Amarinder Singh

Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942)[1] is an Indian politician and military historian serving as the 15th and current Chief Minister of Punjab.[2] An elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from Patiala,[3] he was also the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the state division of the Indian National Congress.[4] He has also previously served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007.[5] His father was the last Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala.[5] He has also served in the Indian Army from 1963 to 1966.[6] In 1980, he won a seat in the Lok Sabha for the first time.[5] He currently also serves as the chairman of the Punjab Urdu Academy.[7]

Captain Amarinder Singh
15th Chief Minister of Punjab
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 March 2017
Governor	V. P. Singh Badnore
Preceded by	Parkash Singh Badal
In office 26 February 2002 – 1 March 2007
Governor	J. F. R. Jacob O. P. Verma Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwai (additional charge) Sunith Francis Rodrigues
Preceded by	Parkash Singh Badal
Succeeded by	Parkash Singh Badal
Additional ministries Incumbent Assumed office 16 March 2017 Ministries and Departments Minister of Administrative Reforms, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Horticulture,Conservation of Land and Water, Excise & Taxation, General Administration, Home Affairs & Justice, Legal & Legislative Affairs, Vigilance, Personnel, Civil Aviation, Defence Services Welfare, Hospitality, Investment Promotion, Information & Public Relations, Environment, Wildlife, NRI Affairs Government of Punjab, India Chief Minister Himself
Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 March 2017
Preceded by	Preneet Kaur
Constituency	Patiala Urban
In office 2002–2014
Preceded by	Surjit Singh Kohli
Succeeded by	Preneet Kaur
Constituency	Patiala Town
In office 1992–1997
Preceded by	Hardial Singh Rajla
Succeeded by	Jagtar Singh Rajla
Constituency	Samana
In office 1985–1992
Preceded by	Avtar Singh
Succeeded by	Harminder Singh
Constituency	Talwandi Sabo
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 26 May 2014 – 23 November 2016
Preceded by	Navjot Singh Sidhu
Succeeded by	Gurjit Singh Aujla
Constituency	Amritsar
In office 1980–1984
Preceded by	Gurcharan Singh Tohra
Succeeded by	Charanjit Singh Walia
Constituency	Patiala
Personal details
Born	11 March 1942 Patiala, Patiala State, British India
Political party	Indian National Congress (1980–84; 1998–present)
Other political affiliations	Shiromani Akali Dal (1984–92) Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) (1992–98)
Spouse(s)	Preneet Kaur ​ (m. 1964)​
Children	2, including Raninder Singh
Parents	Yadavindra Singh Mohinder Kaur
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Army
Years of service	1963–1965
Rank	Captain
Unit	Sikh Regiment
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Titular Maharaja of Patiala
Predecessor	Yadavindra Singh

Personal life

Singh is the son of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty,[8] He attended the Loreto Convent, Tara Hall, Shimla and Lawrence School, Sanawar before going to The Doon School, Dehradun.[8][9] He has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur.[8] His wife, Preneet Kaur, served as an Member of Parliament and was Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to October 2012.[10]

His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to former Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh.[11] He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (A) supremo and former IPS Officer Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann's wife and Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.[12]

Army career

Singh served in the Indian Army from June 1963 to December 1966 after graduating from the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy.[13] He was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment.[14]He served as the aide-de-camp to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, Lieutenant General Harbaksh Singh, from December 1964.[15] He participated in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war.[16]

Political career

He was inducted into the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi, who was his friend from school and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980. In 1984, he resigned from Parliament and from Congress as a protest against the Army action during Operation Blue Star. Subsequently, he joined the Shiromani Akali Dal was elected to the state legislature from Talwandi Sabo and became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.

In 1992 he broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) which later merged with the Congress in 1998 (after his party's crushing defeat in Vidhan Sabha election in which he himself was defeated from his own constituency where he got only 856 votes) after Sonia Gandhi took over the reign of the party. He was defeated by Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra from Patiala Constituency in 1998 by a margin of 33,251 votes. He served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee on three occasions from 1999 to 2002, 2010 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017, he also became Chief Minister of Punjab in 2002 and continued until 2007.

In September 2008, a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, during the tenure of a government led by Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party, expelled him on the count of regularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust.[17] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds that it was excessive and unconstitutional.[17]

He was appointed as chairman of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee in 2008. Captain Amarinder Singh is also a Permanent Invitee to the Congress Working Committee since 2013. He defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley by a margin of more than 102,000 votes in 2014 general elections. He has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms representing Patiala (Urban) thrice, Samana and Talwandi Sabo once each.

On 27 November 2015, Amarinder Singh was appointed President of Punjab Congress in the run up to Punjab elections slated for 2017.[18] On 11 March 2017 Congress Party won the State Assembly Elections under his leadership.

Amarinder Singh was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on 16 March 2017 at Punjab Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh. The oath of office was administered by the Punjab governor, V.P. Singh Badnore.[2][19] He was appointed president of the Jat Mahasabha in 2013.[20]

Books

He has also written books on war and Sikh history which include A Ridge Too Far, Lest We Forget, The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar and The Sikhs in Britain: 150 years of Photographs. Among his most recent works are Honour and Fidelity: India's Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918 released in Chandigarh on 6 December 2014, and The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War- which contains his memoirs of the 1965 Indo-Pak war.[21][22]

Awards and recognitions

The author Khushwant Singh released a biographic book titled, Captain Amarinder Singh: The People’s Maharaja in 2017.[23]

References

1. Quint, The (10 March 2017). "Punjab Live: Modi Congratulates Amarinder, Wishes Him Happy B'Day". The Quint. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
2. "Amarinder Singh sworn in as Punjab CM". The Hindu. The Hindu. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
3. Goswami, Dev. "Punjab election results 2017: Full list of winners". indiatoday.intoday.in. Living Media India Limited. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
4. "Congress in States - Punjab". inc.in. All India Congress Committee. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
5. "Who is Capt Amarinder Singh? Everything you need to know". The Indian Express. Express Web Desk. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
6. "Captain Amarinder back in charge in Punjab for second time". The New Indian Express. PTI. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
7. "Punjab Urdu Academy". www.punjaburduacademy.com. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
8. Singh, Khushwant (15 February 2017). Captain Amarinder Singh: The People's Maharaja: An Authorized Biography. Hay House, Inc. ISBN 978-93-85827-44-0.
9. "Seven Doscos in 15th Lok Sabha". The Indian Express. 31 May 2009. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
10. "Members : Lok Sabha". loksabhaph.nic.in. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
11. Nibber, Gurpreet Singh (24 July 2017). "Obituary | A sister, a guardian, the royal mother: Rajmata of Patiala is no more". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
12. Sethi, Chitleen K. (1 January 2017). "Pushed to the margins, Simranjit Mann carrying legacy of a lost cause". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
13. "Profile - Amarinder Singh". Bloomberg.
14. "Army's account of 1965 war padded, says Capt's new book". Hindustan Times. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
15. "But for Gen Harbakhsh, Punjab would've been lost in 1965 war: Capt". Hindustan Times. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
16. "Amarinder Singh Welcomes Honour To Officer Who Tied Protester To Jeep". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
17. Dhananjay Mahapatra, Dhananjay (27 April 2010). "'Amarinder's removal undemocratic'". The Times of India.
18. "Amarinder appointed Captain of Punjab Congress". Daily Post India. 27 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
19. Mallick, Abhilash (17 March 2017). "Captain Amarinder Sworn in as Punjab CM, Nine Ministers Inducted". The Quint. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
20. "Capt Amarinder Singh is Jat mahasabha chief". Hindustan Times. Press Trust of India (PTI). 13 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
21. "Book Review: The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War". 24 October 2015.
22. PTI (21 September 2015). "Amarinder Singh pens book on 1965 Indo-Pak war". Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
23. Ratra, Vaibhav (22 May 2017). "People's Maharaja". The Pioneer. Retrieved 3 January 2020.