He worked as journalist before entering politics. He fought his first elections as an
Akali Dal member and joined the
Indian National Congress in the late 1960s at the time when that party was split.
Political career
Singh was first elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1962, for the
Moga constituency.[6] He was subsequently elected to the 4th (from Ropar in 1967), 5th, 7th, 8th (from
Jalore), 10th (1991), 12th and 13th Lok Sabhas. He was involved with the Congress Party since
Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister and he was close to former Indian prime ministers
Indira Gandhi and
Rajiv Gandhi. But he was first elected to the
Indian Parliament from the Moga constituency as Akali Dal candidate, defeating his Congress opponent.[7][8]
He switched to
Ropar constituency in 1967, this time as a Congress candidate, and was elected from there to Lok Sabha a couple of times. He became
General Secretary of the
All India Congress Committee (AICC)
General Secretary (1978–1980),
Home Minister of India and later
Governor of Bihar (2004–2006). Other portfolios that he has held include those for railways, commerce, parliamentary affairs, sports, shipping, agriculture, communications and housing. He was chairman of the
National Commission for Scheduled Castes (ranked as Cabinet Minister) from 2007 to 2010.[9]
He wrote a book Punjabi Speaking State – A Critical Analysis and a collection of articles on Punjabi literature and Sikh history.[10] Indira Gandhi chose him to select a new party symbol when Congress was split. He was very closely involved with her in
Operation Blue Star and as a minister he oversaw reconstruction of the
Golden Temple following that exercise.[11] His name was also in the finalists for the post of
President of India along with
Giani Zail Singh in the Indira era. He was also the chairperson of
Asian Games organizing committee when the competition was held in India in 1982.[12]
He contested 2014 Lok Sabha election from
Jalore (Lok Sabha constituency) as an independent, backed by Samajwadi Party, but he came third.[13]
Controversies
In 1998, as Communications Minister he was indicted in the JMM bribery case, and forced to resign.[14]
As the Governor of Bihar, Singh's decision to recommend the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly in 2005 was sharply criticised by the
Supreme Court of India. The court ruled that Singh had acted in haste and misled the federal cabinet because he did not want a particular party claiming to form the government, to come to power.[15][16]
Singh, however, claimed that the party was resorting to unfair means to secure support to form the government. On 26 January 2006 Singh sent a fax to
Abdul Kalam offering to resign his post.[17] The next day he left office and was replaced temporarily by West Bengal governor
Gopalkrishna Gandhi.[18]