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10/9/2017 Zail Singh -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Zail Singh

Zail Singh, also called Giani Zail Singh, original name Jarnail Singh (born May 5, 1916, Sandhwan, —died December 25, 1994, ), Indian politician who was the �rst Sikh to serve as (1982–87). He was an impotent bystander in 1984 when government troops stormed the complex of the Harmandir Sahib () in , the ’ holiest shrine, in an effort to apprehend militants who had been demanding autonomy for the northwestern Indian state of Punjab.

Singh was raised in a village near Ludhiana, in what is now Punjab state India. When he was barely 15 years old, he became active in the politics of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Supreme Akali Party), the principal political organization that championed Sikh causes and that had joined with the (Congress Party) in opposing British rule in India. He pursued traditional studies in Sikh holy books and earned the title Giani (“Learned Man”) for his scholarly mastery of the scriptures. In 1938 he established the Praja Mandal, a political organization allied to the Congress Party, in his home district of Faridkot. That insurrectionary act earned him a �ve-year jail sentence. During his incarceration he took the name Zail Singh.

After India became independent in 1947, Singh served in the (upper chamber of the Indian parliament) in 1956–62 and was chief minister (head of government) of Punjab in 1972–77. When Prime Minister was voted out of power in 1977, Singh continued to support her. Singh won a seat in the 1980 elections to the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of the parliament), as did Gandhi, who again became prime minister. She acknowledged Singh’s loyalty to her by naming him minister of home affairs. He held the post until 1982, when he became the Congress (I) Party’s presidential candidate.

Singh overwhelmingly won election to the largely ceremonial of�ce. There was much speculation, however, that Gandhi had selected him in order to mollify Sikh extremists in Punjab, who had since mid-1982 become increasingly militant in that state. The June 1984 assault on the Harmandir Sahib complex by government troops, which killed hundreds, put Singh in a dif�cult situation with the Sikh community—made worse by the violence against Sikhs that erupted following Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards four months later. Singh named Gandhi’s son, Rajiv, to succeed her, but he soon fell out of favour with the new prime minister. Singh further in�amed the government by refusing to sign into law a 1987 bill permitting of�cial censorship of private mail. Singh died in late 1994 following a car crash. Courtesy: "Zail Singh". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2017. Web. 09 Oct. 2017 .

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