh in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, on May 12. The date is significant. It was on this day three centuries ago — May 12, 1710 — that a battle took place between the Sikhs led by Banda Singh Bahadur and Wazir Khan, the imperial faujdar of Sirhind. The Mughal general was killed and his army routed. Guru Gobind Singh had appointed Banda Bahadur as his military lieutenant to punish the Governor of Sirhind, who had killed the Guru’s two youngest sons.
Krishan Kumar Bawa, a Congress leader and former president of District Congress Committee Ludhiana, says Lohgarh has pride of place in Sikh history. “It was the first capital of the Sikh kingdom, chosen by Baba Banda Bahadur in 1710. Sadly, the place has been forgotten by Sikh leaders for years, and only has a small gurudwara. There is no proper road to go to it either. Hopefully, the place will now get some attention of the Sikh leadership,” he said.
On its part, the Baba Banda Singh Bahadur International Foundation is only too happy to help Grewal in this endeavour. Grewal, was among the bidders for the state government’s tender to make the statue for the memorial at Chappar Chiri. He told The Indian Express that due to some confusion on his part, he had submitted wrong estimates for the tender, and lost out.
“I have so much regard for this amazing Sikh warrior that I offered to the committee handling the project that I would make the statue for free. In this way, it would be made by a son of the soil,” said Grewal. “But the tender was awarded to somebody else who has no idea of what the warrior means to us. He asked me if I could give him some guidance on ‘Bamb Bahadur’. I was already feeling hurt because I could not win this tender, which was so precious to me. So I decided to go ahead and make the statue anyway,” said Grewal.
Grewal, who manufactures fibre glass statues and artwork, has decided to gift the Rs 95,000 statue to the Foundation.
State memorial to get statue by Aug 15
Punjab Director Tourism Hussan Lal told The Indian Express that the model for the 15-foot high statue of Baba Banda Bahadur, being made by a Gwalior-based manufacturer, has been approved. “Baba’s statue will be installed on a 40-foot-high mount. It will be encircled by nine-foot-high statues of his five generals. We have given the manufacturer the deadline of August 15 to deliver the statues here,” said Hussan Lal. These statues are cast in metal, and the statues are being made at a cost of Rs 80 lakh. The Rs 52-crore Baba Banda Bahadur Memorial at Chappar Chiri is a prestigious project for the state government. The world-class heritage memorial is being built to commemorate the victory of the Sikh forces over the Mughal army. It will feature the 300-foot Minar-e-Fateh, a museum, and an open-air auditorium for light-and-sound show.