Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician, military historian and former army officer who was Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and from 2017 to 2021. The son of the last ruling Maharaja of Patiala, he spent most of his career in the Indian National Congress, left it after being made to resign in 2021 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Amarinder Singh |
| Born | 11 March 1942, Patiala, Punjab, India |
| Age | 84 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party (since 2022); earlier Indian National Congress |
| Office | Chief Minister of Punjab (2002–2007; 2017–2021) |
| Military service | Indian Army, Sikh Regiment (1963–1965) |
| Education | The Doon School; National Defence Academy; Indian Military Academy |
| Father | Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala |
| Spouse | Preneet Kaur (m. 1964) |
| Children | 2 (Raninder Singh and Jai Inder Kaur) |
Early Life and Army
Amarinder Singh was born into the Phulkian dynasty of Patiala. After the Doon School he trained at the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Sikh Regiment in 1963. He resigned early in 1965 but returned when war with Pakistan broke out that year and served as aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General Harbakhsh Singh, who commanded the western front.
Political Career
A school friend of Rajiv Gandhi, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Patiala for the Congress in 1980. He resigned from Parliament and the party in 1984 in protest against the army’s entry into the Golden Temple. He joined the Akali Dal, served as a state minister, later formed his own group and returned to the Congress in 1998.
In his first term he pushed through a 2004 law cancelling Punjab’s river-water sharing agreements with neighbouring states. In 2014 he defeated Arun Jaitley in Amritsar. He led the Congress to 77 of 117 seats in 2017. His second government waived some farm loans and opened the Kartarpur corridor on the Indian side, but was criticised within the party as inaccessible. After a long feud with Navjot Singh Sidhu he resigned on 18 September 2021, saying he had been humiliated.
He founded the Punjab Lok Congress, lost his own Patiala seat in 2022 and merged the party with the BJP that September.
Books
Personal Life
His wife, Preneet Kaur, was a Union minister of state for external affairs.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Amarinder Singh born?
Amarinder Singh was born on 11 March 1942 in Patiala, Punjab, India and is 84 years old.
Featured image: Captain Amarinder Singh (left), then Chief Minister of Punjab, calls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi, 22 March 2017. Photo by Prime Minister’s Office, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
