Surjit Singh Barnala facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Surjit Singh Barnala
8th Governor of Tamil Nadu
In office 3 November 2004 – 31 August 2011
Chief Minister	J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi
Preceded by	P. S. Ramamohan Rao
Succeeded by	Konijeti Rosaiah
In office 24 May 1990 – 15 February 1991
Chief Minister	M. Karunanidhi
Preceded by	P. C. Alexander
Succeeded by	Bhishma Narain Singh
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
Additional Charge
In office 9 April 2009 – 27 July 2009
Chief Minister	V. Vaithilingam
Preceded by	Govind Singh Gurjar
Succeeded by	Iqbal Singh
18th Governor of Andhra Pradesh
In office 3 January 2003 – 4 November 2004
Chief Minister	N. Chandrababu Naidu Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
Preceded by	C. Rangarajan
Succeeded by	Sushilkumar Shinde
1st Governor of Uttarakhand
In office 9 November 2000 – 7 January 2003
Chief Minister	Nityanand Swami Bhagat Singh Koshyari N. D. Tiwari
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Sudarshan Agarwal
5th Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
In office 19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	M. Arunachalam
Succeeded by	Suresh Prabhu
5th Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
In office December 1990 – 18 March 1993
Preceded by	Ranjit Singh Dyal
Succeeded by	Vakkom Purushothaman
11th Chief Minister of Punjab
In office 29 September 1985 – 11 June 1987
Governor	Arjun Singh Hokishe Sema Shankar Dayal Sharma Siddhartha Shankar Ray
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	President's rule
12th Minister of Agriculture
In office 18 June 1977 – 28 July 1979
Prime Minister	Morarji Desai
Preceded by	Parkash Singh Badal
Succeeded by	Brahm Prakash
Member of Parliament Lok Sabha
In office 1996–1999
Preceded by	Gurcharan Singh Dadhahoor
Succeeded by	Simranjit Singh Mann
Constituency	Sangrur
Personal details
Born	(1925-10-21)21 October 1925 Ateli, Punjab Province, British India (now in Haryana, India)
Died	14 January 2017(2017-01-14) (aged 91) Chandigarh, India
Political party	Shiromani Akali Dal
Spouse	Surjit Kaur Barnala
Children	4

Surjit Singh Barnala (born October 21, 1925 – died January 14, 2017) was an important Indian politician. He served as the Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1985 to 1987. After that, he became a governor in several states like Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and Andhra Pradesh. He also served as the lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was also a Union Minister, handling different important jobs in the central government.

Early Life and Education

Surjit Singh Barnala was born in Begpur Village, in the Ateli area of Haryana. His family was well-off, and his father was a magistrate. He studied law at Lucknow University and finished his degree in 1945.

During his time at university, he joined the Quit India Movement in 1942. This was a big movement where people in India demanded independence from British rule. After finishing his studies, he worked as a lawyer for some years. In the late 1960s, he became very active in politics, joining the Akali Dal party and rising through its ranks. He first tried to get elected in 1952 but lost by a very small number of votes.

Political Career Highlights

Surjit Singh Barnala had a long and impactful career in Indian politics. He held many important positions throughout his life.

Early Ministerial Roles

His first big job in government was in 1969. He became the education minister in the government led by Justice Gurnam Singh. During this time, he played a key role in setting up the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. This university is still very important today.

In 1977, he was elected to the Indian Parliament. He then joined the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai as the Minister of Agriculture. This ministry was very large and included areas like irrigation, water resources, food, environment, and rural development. In 1978, he signed an important agreement called the Ganga Waters Agreement with Bangladesh. This agreement helped manage the sharing of river waters.

Chief Minister of Punjab

Barnala served as the chief minister of Punjab from September 29, 1985, to May 11, 1987. He was a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal) political party. His time as Chief Minister was challenging because of a period of unrest in Punjab. After almost two years in office, the state was placed under President's Rule. This means the central government took direct control of the state.

National Role and Prime Minister Opportunities

In 1979, when the national government was facing problems, the President thought about making Barnala the interim Prime Minister. However, this idea was dropped, and Charan Singh became Prime Minister instead.

Barnala also came close to becoming Prime Minister again in 1996. After the 1996 Indian general election, no single party had enough votes to form a government. Many regional parties, who had a lot of Members of Parliament, thought Barnala would be a good choice for Prime Minister. However, at the last moment, his own party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, decided to join another group, and Barnala missed the chance.

In 1997, he was a candidate for the Vice-President of India with the support of the BJP and its allies. In 1998, he was elected to Parliament again. He then became the Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Food & Consumer Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Surjit Singh Barnala spent about three and a half years in jail as a political prisoner. This happened because of his political beliefs, and he even spent 11 months alone in confinement.

Serving as Governor

Surjit Singh Barnala served as a governor in many different states across India. A governor is like the head of a state, representing the President of India.

He first served as governor of Tamil Nadu from 1990 to 1991. He later resigned when he was asked to move to another state. He also served as the lieutenant governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from December 1990 to March 1993.

When the state of Uttarakhand was created in 2000, he became its first governor and served until 2003. He was also the governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2003 to 2004. During this time, he also temporarily held the position of governor for Odisha. He returned to serve as governor of Tamil Nadu until August 2011. For a few months during this period, he also held an additional charge as governor of Puducherry.

He is known as one of the longest-serving governors in Indian history. He is also the only governor to have served three terms in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Author and Painter

Besides his political work, Surjit Singh Barnala was also a talented author and painter.

In 1996, he wrote a book called Story of an Escape. This book was about his experiences of living in disguise in different parts of India. Another book he wrote, released in 2007, was titled My Other Two Daughters. This book was even made available in braille for visually impaired readers.

Barnala also loved to paint. He created many landscapes and portraits of political figures. Many of his paintings were displayed in the official homes where he lived during his time in various government roles. His artwork was also sold at events to raise money for good causes.

Personal Life

Surjit Singh Barnala was married to Surjit Kaur Barnala. She was also an active politician. In August 2009, Surjit Kaur became the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal) party.

The couple had three sons and one daughter. Their eldest son, Jasjit Barnala, is a businessman and not involved in politics. Their second son, Gaganjit, is also a politician. Sadly, their youngest son, NeilInder, died in a road accident in 1996. Their daughter, Amrit, passed away from cancer in 2012. Surjit Singh Barnala had eight grandchildren.

Death

Surjit Singh Barnala passed away on January 14, 2017, at the age of 91. He had been ill for some time and was admitted to the PGIMER hospital in Chandigarh a few days before his death.