Captain Amarinder Singh is an Indian politician and currently the Chief Minister of Punjab. He had also served as the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and also served as the CM of Punjab in the year 2002-2007.
He was born on March 11, 1942, to Maharani Mohinder Kaur and Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala. He hails from a royal family as his father was the last Maharaja of Patiala.
Amarinder Singh is the son of Maharani Mohinder Kaur and Maharaja Yadavindra Singh of Patiala belonging to the Phulkian dynasty of Sidhu Brar descent. His father, late Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Ji was an inspiration to him who always led by an example and highly influenced him. He shared this old picture of him and his father together remembering him on his birth anniversary.
Singh is known for his active participation in various sports out of which cricket was his favourite. He shared this picture of his golden days where his cricket team posing with Commandant, Rear Admiral B A Samson.
He was an active player and shares this picture decked up in his cricket gear from the days when he played cricket regularly. He also loves watching cricket matches on TV and is a die-hard fan of the Indian Cricket team.
Captain Amarinder Singh shared this picture of him from his teenage days when he was extremely enthusiastic towards cricket.
Captain Amarinder Singh was also very enthusiastic about polo and believes besides inculcating the feeling of companionship and brotherhood, sports teaches us how to celebrate a win and how to introspect a loss. He has a special place for this sport in his heart and shares a vintage picture of him on National Sports Day.
Amarinder Singh used to play a lot of cycle polo in his younger days and tried his hand on this new semi-electric cycle to exercise. He shared this picture on World Heart Day to remind people how important it is to eat and stay healthy.
On July 15, 1963, he joined the illustrious second battalion of the Sikh Regiment (2 Sikh), the same battalion his father, Maharaja Yadvinder Singh and grandfather, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh had served with distinction.
Singh joined the Indian Army in the year 1963 after graduating from the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Military Academy but resigned in early 1965. He rejoined the Indian Army again as hostilities grew with Pakistan and served as Captain in the Army in the Indo-Pakistan War in 1965.
He shares another old picture where he addressed the issues of Punjab saying, 'Punjab has faced many challenges in the past and we Punjabis have always united against them and have overcome any challenge that has come our way. Today, Punjab is facing yet another attack. We are fighting a war, a War on Drugs. I am confident that together we will win this war. The police and the administration are working tirelessly and have been successful in disrupting the supply of drugs. Strict action has been taken against any erring official & highest punishment has been proposed for anyone found guilty of drug peddling.'
Captain Amarinder Singh was introduced to the Congress Party by Rajiv Gandhi, who happened to be his friend from school but he resigned from Parliament and Congress as a protest against Operation Blue Star in 1984.
In 2008, Singh was appointed as the chairman of the Punjab Congress Campaign Committee, He was appointed the president of the Jat Mahasabha in 2013. In 2014 general elections, he defeated senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley by a huge margin of more than 1,02,000 votes.
Amarinder Singh was appointed President of Punjab Congress on 27 November 2015. Congress Party won the State Assembly Elections under his leadership in 2017.
Singh shares a picture from an election campaign in the late 70s. He captions it as, 'During the election campaign of 2017, I had promised Punjabi’s that we would get Punjab out of this fiscal mess, with sincere efforts and continued support from the public, we are witnessing significant positive signs. Fiscal & revenue deficit has been reduced and debt servicing is being maintained. The State is on the road to fiscal stabilisation and recovery.'
Captain Amarinder Singh is also a writer and known for his books on war and Sikh history like The Last Sunset: Rise and Fall of Lahore Durbar, A Ridge Too Far and The Sikhs in Britain: 150 years of Photographs. His most recent works include The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce – 1965 India-Pakistan War and Honour and Fidelity: India's Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to 1918 released on 6 December 2014.
Amarinder Singh is married to Parneet Kaur who served as a Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs in the year 2009 to 2014 and was a Member of Parliament.
Captain Amarinder Singh shares a nostalgic picture of him and his wife Parneet Kaur in Patiala in the late 1970s.
They have two children, daughter, Jai Inder Kaur, married to a Delhi-based businessman, Gurpal Singh and son, Raninder Singh.
In the picture: Singh is posing with his daughter Jai Inder Kaur.
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