Zail Singh

Giani Zail Singh (born Jarnail Singh; 5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994) was an Indian politician who served as President of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab in the 1970s. He was the first Sikh to become president.

Born in Sandhwan in the princely state of Faridkot, Singh trained to be a granthi and was given the title of giani, meaning a learned man, while training at the Sikh Missionary School in Amritsar. Singh was associated with peasant agitations and the movement seeking a representative government in Faridkot. His political activism in the Praja Mandal, an organisation allied with the Indian National Congress, saw him sentenced to solitary confinement between 1938 and 1943. He led a flag satyagraha and formed a parallel government in Faridkot State which were called off only after the intervention of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel. The stints in jail inspired him to change his name to Zail Singh.

After independence, Faridkot was merged with the Patiala and East Punjab States Union and Singh served as its minister of revenue and agriculture during 1949–51 and oversaw the introduction of land reforms in Punjab. Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha during 1956–62 and member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly during 1962–67 during which time he served briefly as a minister under Partap Singh Kairon. He had served as president of PEPSU Pradesh Congress Committee during 1955–56 and became president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee in 1966 serving in that post until his election as chief minister of Punjab in 1972.

As chief minister, Singh is credited with having established India’s first semiconductor manufacturing unit in Mohali, legislating the Punjab Land Reforms Act of 1972, ensuring reservation for Mazhabi Sikhs and Valmikis in education and public employment and repatriating the remains of Udham Singh which were then cremated in Punjab with state honours. Singh’s policies aimed to undercut the influence of the Shiromani Akali Dal party by championing Sikh religious causes. Following the defeat of the Congress party in the elections of 1977, Singh and Sanjay Gandhi extended political and financial support to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a radical Sikh preacher. Bhindranwale soon became the flagbearer of Sikh separatism and an insurgency seeking the establishment of Khalistan broke out in Punjab.