Mananiya Chaman Lal

August 7, 2021

A commemorative postage stamp on Ma. Chaman Lal, a Sangh Pracharak from Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (R.S.S.) :

Issued by India

Issued on Aug 7, 2021

Issued for : India Post is privileged to issue the Commemorative Postage Stamp on Ma. Chaman Lal, a karmayogi and selfless son of Mother India for taking ageless Indian values of service to humanity and empathy to all the corners of the world. The life and works of Ma. Chaman Lal is a saga of India, of the world.

Credits :
Stamp : Shri Sankha Samanta
FDC/Brochure/Cancellation : Ms. Nenu Gupta

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 172230

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : Security Printing Press, Hyderabad

Name : Mananiya Chaman Lal

Born on Mar 25, 1920 at Sialkot, Punjab, British India [now in Pakistan]

Died on Feb 11, 2003 at Delhi, India

About :

The veteran Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh Pracharak Mananiya Chaman Lal was born on March 25, 1920, in Sialkot (now in Pakistan). He secured a gold medal in MSc (Zoology) in 1942 from the University of Punjab, Lahore. With job offers around, the young Chaman Lal renounced all comforts and lucrative career to serve for the independence of Bharat. Instead of taking up the job of Lectureship, he became a Sangh Pracharak at Kullu in 1942. Having shifted to Delhi, Chaman Lal ji swung into action in this direction. First of all, he spent days and nights catering to the needs of the people who were victims of partition of India. Arranging settlement, jobs, food and medicine for thousands of such refugees was his prime concern.
In his early days, he initiated the dream project of creating a global network of the Sangh under the guidance of Shri Madhavrao Mule, the then Punjab Prant Pracharak. Once given the charge of maintaining the contacts with the Indian Diaspora spread around the globe, Ma. Chaman Lal ji excelled by all means. After spending a jail term (following the ban on RSS between February 04, 1948 and July 11, 1949), he rose to become one of the senior Pracharaks of the Sangh who was responsible to facilitate the Indians going abroad. With meticulous efforts and sheer devotion, he soon created a database of Indians spread around 50 countries by the end of 1970s. Later, Delhi turned to be the main Centre of Vishwa Vibhag and Ma. Chaman Lal was synonymous to that Office. He used to spend hours and hours on phone calls and wrote thousands of letters to get Bharat connected with the Indian Diaspora in that pre-internet and pre-mobile phone era. Be it Australia or North America, his helping hands were ever ready. His connection was so deep and permanent with all Bharatvanshi that Sir Anerood Jugnauth, President of Mauritius delayed his son Pravind’s wedding (the current Prime Minister of Mauritius) until Chaman Lal would come to attend it (1992).
Ma. Chaman Lal in his very few visits abroad was all the time ahead of his times. In Nairobi, Kenya (1977), he planted a tree and spoke on reforestation and warned the people of the havoc of natural disasters and the impending environmental crisis. All in the crowd pledged to plant two tress for one tree cut. Here, Chaman Lal – a gold medalist scientist was speaking! In the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (1995), he spoke to the Indian sisters and lauded their immense contribution in carrying forward the Bharatiya culture amongst their kids. In Rangoon (Yangon), he was an instant hit among school children as he intermingled with them with the inspiring stories of several Indian mahapurush. Ma. Chaman Lal ji in Southeast Asia (1996, 2001) connected deeply with Buddhism, and went to offer his respect to all Buddhist Mandirs. Nobody can ever forget the impact of his vision of bringing the children of royal court brahmanas of the Kingdom of Thailand to be trained in Tamilnadu as their ancestors had come from there about one thousand years ago. This connect was highly lauded by the royalty of Thailand.
From the first Shakha (gathering for prayers and commitment) of the Indians aboard a ship off the coast of Bombay to Nairobi in 1947 by his deputed person Jagadish Chandra Shastri to the last receiving by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee at the doors of his residence in January 2003, the illustrious life of Ma. Chaman Lal spanned for six decades as a constant source of inspiration for all. He was a hero unsung. No wonder, his cremation in Delhi on February 11, 2003 was attended by over 1 lakh people from all walks of life (from a rickshaw puller to the then Vice President of India). It created a flutter in all newspapers and media as they did not have any clue of the person whose antim yatra had such large attendance of people walking miles and miles to have his last glimpse. Before that, at Keshav Kunj, Jhandewalan, a host of dignitaries including Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister Shri L K Advani and its the then RSS Chief Shri K S Sudarshan offered floral tributes to the departed soul. Lauding the late leader’s contributions, Shri Advani said (Ma. Chaman Lal) “served as a bridge between Swayamsewaks the world over and played a key role in the establishment of RSS centres in over 100 countries”. A true Sanyasi and Karmayogi, Ma. Chaman Lal’s legacy lives on in several organisations such as International Centre for Cultural Studies (ICCS) across the globe.
Text : Shri Amarjiva Lochan, General Secretary, International Centre for Cultural Studies (ICCS)..