Governor

Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala is the governor of Tamil Nadu. He held the Office of the Governor of Tamil Nadu on 3rd November 2004. He was born on 21st October 1925 at Ateli, in Haryana. He lost his father at an early age of nine; as a result he had to struggle hard in his life. He went to Lucknow to acquire higher education. In 1946, he passed his law examinations from Lucknow University. While he was studying Law at Lucknow, he actively participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942; as a result he received lathi blows and was also arrested by the police. He initially practiced Law in the District Court of Barnala. In 1967, he was elected from Barnala Assembly Constituency as the MLA. He was the representative of the Constituency till the year 1999.

During his tenure, as the Education Minister of Punjab in 1969, Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala took a lead role in the establishment of the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. He served as the Cabinet Minister in 1977, in Janata Party's Government led by Morarji Desai. His portfolios in the cabinet ministry were Agriculture, Food, Irrigation and Rural Development. He spent nearly three years and six months in jail for his involvement in several political agitations. After the death of Sant Longowal in 1985, Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala became the President of Shiromani Akali Dal. In 1985, his party won under his leadership in Assembly Elections and he held the post of the Chief Minister of Punjab. During his tenure terrorism had gripped the state of Punjab, but Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala ruled the state with an iron hand and freed it from the clutches of terrorism.

Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala was selected as Governor of Tamil Nadu in 1990. But he resigned from the post within a year because of some differences with the Central Government. In the Lok sabha elections of 1996 and 1998, he won and was appointed as the Cabinet Minister and served the miminsteries of Chemical and Fertilizers and Food and Civil Supplies. He was later appointed as the first Governor of the newly formed state of Uttranchal. He was also the Governor of Andhra Pradesh for about ten months.

Apart from being an active politician, Sardar Surjit Singh Barnala’s other interests are painting, reading and writing. He has written a book "Story of an Escape", published by Penguin and the second edition has been published by Natraj Publishers, Dehradun by the name “Quest for Freedom - Story of an Escape".