Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. His father, Yadavindra Singh, was the last

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

of the princely state of Patiala and a member of the historical Phulkian dyansty. Before starting his political career, Singh was an officer in the Indian Army, where he served from 1963 to 1966. In his long political career, Singh has served in numerous positions including as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

and as a

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 ...

. He also served as the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee thrice. Singh served as the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and 2017 to 2021. As of November 2022, Singh also serves as the chairman of the Punjab Urdu Academy. On 19 September 2022, he merged his party, Punjab Lok Congress, which he formed after leaving the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, with the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) and joined BJP on the same day.

Early life and education

Singh was born on 11 March 1942 in Patiala, Patiala State, 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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He was born into a royal Punjabi Jat Sikh family of the Sidhu clan to parents

Sir Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala. His father, Yadavindra, was the last Maharaja of Patiala. Singh's family belongs to the historical Phulkian dynasty. In his youth, Singh held the tile of Yuvraj, which meant

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

; however, royal titles were abolished by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

in 1971 by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India. Singh attended the Loreto Convent in Shimla, and Lawrence School in Kasauli, Solan District, before going to

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

in Dehradun.

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. He was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment. 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 military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...

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, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, served in the Indian Army and the British Indian Army, and Singh stated, in 2010, that the Army will always be his first love.

Political career

Early career

Singh was inducted into the

(INC) by Rajiv Gandhi, his friend from school and who later became

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

, and was first elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

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: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and from the INC as a protest against the Army's actions 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 Punjab state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats. In 1992, Singh broke away from the Akali Dal and formed a splinter party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic). His party later merged with the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1998, after a crushing defeat in the

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve fiv ...

election in which Singh was defeated from his own constituency, getting only 856 votes, and after Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the party. He was defeated by Prem Singh Chandumajra from the Patiala Constituency in 1998 by a margin of 33,251 votes.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and state politics

Singh's served as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) on three occasions from 1999 to 2002, 2010 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. Singh's second term as the PPCC president was also noted for the influence wielded by his first cousin, Arvind Khanna, the son of Singh's paternal aunt, Naginder Kumari Khanna. Khanna used his wealth to fund Singh's political activities and took control of his office and the PPCC's political strategy. Singh has been a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for five terms representing Patiala (Urban) thrice, Samana and Talwandi Sabo once each.

Chief Minister of Punjab, first term

He became Chief Minister of Punjab in 2002 and continued until 2007.

Punjab Opposition

In September 2008, a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha, during the tenure of a government led by Akali Dal-

, 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 The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

held his expulsion unconstitutional on the grounds that it was excessive and unconstitutional.

Member of Parliament

He defeated senior

leader Arun Jaitley by a margin of 102,770 votes in 2014 general elections from Amritsar seat. 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 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 city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

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

Jat Mahasabha The All India Jat Mahasabha, formerly All India Jat Kshatriya Mahasabha, is a non-profit and non-political organisation of Jats in India. Founded in 1907 to advance the social, economic, and political interests of the Jat community. Established ...

in 2013. During his tenure as chief minister, he came into conflict with a faction of the Congress headed by Navjot Singh Sidhu, and was criticised 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 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' leadership 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 Chief Minister of Punjab. Singh also stated that he was humiliated by the Congress' leadership on how they removed him from office. He was eventually succeeded by

Charanjit Singh Channi Charanjit Singh Channi (born 15 March 1963) is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief minister (India), Chief Minister of Punjab, India, Punjab. He is a member of the Indian National Congress. He is serving as a Member of Parliament ...

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 Bharatiya Janata Party.

Punjab Lok Congress

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

founded by Singh on 2 November 2021 after he resigned as Chief Minister of Punjab and quit the INC. The party was formed following a split in INC. Singh has announced that his party will contest on all 117 seats in 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. The party failed to win any seat in the elections.

2022 Punjab Assembly election

In 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, Singh lost from the Patiala Assembly constituency to Aam Aadmi Party's Ajit Pal Singh Kohli. Singh's party PLC lost election deposit in all but one of the 28 seats it had contested with garnering 0.54% of the total votes polled.

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 Home Minister Amit Shah a few days before. During the 2024 Indian General Election, Singh was absent from the BJP's electoral campaigns in Punjab due to health related reasons. In October 2024, after a one and a half year absence from active politics, Singh made a public visit to the grain market in Khanna. In November 2024, Singh criticised

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

Justin Trudeau, stating that his support for Khalistan movement separatists in Canada led to the deterioration in India-Canada relations.

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-Pakistani war.

Awards and recognition

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

Personal life and family

Singh has one son, Raninder Singh, and one daughter, Jai Inder Kaur. Both his children are politicians. His wife, Preneet Kaur, served as a Member of Parliament and was

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2012. His son, Raninder, is married to Reshma Kaur, a businesswoman and the daughter of Kuldip Singh Dhingra, an owner of the

paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...

company Berger Paints. Singh's grandson Angad, the son of his daughter Jai Inder, married Aparajita Kumari, the daughter of Virbhadra Singh, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. His other grandson, Nirvan, the son of his daughter Jai Inder, married Mriganka Singh, the daughter of politician Vikramaditya Singh and the granddaughter of Karan Singh, a politician and former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh's granddaughter Seherinder Kaur, the daughter of his son Raninder Singh, married businessman Aditya Narang. His elder sister, Heminder Kaur, was married to former Minister of External Affairs, K. Natwar Singh. He is also related to Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader and former Indian Police Service officer Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann's wife and Amarinder Singh's wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.

References

External links

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Amarinder 1942 births The Doon School alumni Living people People from Patiala Chief ministers of Punjab, India Pretenders Punjabi Sikhs Indian Army personnel Shiromani Akali Dal politicians Lawrence School, Sanawar alumni India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 2014–2019 Punjab, India MLAs 1985–1990 Punjab, India MLAs 1992–1997 Punjab, India MLAs 2002–2007 Punjab, India MLAs 2007–2012 Punjab, India MLAs 2012–2017 Punjab, India MLAs 2017–2022 Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India Punjab Lok Congress politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Punjab 20th-century Indian royalty 20th-century Indian military personnel Presidents of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee People from Punjab Province (British India) Phulkian dynasty