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Amarinder Singh
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
Preceded by Parkash Singh Badal
Succeeded by Parkash Singh Badal
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(1942-03-11) (age 82)
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 Flag of India India
Service/branch Flag of Indian Army Indian Army
Years of service 1963–1965
Rank Captain of the Indian Army Captain
Unit Sikh Regiment

Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942)[1] is an Indian politician 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 2002-2007.[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]

Personal life[]

Singh is the son of Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty.[8][better source needed] He attended the Welham Boys' School and Lawrence School Sanawar[9] before going to The Doon School,[10] Dehradun. He has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, who is married to a Delhi-based businessman, Gurpal Singh.[11] His wife, Preneet Kaur, served as an MP and was Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014.

His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to former foreign minister K. Natwar Singh.[12] 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.[13]

Army career[]

He served in the Indian Army from June 1963 to December 1966 after graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy.[14] He served as the aide-de-camp to the general officer commander-in-chief of the Western Command from December 1964.[15] He participated in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.[16] He served in the Sikh Regiment.[17]

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.[18] In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds that it was excessive and unconstitutional.[18]

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.[19] 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][20][21]

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.[22][23]

Awards and recognitions[]

The author Khushwant Singh released a biographic book titled, Captain Amarinder Singh: The People’s Maharaja in 2017.[24]

References[]

  1. Quint, The (10 March 2017). "Punjab Live: Modi Congratulates Amarinder, Wishes Him Happy B'Day". https://www.thequint.com/punjab-elections-2017/2017/03/10/punjab-election-results-counting-day-aap-congress-akali-bjp. Retrieved 11 March 2017. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Amarinder Singh sworn in as Punjab CM". The Hindu. 16 March 2017. http://www.thehindu.com/elections/punjab-2017/amrinder-singh-sworn-in-as-punjab-cm/article17471142.ece. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  3. Goswami, Dev. "Punjab election results 2017: Full list of winners". Living Media India Limited. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/final-punjab-election-results-2017-full-list-of-constituences-winners/1/902502.html. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  4. "Congress In States - Punjab". All India Congress Committee.. http://inc.in/organization/13/133-Congress-in-States-Punjab. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Who is Capt Amarinder Singh? Everything you need to know". The Indian Express. 16 March 2017. http://indianexpress.com/elections/punjab-assembly-elections-2017/who-is-capt-amarinder-singh-everything-you-need-to-know/. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  6. "Captain Amarinder back in charge in Punjab for second time". The New Indian Express. 16 March 2017. http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/mar/16/captain-amarinder-back-in-charge-in-punjab-for-second-time-1581983--1.html. Retrieved 16 March 2017. 
  7. "Punjab Urdu Academy" (in en). http://www.punjaburduacademy.com/. 
  8. "JIND". http://www.royalark.net/India/jind.htm. 
  9. Sharma, Pratul (19 January 2012). "Captain goes all guns blazing: Congress's Amarinder Singh insists he hasn't mellowed and is sure of victory in Punjab as he takes on the Badals". Daily Mail. London. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2088642/Congresss-Amarinder-Singh-sure-victory-Punjab.html. 
  10. "Seven Doscos in 15th Lok Sabha". 31 May 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/seven-doscos-in-15th-lok-sabha/468807. 
  11. "Himachal Pradesh CM's daughter to wed Amarinder's grandson". 20 August 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2397441/Himachal-Pradesh-CMs-daughter-wed-Amarinders-grandson.html. 
  12. Nibber, Gurpreet Singh (24 July 2017). "Obituary | A sister, a guardian, the royal mother: Rajmata of Patiala is no more" (in en). Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/obituary-a-sister-a-guardian-the-royal-mother-rajmata-of-patiala-is-no-more/story-lLHxssjXmtaWOyLyQkADSJ.html. Retrieved 6 January 2020. 
  13. Sethi, Chitleen K. (1 January 2017). "Pushed to the margins, Simranjit Mann carrying legacy of a lost cause" (in en). Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/simranjit-mann-carrying-legacy-of-a-lost-cause/story-QfCcgylAe4dUDL8LWU4tWO.html. Retrieved 6 January 2020. 
  14. "Profile - Amarinder Singh". https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/3171417. 
  15. "But for Gen Harbakhsh, Punjab would've been lost in 1965 war: Capt" (in en). 30 August 2015. https://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/but-for-gen-harbakhsh-punjab-would-ve-been-lost-in-1965-war-capt/story-ywTANLwiBwpd3fkDvXLAHM.html. 
  16. "Amarinder Singh Welcomes Honour To Officer Who Tied Protester To Jeep". https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/amarinder-singh-welcomes-honour-to-major-leetul-gogoi-who-tied-kashmiri-protester-to-jeep-1696937. 
  17. "Army's account of 1965 war padded, says Capt's new book". Hindustan Times. 18 September 2015. http://www.hindustantimes.com/chandigarh/army-s-account-of-1965-war-padded-says-capt-s-new-book/story-vHDXxUPvtcMIolRmEoCgbI.html. Retrieved 13 March 2017. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 Dhananjay Mahapatra, Dhananjay (27 April 2010). "'Amarinder's removal undemocratic'". http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-04-27/india/28137401_1_land-scam-punjab-assembly-amarinder-singh. 
  19. "Amarinder appointed Captain of Punjab Congress". 27 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208222652/http://www.dailypost.in/editor-s-pick/53035-amarinder-appointed-captain-of-punjab-congress. 
  20. "Captain Amarinder Sworn In as Punjab CM, Nine Ministers Inducted" (in en). The Quint. https://www.thequint.com/punjab-elections-2017/2017/03/16/punjab-congress-amarinder-singh-swearing-in-deputy-cm-navjot-singh-sidhu. 
  21. "Capt Amarinder Singh is Jat mahasabha chief". Hindustan Times. 13 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. https://archive.today/20180709223125/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/capt-amarinder-singh-is-jat-mahasabha-chief/story-Azv4nUf0d1iu8wzoGSDNAN.html. Retrieved 9 July 2018. 
  22. "Book Review: The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War". 24 October 2015. http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/the-war-no-one-lost/. 
  23. "Amarinder Singh pens book on 1965 Indo-Pak war - timesofindia-economictimes". Archived from the original. Error: If you specify |archiveurl=, you must also specify |archivedate=. http://archive.today/20160801164457/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-09-21/news/66761141_1_great-war-new-book-1965-indo-pak-war. Retrieved 2 January 2020. 
  24. Ratra, Vaibhav (22 May 2017). "People's Maharaja" (in en). The Pioneer. https://www.dailypioneer.com/2017/vivacity/peoples-maharaja.html. Retrieved 3 January 2020. 
Unrecognised parameter
Preceded by
Gurcharan Singh Tohra
Member of Parliament
for Patiala

1980 – 1984
Succeeded by
Sardar Charanjit Singh Walia
Preceded by
Navjot Singh Sidhu
Member of Parliament
for Amritsar

2014 – 2017
Succeeded by
Gurjeet Singh Aujla
Political offices
Preceded by
Parkash Singh Badal
Chief Minister of Punjab
26 February 2002 – 1 March 2007
Succeeded by
Parkash Singh Badal
Preceded by
Parkash Singh Badal
Chief Minister of Punjab
16 March 2017 – Present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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