Pakistan’s late Hindu Chieftain’s statue unveiled in Kutch

Pakistan’s late Hindu Chieftain’s statue unveiled in Kutch
By our correspondent
Bhuj, DeshGujarat, 25 March, 2010



Late Chandra Singhji with his Pakistan Hindu Party’s flag in photo above


The Hindu Chieftain of Paksitan’s Sodha Rajputs, and 26th Rana of Tharparkar’s Thakurs Rana Kanwar Hameer Singh on Thursday demanded to start marine passenger service between Gujarat’s Mandvi and Sindh’s Karachi.

Rana Hameer Singhji, son of late Umerkot(Pakistan) ruler Rana Chandra Singhji is on visit to Gujarat’s Kutch at present.

On his visit to Kutch, Rana Hameer Singhji said there are only Sodha Rajputs left in Pakistan now in Rajput branch of Hinduism, and therefore wedding in Rajputs is becoming difficult day by day. “There should be therefore easier visa process between the two countries, so that Indian Rajputs can mix up easily with Pakistan based Sodha Rajputs socially,” he added.

Rana was honored by Kutch District Rajput Samaj in Chandranagar village of Nakhatrana taluka of Kutch district in Gujarat. The village is named as Chandranagar to mark respect to late Rana Chandra Singhji if Amarkot(Umerkot now). A statue of Chandra Singhji and a village gate of Chandranagar named after him were inaugurated by his successor son Rana Hameer Singhji.

Late Rana Chandra Singhji

Late Rana Chandra Singh (1931–2009), also known as “Rana Chander Singh”, was a Pakistani politician, a federal minister of Science and Technology, Revenue and Narcotics Affairs and the chieftain of the Pakistani Hindu Sodha Thakur Rajput clan and the Amarkot (present day Umerkot) jagir. He was one of the founder members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan from Umerkot, seven times with PPP between 1977 to 1999, when he founded the Pakistan Hindu Party (PHP). In 1990 he left PPP and formed formed his own political party, the Pakistan Hindu Party. He himself designed for his party a saffron flag bearing two ancient logos – Om and Trishool. He served as Minister for Agriculture and Revenue, and was the Chairman of National Commission of Minorities. He won elections as an Independent candidate for a continuous 53 years – a considerable achievement for a minority Hindu.

Late Rana Chandra Singhji’s wife is Rani Sahiba Subhdra, daughter of Rawat Tej Singh of Rawatsar in Bikaner.

His family owned the famous Umarkot Fort where the great Mughal Emperor, Akbar was born in Umerkot, when his father Humayun fled from military defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri. Rana Prasad, a Hindu Sodha Rajput ruler of Amarkot, gave refuge to Humayun.

Late Rana Chandra Singh’s father was Rana Arjun Singh and his mother was Dev Kumari. Arjun Singh was Rana of Umarkot in 1947 when the state became part of Pakistan.

Sodha Rajputs in Kutch

Gujarat’s Kutch district has good amount of population of Sodha Rajput refugees who came from Pakistan’s Sindh area and settled in India’s Gujarat after 1971 war. Sodha Rajputs have given name to their village in Nakhatrana taluka as ‘Chandranagar’ after Rana Chandra Singhji. (inputs from Wikipedia)

More about Amarkot Jagir