Majithia: Diplomat With Versatile Talents

I met Sardar Surjit Singh Majithia (August 8, 1912 – September 22, 1995) for the first time at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, Connaught Place, New Delhi, in May 1989, when I had just arrived in New Delhi as First Secretary in the Embassy. I was, in fact, invited by prolific writer Khushwant Singh to visit the religious place and enjoy food at the Langar. This was the first such experience for me. Khushwant Singh introduced me to Majithia, saying that he had served in Nepal as India's first ambassador long before my birth.

I was impressed by my meeting with Majithia and some sort of close rapport instantly developed during the very first meeting, and he subsequently invited me to his palatial house at Jaipur Estate, Nizamuddin East. We met several times later at his residence and even in various Gurdwaras and clubs, as he was associated with many sports, philanthropic and educational organisations.

Diplomatic ties

Majithia came to Nepal in 1947 after India achieved full-fledged independence and the two countries decided to establish formal diplomatic relations and exchange residential ambassadors. He was among a select list of first appointees as top diplomats as India exchanged its diplomatic envoys with the United States, then Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and some neighbouring countries like Nepal, China and Burma (Myanmar). 

Majithia is also the youngest ambassador sent by New Delhi to any other neighbouring country so far, as he assumed the position when he was only 35. In our case, we sent Rishikesh Shaha as our youngest Ambassador in 1956 to the United Nations and the US when he was hardly 31. Even our youngest foreign secretary (he was 28), Narapratap Shumshere Thapa, was appointed ambassador to India when he was 34. Coming from a political and business background, Majithia joined politics after returning from Nepal and remained Deputy Minister of Defence for quite a long time (1952-1962). A man of versatile talents and inclinations, he remained active in the field of social service, education, sports and other creative activities, and visited Nepal regularly. 

Majithia was a squadron leader of the Indian Air Force before taking voluntary retirement in order to handle business establishments and look after educational institutions started by his family. He also handled family business in Punjab as well as Uttar Pradesh, as he inherited considerable business interests at Sardarnagar, Gorakhpur. He was the son of Sir Sundar Singh Majithia, also a member of the Indian Air Force, and a politician and businessman, who had good relations and friendship with general Babar Shumshere, dating back to the First World War. Babar was the second person in the history of the Rana regime to officially hold the title of minister apart from the number-two position, Commander-in-Chief and Mukhtiyar.

One of the reasons that Majithia wished to come to Nepal and accept Nehru's advice to serve as ambassador might have been related to this connection, as Nehru was very conscious of the crucial position and role Babar Shumshere enjoyed in the Rana administration. At the same time, there were matrimonial connections between Nepali Rana families and the Punjab. That Majithia was able to strike close relations with Ranas in general in the initial period, and Babar Shumshere in particular, is strongly borne out by the fact that his wife, Dev Rajyalaxmi, the only person during the Rana regime to have a special title of Bada Ranisaheb among Rana ladies, had entered into a Miteri (friendship) bond with Kushalpal Kaur, wife of the ambassador.

He also had good relations with Maharaj Padma Shumshere. But his relations with the Nepal government started to deteriorate after the advent of Maharaj Mohan Shumshere as the last Rana Prime Minister and especially after information about Majithia's clandestine meeting with B.P. Koirala became public. The Prime Minister summoned Majithia for an explanation on February 14, 1949. On his instructions, ambassador Shingha Shumshere took up the matter with Indian Foreign Secretary K.P.S. Menon, registering Nepal's serious objections to the conduct of the ambassador.

Majithia told me that he requested for early transfer as his presence was urgently required to look after the entire gamut of family business. He told the same to Prime Minister Mohan Shumshere. However, official records prove otherwise, as his wife seemed to be lobbying for the extension of the tenure by indirectly requesting the government of Nepal to persuade New Delhi to do so. 

Majithia was a direct witness to the promulgation of Nepal's first written constitution by Padma Shumshere and the latter's decision to leave for India, reflecting his failure to cope with the situation arising out of fierce opposition from conservative ranks within the family to his continuity as the chief executive. He also negotiated with the Rana government for dispatching ten battalions of Nepali troops to India for garrison duties to relieve Indian forces to be deployed for the Hyderabad Action. The agreement to this effect was signed in Kathmandu on July 19, 1948, and the Nepali contingent was led by Major-General Sharada Shumshere. The last team of Nepali soldiers returned to Nepal on April 6, 1949.

During our interactions, ambassador Majithia claimed that he had made considerable spadework regarding King Tribhuvan's flight to India in a more sophisticated manner, as he used to meet the monarch in an open area behind the residence of Prince Basundhara at Tahachal, as the King used to frequent there for music programmes. He had good impressions of King Tribhuvan and then Crown Prince Mahendra, with comments that Mahendra was more reserved and calculative than his father.

Interesting episode 

One interesting episode connected with Majithia's less than two years' stay in Nepal is the first landing of any aircraft in Kathmandu. His nephew, who had also sought retirement from the air force as a pilot, Dalip Singh Majithia, had flown a Beech Bonanza aircraft from Muzaffarpur to land in Kathmandu on April 22, 1949. On June 8, 1949, Majithia himself returned home on completion of his assignment in a Dakota aircraft arranged by his family.

He had one complaint against the British government. As India was still a Dominion and the King was to sign his Letters of Credence, the papers relating to the British ambassador to Nepal, Sir George A. Falconer, were allegedly signed by the British monarch earlier to make him senior to Majithia. I extend my tributes to Surjit Singh Majithia as we had struck the right chord.

(Bhattarai is a former foreign secretary, ambassador and writer.)