Captain Amarinder Singh Biography
About
Captain Amarinder Singh is an Indian politician and the current (26th) chief minister of Punjab. Prior to this, he served as chief minister of Punjab from 2002-2007. He is an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly from Patiala, as well as the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the state division of the Indian National Congress. He won seat in Lok Sabha for the first time in 1980. Besides politics, Singh worked for the Indian Army from 1963 to 1966.
Political Career
Amarinder Singh was introduced to Congress by Rajiv Gandhi and was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980. Singh and Gandhi were friends from school.
During Operation Blue Star in 1984, Singh stepped down from Parliament as well as Congress as a protest against the Army action. Later, he became a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal and was elected to the state legislature. He eventually became a minister in the state government for Agriculture, Forest, Development and Panchayats.
In 1992, Singh separated himself from the Akali Dal and formed a group named Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic). In 1998, Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthic) merged with the Congress.
In 2008, Singh became the chairman of Punjab Congress Campaign Committee. Since 2013, he is a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee.
In 2017, the Punjab Assembly Election was won by the Congress Party under Singh’s leadership.
On 16 March, 2017, Singh was sworn in as the 26th chief minister of Punjab at Punjab Raj Bhavan, Chandigarh.
Army Career
After graduating from the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, Amarinder Singh joined the Indian Army in 1963. He resigned in 1965. However, as hostilities broke out with Pakistan, he rejoined the Army as Captain in the Sikh Regiment during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.
President of All India Jat Maha Sabha
Presently the president of All India Jat Maha Sabha, Capt Amarinder Singh has been associated with the Jat Maha Sabha for last 30 years.
Books written by Capt Amarinder Singh
- A Ridge Too Far
- Lest We Forget
- The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar
- The Sikhs in Britain: 150 years of Photographs
- Honour and Fidelity: India’s Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918
- The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War
Personal Life
Singh was born to Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and Maharani Mohinder Kaur of Patiala who belonged to the Phulkian dynasty of Sidhu Brar descent. He did his schooling from the Welham Boys’ School and Lawrence School Sanawar, The Doon School, Dehradun. His wife, Preneet Kaur, was an MP and Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2014.
