Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday announced that Malerkotla would be the 23rd district of Punjab. He made the announcement while greeting Muslim community on the occasion of Eid.
The CM also announced Rs 500 crore for a medical college, a girl’s college, all women police station and a bus stand for the historic town. He said the medical college will be christened as Sher Mohammed Khan Medical College and initially Rs 50 crore was being sanctioned for it. He said that the government will restore the 150-year-old Mubarak Manzil Palace of Malerkotla, for which the state had written to Agha Khan foundation.
“The monument will be protected, restored and renovated by the Punjab government, as per the last wish of Begum Munawwar-ul-Nisa, the wife of last Nawab of Malerkotla, who has handed over the private property to the government,” the CM said.
Malerkotla is the only Muslim majority city in Punjab with 68.5% residents being Muslim and the rest being Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists.
History of Malerkotla
When 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh was waging a “dharma yudh” to protect non-Muslims from forced conversions by Aurangzeb, his two youngest sons Sahebzada Zorawar Singh (age 9) and Sahebzada Fateh Singh (age 7), along with his mother Mata Gujri, were captured by the Nawab of Sirhind Wazir Khan while escaping from the siege of Anandpur in 1704.
In 1705, the Nawab of Maler Kotla, Sher Mohammad Khan, was the only man to stand up against Wazir Khan, the Mughal Governor of Sirhind who had ordered that the two young sons of Guru Gobind Singh be bricked alive in a wall.
Mohammad Khan had stood up for them, taking on Wazir Khan in public and then putting himself in the line of fire, by walking out of the royal court in protest. Though the boys couldn’t be saved, but Guru Gobind Singh was so grateful that he gave the Nawab a kirpan (a symbolic sword worn as an article of faith by Sikhs). Since then, Malerkotla has been immortalised in Sikh history. In fact, the main gate at the Gurdwara built to mark the place where the Guru’s sons lost their lives is named after Sher Mohammad Khan, and built on land he gave the Sikhs.
Even during the horrors of Partition in 1947, when Punjab was in the throes of a communal bloodbath, Malerkotla did not witness a single incident of violence. Most of the town’s Muslim population decided to stay in India instead of migrating to Pakistan.
In fact, there is a local legend that, during times of communal tension, the sounds of galloping horses (of the Guru) can be heard around Malerkotla. It is believed that the town is still under the Guru’s protection.
In present day Malerkotla, inter-religious friendship is celebrated through shared festivals, partnering of communities in business and trade, mixed neighbourhoods, and mutual respect of the residents. Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus live side-by-side and come to each other’s aid whenever needed.
