Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

Gian Singh Rarewala (16 December 1901 – 31 December 1979) was an Indian politician and the first

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

(designated at the time as Prime Minister) of the former state of the

Patiala and East Punjab States Union The Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) was a States and union territories of India, state of India, uniting eight princely states between 1948 and 1956. The capital and principal city was Patiala. The state covered an area of 26,208 ...

.Source: 16-12-2001, Tribune, Article by Singh Roopinder
Rarewala: A Punjabi-loving gentleman-aristocrat" Archived
/ref> He was also a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the Punjab Legislative Assembely multiple times.

Personal life and background

Rarewala was born on 16 December 1901, at Rara village, Payal,

Patiala State Patiala State was a kingdom and princely state in Presidencies and provinces of British India, British India, and one of the Phulkian States, that Instrument of Accession, acceded to the Dominion of India, Union of India upon Indian independence ...

. He was a descendant of Ratan Singh Bhangu, author of ''Panth Prakash''. His sister, Jaswant Kaur, married

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 ...

Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. Rarewala studied in Patiala and graduated from Mahindra College in 1924. He joined the judicial service of the princely state of Patiala. Later, he became a High Court judge for Patiala State. He also served as a Revenue Commissioner and Revenue Minister for Patiala state and finally he was the Prime Minister of Patiala state from 1946 to 1947. His daughter, Nirlep Kaur, was also a politician and served as a Member of Parliament in 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 ...

Contributions to Punjabi language

Sardar Gian Singh Rarewala played a pivotal role in promoting and institutionalizing the

Punjabi language Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native sp ...

during his administrative and political career. In 1944, while serving as Deputy Commissioner of Patiala and President of the Singh Sabha, he invited Maharaja Yadavindra Singh to a Singh Sabha gathering and urged him to adopt Punjabi as the official language of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The Maharaja agreed, and within ten months, Rarewala implemented Punjabi as the medium of instruction in schools, as well as the language of administration and the judiciary alongside English. As Prime Minister of the

(PEPSU), Rarewala personally kept the Punjabi Department under his charge, reflecting his strong commitment to the language. He presented the PEPSU budgets for 1948–49 and 1949–50 in Punjabi—marking one of the earliest instances of an Indian regional language being used for official budget presentations. Over 600 new administrative and financial terms were coined to support this initiative. Due to printing limitations at the time, the budgets were distributed as cyclostyled copies. Rarewala also oversaw the development and introduction of Punjabi typewriters and promoted Punjabi stenography for official use. He allocated funds for the production of textbooks and other publications in Punjabi and issued instructions to all government departments to use Punjabi for official communication. These efforts laid a strong foundation for the expanded use of Punjabi in governance and education across the region.

Political career

Rarewala became a representative of Patiala in the

Constituent Assembly of India Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated ...

on 28 April 1947. The

(PEPSU) was formed later on 15 July 1948. A caretaker government was formed on 22 August 1948 with Rarewala as its Premier. On 13 January 1949 a broad-based ministry was constituted and Rarewala was sworn in as its Prime Minister. When this ministry was dissolved, Rarewala remained the premier of the caretaker ministry from 18 November 1949 to 23 May 1951. In 1951, Rarewala was elected to the PEPSU Legislative Assembly from the constituency of Payal as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

. He became the

of the PEPSU on 22 April 1952, heading a United Front ministry. Thus, he became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of any state in independent India. He was in office until 5 March 1953 when the President's rule was imposed and his government was dismissed. He became the president of the

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee ( SGPC; Supreme Gurdwara Management Committee) is an organization in India responsible for the management of ''gurdwaras'', Sikh places of worship, in the states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and t ...

in 1955. After the merger of the PEPSU with the

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 ...

state in 1956, he became a member of 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 ...

and elected to the

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

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. Rarewala became the Irrigation Minister in the

Pratap Singh Kairon Partap Singh Kairon (1 October 1901 – 6 February 1965) was the 3rd Chief Minister of the Punjab province (then comprising Punjab, Haryana and part of Himachal Pradesh), and is widely acknowledged as the architect of post-Independence Punjab P ...

Cabinet. He was re-elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

. In 1967 he was appointed leader of opposition in Punjab assembly. On 14 December 1968, Rarewala left Congress and joined the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal 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 ma ...

, likely because of his differences with

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

. He remained a member until his death. Rarewala died in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rarewala, Gian Singh 1901 births 1979 deaths Shiromani Akali Dal politicians Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Punjab, India MLAs 1957–1962 Punjab, India MLAs 1962–1967 Punjab, India MLAs 1967–1972 Chief ministers from Shiromani Akali Dal Chief ministers of Indian states Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India Patiala State