Parkash Singh Badal

Parkash Singh Badal (8 December 1927 – 25 April 2023) was an Indian politician and Sikh rights advocate who served as the 8th Chief Minister of Punjab from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017, the longest serving Chief Minister of Punjab till date.

Parkash Singh Badal was born on 8 December 1927 in Abul Khurana, near Malout.

He belonged to a Jatt Sikh family, who were generally apolitical and worked in their fields.

His father was a landlord named Raghuraj Singh Badal.

Badal started his political career in 1947.

He was Sarpanch of the Village Badal and later Chairman of Block Samiti, Lambi before rising into Punjab politics.

He was elected to Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 1957 for the first time from the Shiromani Akali Dal political party, when he was hardly thirty years of age.

He had been elected in Vidhan Sabha for a total of 10 times, in 1957 and in each election since 1969, except for the February 1992 election, in which he led a boycott of state elections by the Akalis.

In 1959, he married Surinder Kaur.

The couple had two children, Sukhbir Singh Badal and Parneet Kaur, who is married to Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon.

He was re-elected in 1969, serving as Minister for Community Development, Panchayati Raj, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

Badal served as Punjab Chief Minister for four terms, the first time in 1970 when he became the youngest chief minister of an Indian state.

Badal first became Chief Minister of Punjab in March 1970 and headed a coalition government of Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh and Jana Sangh.

In June 1970 Jana Sangh withdrew support from the Badal government over their difference about the place of Hindi in Punjab.

Later, in early July, seven of Akali Dal (Sant) defected to rival Akali Dal headed by ex-CM Gurnam Singh.

An early session of the assembly was called on 24 July to prove the majority of Badal's government.

However, the motion of no confidence was not admitted due to lack of requisite support of one-fifth of MLAs.

Congress decided to stay neutral and did not support the no-confidence motion.

He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 1977, 1980 to 1983 and from 2002 to 2007 and the 11th Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare in the Morarji Desai ministry from 1977 to 1977.

He was Leader of Opposition in 1972, 1980 and 2002.

He led major developments in infrastructure and kept harmony in the state despite the fiery tensions that were running during the Emergency from 1975-1977.

He was a union minister in Prime Minister Morarji Desai's government in 1977, serving as Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.

Badal became CM for the term 20 June 1977 to 17 February 1980 with the support and alliance of Janata Party.

He was the patron of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a Sikh-centered regional political party, and the president of the party from 1995 to 2008, when he was replaced by his son Sukhbir Singh Badal.

As the patron of SAD he exercised a strong influence on the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

The Janata Party was essentially his brainchild against the Indian National Congress.

In 1997 elections he won from Lambi Assembly constituency and had been a consecutive winner in four terms.

Badal became CM for the term 12 February 1997 to 26 February 2002.

He had put a complete end to all human rights violations in Punjab by the Punjab Police- along with the dreaded Black Cats and bounty system.

In the 2007 Punjab state election Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government won 67 out of 117 seats and Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time.

He held 10 portfolios, which included the ministries for Home, Housing & Urban Development, Excise & Taxation, Power, Personnel, General Administration, Vigilance, Employment, Legal & Legislative Affairs and NRIs Affairs.

Badal launched many schemes such as free ambulance service, Talwandi Sabo thermal plant, etc. Through a new transportation policy, he reduced taxes on air-conditioned buses, making it less expensive for companies to operate luxury buses.

This also increased profits of a bus company owned by his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, which soared to 1.7 million U.S. dollars.

Surinder Kaur died in 2011 after a long illness due to cancer.

His younger brother Gurdas Singh Badal had also been in politics in both, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Indian National Congress.

His nephew Manpreet Singh Badal served as Finance Minister of Punjab.

Badal graduated from the Panjab University and FC College, Lahore and became a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at a young age.

During the Partition of India he was not able to board any train and was left to fend for himself in Lahore, Pakistan.

He was later escorted by a party of Indian soldiers as his father requested Brigadier Mohinder Singh Chopra to help him.

He completed his last term in March 2017.