Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942), is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab and

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections on ...

, he was also the president of

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (or Punjab PCC), formerly known as the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee in colonial India, is the affiliate of the Indian National Congress in the state of Punjab. On 9 April 2022, Amrinder Singh Raja Warr ...

. He has also previously served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and 2017 to 2021. His father was the last Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala. He has also served in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

from 1963 to 1966. In 1980, he won a seat in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

for the first time. As of November 2022, Singh also serves as the chairman of the Punjab Urdu Academy. Captain Singh resigned as the Chief Minister of Punjab on 18 September 2021. On 19 September, 2022 he merged his party PLC with BJP and joined BJP on the same day.

Personal life

Singh was born on 11 March 1942 in Patiala City,

Patiala State Patiala State was a self-governing princely state of the British Empire in India, and one of the Phulkian States, that acceded to the Union of India upon Indian independence and partition. Patiala Kingdom/State was founded by Sidhu Jat ...

, Punjab Province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

into a royal Punjabi

Jatt Sikh Jat Sikh (also known by the more conventional endonym Jatt Sikh) is a sub-group of the Jat people and the Sikh religious group from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in the Punjab owing to their large land holdin ...

family of the

Sidhu Sidhu () is a Punjabi Jat clan found in Punjab.Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Sir Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala. Amarinder Singh's family belongs to the Phulkian dynasty. He attended the Loreto Convent in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

, and Lawrence School in

Kasauli Kasauli is a town and cantonment, located in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The cantonment was established by the British Raj in 1842 as a Colonial hill station,Sharma, Ambika"Architecture of Kasauli churches" ''The Tr ...

Solan District Solan district is one of the twelve districts of the Himachal Pradesh state in northern India. The city of Solan is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district occupies an area of 1936 km2. History The territory of the ...

, before going to

The Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a selective all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer from Calcutta, who prevised a school mod ...

in Dehradun. He has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur. His wife,

Preneet Kaur Preneet Kaur (born 3 October 1944) is an Indian politician who served in the Government of India as a Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014. She is married to Amarinder Singh, who was the 15th Chief Minister ...

, served as an

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

and was

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to October 2012. His elder sister Heminder Kaur is married to former Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh. He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (A) supremo and former

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

Officer

Simranjit Singh Mann Simranjit Singh Mann (born 20 May 1945) is a separatist politician and an MP representing the constituency of Sangrur since 2022. He is the president of the political party Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). Mann is a three-time MP; once from Ta ...

. Mann's wife and Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.

Army career

Singh served in the

from June 1963 to December 1966 after graduating from the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

and the

Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...

. He was commissioned into the

Sikh Regiment The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Sikh regiment is the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army and in 1979, the 1st battalion was the Commonwealth's most decorated battalion with 245 pre-independence and 8 ...

. He served as the aide-de-camp to the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command,

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Harbaksh Singh, from December 1964. He left the army in early 1965 to look after his family but returned to service with the start of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. His father and grandfather were also in army and many times he said that "Army will always be my first love".

Political career

He was inducted into the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi, who was his friend from school and was first elected to the

in 1980. In 1984, he resigned from

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and from Congress as a protest against the Army action during

Operation Blue Star Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the building ...

. Subsequently, he joined the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...

was elected to the state legislature from

Talwandi Sabo Talwandi Sabo is a town and Municipal Council in Bathinda district, Punjab, India. It is famous for being one of the five Takhts of Sikhism (Sikh Religious Places), Takht Sri Damdama Sahib. It is also famous for its Baisakhi, which is celebrate ...

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 The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

election in which he himself was defeated from his own constituency where he got only 856 votes) after Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the party. He was defeated by Prof

Prem Singh Chandumajra Prem Singh Chandumajra (born 1 January 1950) is General Secretary and spokesman of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and former Member of Parliament from Anandpur Sahib and former constituency MP from Patiala seat. He is also an alumnus of Punjab ...

from

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the '' Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') construct ...

Constituency in 1998 by a margin of 33,251 votes. He served as the President of

on three occasions from 1999 to 2002, 2010 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. He has been a member of the

Punjab Vidhan Sabha The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, direct ...

for five terms representing

(Urban) thrice, Samana and

once each.

Chief Minister of Punjab, First term

He became Chief Minister of Punjab in 2002 and continued until 2007. In September 2008, a special committee of

, during the tenure of a government led by Akali Dal-

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

, expelled him on the count of regularities in the transfer of land related to the Amritsar Improvement Trust. In 2010, the Supreme Court of India held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds that it was excessive and unconstitutional. 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.

Member of Parliament

He defeated senior

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

leader

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jai ...

by a margin of more than 102,000 votes in 2014 general elections. On 27 November 2015, Amarinder Singh was appointed President of Punjab Congress in the run up to Punjab elections slated for 2017.

Chief Minister of Punjab, second term

On 11 March 2017 Congress Party won the

2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election A Legislative Assembly election was held in the Indian state of Punjab on 4 February 2017 to elect the 117 members of the Fifteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes was done on 11 March 2017. The ruling pre-election coalition ...

under his leadership. Amarinder Singh was sworn in as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on 16 March 2017 at Punjab Raj Bhavan,

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

. The oath of office was administered by the Punjab governor, V.P. Singh Badnore. He was appointed president of the

Jat Mahasabha Akhil Bhartiya JAT Mahasabha ( hi, अखिल भारतीय जाट महासभा) or ( hi, अखिल भारतीय जाट महासभा) is an organization of Jats in India. The organization was created to raise aw ...

in 2013. During his tenure as chief minister, he came into conflict with a faction of the Congress headed by

Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...

, and was criticized for being inaccessible to Congress MLAs, living in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Chandigarh instead of coming to the civil secretariat building. He also received criticism for not resolving the Bargari sacrilege case and for a perception that he had been insufficiently zealous in prosecuting previous CM

Parkash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He ...

for involvement in the case. On 18 September 2021, he resigned as the Chief Minister of Punjab, as a consequence of conversations with the Congress high command that suggested the Punjab Congress MLAs were lacking confidence in his leadership. Singh publicly blamed Sidhu for the internal tension that led to the resignation, calling him "dangerous", "incompetent", and a "total disaster" and that he would fight any attempt to name Sidhu as the next CM of Punjab. Singh was eventually succeeded by Charanjit Singh Channi as the new chief minister. Singh left the Congress Party, and on 28 October 2021, announced that he would be floating a new party soon and that he would be allying with the

Punjab Lok Congress

Punjab Lok Congress (PLC; English: ''Punjab People's Congress'') is an Indian regional political party, in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

founded by Singh on 2 November 2021 after he resigned as Chief Minister of Punjab and quit the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

. The party was formed following a split in Indian National Congress in Punjab. Singh has announced that his party will contest on all 117 seats in

2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Punjab on 20 February 2022 to elect the 117 members of the 16th Assembly of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 10 March 2022. The Aam Aadmi P ...

. The party failed to win any seat in the elections.

2022 Punjab Assembly election

, Singh lost from the Patiala assembly constituency to Aam Aadmi Party's Ajit Pal Singh Kohli. The party failed to win any seat in the elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party

A few months after his election failure Singh along with his party merged into the Bharatiya Janata Party on 19 September 2022 after meeting with HM Amit Shah a few days before.

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.

Awards and recognition

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

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Amarinder 1942 births The Doon School alumni Living people Maharajas of Patiala People from Patiala Punjabi people Chief Ministers of Punjab, India Pretenders Indian Sikhs Shiromani Akali Dal politicians Lawrence School, Sanawar alumni India MPs 1980–1984 Punjab, India MLAs 2002–2007 Indian Army personnel Punjab, India MLAs 2007–2012 Punjab, India MLAs 2012–2017 Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India India MPs 2014–2019 Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian National Congress politicians Punjab, India MLAs 2017–2022 Punjab Lok Congress politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Punjab