Meet Amritsar AAP candidate Dr Daljit Singh

Amritsar, Punjab: Dr Daljit Singh is a world renowned eye surgeon, a poet and a visionary. Born in 1934 in Amritsar, the doctor completed his studies from the city and has always lived there. Both his sons and daughters-in-law are also doctors as are two of his grandchildren.

He was the first to introduce lens implantation in cataract surgeries in India in 1976. He developed artificial cornea called Singh-Worst keratoprosthesis in 1979. He was the first in the world to use plasma energy in eye surgery in 1999.

Singh is also a poet, His books on poetry—Sidhre Bole and Bawre Bole—are among five of the works published so far. The other three—Dooja Paasa, Sach di Bhal Wich and Badi di Jarh—are essay compilations.

Eighty-year-old Dr Daljit Singh, who has helped thousands of people regain vision in this region, operates with the quiet precision of a surgeon. Dr Singh has a strong connect with the people of Amristar and is contesting without any hype or hoopla.

“There are thousands of people in this constituency who have come to my hospital and whom I have treated,” he says, adding that people are excited he is contesting from Amritsar.

Asked about his chances of victory, he replies, “I am a strong candidate which they (other parties) may not realise. If I can tap the under-current properly, then we can win.”

“I had no intention of getting into politics. Then one day I listened to Arvind Kejriwal on TV. I thought if I don’t jump into politics, my life will be wasted,” he says.

“I may be able to perform another 50,000-1,00,000 surgeries in the coming years, but that won’t change society,” he added.

He says he has a close rapport with the locals. “All I have to do is just go and meet them.”

There is another facet to Dr Singh which they can ignore at their own peril: his father Sahib Singh was a well-known translator of the Guru Granth Sahib whose commentaries on the Sikh scripture are so popular that his books can be found in almost every Sikh home.

In this holy city of the Sikhs, this is a big plus for the surgeon.

Source: Ranjit Singh Dhaliwal