Mera Khazana: Two Chief Ministers, One Kothi, and an Unforgettable Lesson in Integrity

The news that a classroom at Aitchison College, Lahore, has been dedicated to former Punjab Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar brought back a memorable incident from my life. It happened in 1996 when Brar Sahib was the Chief Minister of Punjab.

On just one phone call from me, he got an illegally occupied kothi vacated. The story revolves around Kothi No. 40, Sector 2, Chandigarh, situated behind the official residence of the Punjab Chief Minister.

The property belonged to Bibi Harbhajan Kaur, who lived in Malaysia. For many years, the Haryana Government had taken this kothi on rent to accommodate its ministers and senior officers. My wife, Tripta, was an employee of the Haryana Government.

Her department looked after the allotment, maintenance, rent, and upkeep of official residences occupied by ministers and officers. Whenever Bibi Harbhajan Kaur visited India from Malaysia, she would come to the office to collect the rent for her kothi.

My wife often helped her receive her rent cheque on time, saving her from unnecessary delays caused by office procedures and clerical hurdles. Despite being much older in age, Harbhajan Kaur gradually became like an elder sister to my wife and a close friend of our family. On many occasions, she even stayed as a guest at our home.

After some time, she decided to sell the Sector 2 kothi. She repeatedly requested the Haryana Government to vacate the property and even served notices, but since the government was enjoying the premises at a very nominal rent, the Public Works Department showed little interest in vacating it. Tripta discussed the matter with me.

Harbhajan Kaur, whom we affectionately called "Bhain Ji," told me that she was willing to spend even eight to ten lakh rupees if someone could get the kothi vacated. I replied that I could never arrange such things through money or influence, but I would certainly try through legitimate means. Coincidentally, Chaudhary Bansi Lal was the Chief Minister of Haryana at that time.

Being a reporter with the Ajit Group of Newspapers, I also covered Haryana for the Hindi daily Ajit Samachar. Through renowned journalist and my friend Gobind Thukral, I had developed direct acquaintance with Bansi Lal, who treated me with warmth and respect. As Chief Minister of Haryana, Chaudhary Bansi Lal earned considerable notoriety during the 1975 Emergency for implementing Sanjay Gandhi's controversial forced sterilisation drive.

However, despite that criticism, he was also a man of strong principles in many respects. In fact, during the particular term I am referring to, he had changed considerably and had become balanced in his administrative approach.

I met Chaudhary Bansi Lal and explained that the NRI owner wanted possession of her own property. I also informed him that the kothi was lying vacant and was not occupied by anyone. Bansi Lal was widely known as a strict, stubborn administrator with authoritarian traits, but he was equally known for his commitment to principles. After hearing me, he immediately summoned his Principal Secretary and instructed him to ensure that Kothi No. 40, Sector 2, was vacated without delay and possession handed over to its rightful owner. No one dared ignore Chaudhary Bansi Lal's orders.

Within days, the kothi was vacated and the keys were handed over to Bibi Harbhajan Kaur. She could not thank us enough. The entire matter had been resolved without any monetary transaction or favour.

However, just three or four days later, Harbhajan Kaur came to us in great distress. She said she was about to finalise the sale of the property when some people had forcibly occupied it and were claiming ownership.

Upon making inquiries, she had been told that the occupants were men of Harcharan Singh Brar and had entered the property with the blessings of the Chief Minister's Office.I assured Harbhajan Kaur that Brar Sahib was not the kind of person who would support such actions, but I would verify the facts. Through a contact in the Chandigarh Police, I got inquiries made, and it emerged that those men were indeed taking Brar Sahib's name.

I had known Harcharan Singh Brar even before he became Chief Minister, from the days when he served as Irrigation Minister in the Beant Singh government. He was widely respected as an honest, gentle, and humble politician. In those days, only landline telephones existed. I called the Chief Minister's Office, but Brar Sahib was in a meeting.

The staff assured me that they would pass on my message and arrange a conversation later. I requested them to send me a message on my pager. Around 4 p.m., while my wife and I were shopping for our children's clothes in Panchkula, my pager beeped. The message from the Chief Minister's Office said that Brar Sahib wanted to speak with me.

Using a shopkeeper's landline phone, I called back. In those days, every important telephone number had to be written down in a small diary carried in one's pocket. When I spoke to Harcharan Singh Brar, I narrated the entire incident and informed him that some people had occupied the kothi while claiming to be his men. Brar Sahib categorically stated that he had no knowledge of the matter and that none of his associates could indulge in such wrongdoing.I responded, "Then they are simply misusing your name and bringing disrepute to you."He immediately replied, "Let me find out.

Without wasting any time, Brar Sahib sent four or five members of his security staff to the kothi. They confronted the illegal occupants, gave them a stern warning, and threw them out of the premises. Soon afterwards, a message came from Brar Sahib's office informing me that the encroachers had been removed. A few days later, Harbhajan Kaur successfully sold the kothi. That was the kind of honest, fair-minded, and decisive person Harcharan Singh Brar was.

Sadly, our beloved Harbhajan Behen Ji is no longer with us in this world.

I have several more memories associated with him, which I hope to share in another article.

What Was a Pager?

The younger generation may not know what a pager was. A pager, also known as a beeper, was a small wireless communication device used to receive short messages, numbers, or alerts. Although smartphones have largely replaced pagers today, they continue to play an important role in healthcare, emergency services, and the hospitality sector because of their exceptional reliability and their ability to operate on robust radio networks that function even in areas where cellular signals are weak.

During 1996–97, pagers proved to be a boon for newspapers and journalists. We at the Ajit newspaper group were provided with pagers by our organisation, and they became an extremely useful tool for sending and receiving urgent messages.

June 10, 2026