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[[File:H E Shri Surjit Singh Barnala.jpg|thumb|Surjit Singh Barnala portrait]]
{{Short description|Indian politician}}
'''Surjit Singh Barnala''' (21 October 1925 – 14 January 2017) was an [[India]]n [[politician]]. He was [[Chief Minister]] of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] from 29 September 1985 to 11 June 1987. He was also the [[Governor]] of [[Tamil Nadu]] from 3 November 2004 to 31 August 2011, as well as [[Uttarakhand]], [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]. He was a member of the [[Shiromani Akali Dal]] party.
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name              = Surjit Singh Barnala
| image              = The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari with the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi (cropped) (Surjit Singh Barnala).png
| order              = 8th
| office            = Governor of Tamil Nadu
| term_start        = 3 November 2004
| term_end          = 31 August 2011
| 1blankname        = Chief Minister
| 1namedata          = [[J. Jayalalithaa]]<br>[[M. Karunanidhi]]
| predecessor        = [[P. S. Ramamohan Rao]]
| successor          = [[Konijeti Rosaiah]]
| term_start1        = 24 May 1990
| term_end1          = 15 February 1991
| 1blankname1        = Chief Minister
| 1namedata1        = M. Karunanidhi
| predecessor1      = [[P. C. Alexander]]
| successor1        = [[Bhishma Narain Singh]]
| office2            = [[List of Lieutenant Governors of Puducherry|Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry]]
| status2            = Additional Charge
| term_start2        = 9 April 2009
| term_end2          = 27 July 2009
| 1blankname2        = Chief Minister
| 1namedata2        = [[V. Vaithilingam]]
| predecessor2      = [[Govind Singh Gurjar]]
| successor2        = [[Iqbal Singh (politician)|Iqbal Singh]]
| order3            = 18th
| office3            = Governor of Andhra Pradesh
| term_start3        = 3 January 2003
| term_end3          = 4 November 2004
| 1blankname3        = Chief Minister
| 1namedata3        = [[N. Chandrababu Naidu]]<br>[[Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy]]
| predecessor3      = [[C. Rangarajan]]
| successor3        = [[Sushilkumar Shinde]]
| order4            = 1st
| office4            = Governor of Uttarakhand
| term_start4        = 9 November 2000
| term_end4          = 7 January 2003
| 1blankname4        = Chief Minister
| 1namedata4        = [[Nityanand Swami (politician)| Nityanand Swami]]<br>[[Bhagat Singh Koshyari]]<br>[[N. D. Tiwari]]
| predecessor4      = ''Office Established''
| successor4        = [[Sudarshan Agarwal]]
| office5            = 5th [[Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers|Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers]]
| term_start5        = 19 March 1998
| term_end5          = 13 October 1999
| primeminister5    = [[Atal Bihari Vajpayee]]
| predecessor5      = [[M. Arunachalam (Tamil Nadu politician)|M. Arunachalam]]
| successor5        = [[Suresh Prabhu]]
| order6            = 5th
| office6            = Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
| term_start6        = December 1990
| term_end6          = 18 March 1993
| predecessor6      = [[Ranjit Singh Dyal]]
| successor6        = [[Vakkom Purushothaman]]
| office7            = 11th [[Chief Minister of Punjab (India)|Chief Minister of Punjab]]
| term_start7        = 29 September 1985
| term_end7          = 11 June 1987
| governor7          = [[Arjun Singh (politician, born 1930)|Arjun Singh]]<br>[[Hokishe Sema]]<br>[[Shankar Dayal Sharma]]<br>[[Siddhartha Shankar Ray]]
| predecessor7      = [[President's rule]]  
| successor7        = President's rule
| office8            = 12th [[Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare|Minister of Agriculture]]
| term_start8        = 18 June 1977
| term_end8          = 28 July 1979
| primeminister8    = [[Morarji Desai]]
| predecessor8      = [[Parkash Singh Badal]]
| successor8        = [[Brahm Prakash (politician)|Brahm Prakash]]
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1925|10|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Ateli]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British Raj|British India]] <br> <small>(now in [[Haryana]], [[India]])</small>
| death_date        = {{dda|2017|1|14|1925|10|21|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Chandigarh]], [[India]]
| party              = [[Shiromani Akali Dal]]  
| children          = 4
| spouse            = [[Surjit Kaur Barnala]]
}}


Barnala was born in [[Ateli]], Punjab ([[Haryana]]) to a [[Sikh]] family. He married to [[Surjit Kaur Barnala]]. They had a daughter and two sons.
'''Surjit Singh Barnala''' (21 October 1925 &ndash; 14 January 2017) was an Indian politician who served as the [[List of Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)|chief minister of Punjab]] state from 1985 to 1987. Following that he served as the [[Governors of states of India|governor]] of [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Uttarakhand]], [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] and a [[Cabinet of India|Union Minister]] on handling various portfolios.<ref name="Death"/>


Barnala died after a long illness on 14 January 2017 in [[Chandigarh]], Punjab. He was 91.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/former-punjab-cm-surjit-singh-barnala-dead/350371.html|title=Former Punjab CM Surjit Singh Barnala dead|newspaper=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]]|date=14 January 2017|accessdate=14 January 2017}}</ref>
==Early life==
 
Barnala was born in Begpur Village in  [[Ateli]] Tehsil, [[Haryana]]. Born of a well-to-do family (his father was a magistrate), Barnala passed law from [[Lucknow University]] in 1945. In Lucknow, he was involved in the [[Quit India Movement]] of 1942.  Subsequently, he practised law for some years, and became politically active in the late 1960s, rising through the ranks of [[Akali Dal]]. Though, he first stood for election in 1952 but lost by a meagre 4 votes.
 
==Politics==
 
Barnala's first ministerial assignment was in 1969 when he has sworn in as education minister in the Justice [[Gurnam Singh]] Government and was instrumental in setting up the [[Guru Nanak Dev University]] in [[Amritsar]].
 
In 1977 he was elected to the [[Indian Parliament]] and was inducted in the [[Morarji Desai]] Cabinet as the agriculture minister at the time when the ministry included Irrigation Water Resources, Food, Environment and Forests, Consumer Affairs, Power and Chemical And Fertilizers and Rural Development. In 1978, Barnala signed the historic [[Farakka Barrage|Ganga Waters Agreement]] (Farakka Agreement) with [[Bangladesh]].
 
In 1979, during the turmoil in the national government when PM [[Morarji Desai]] resigned, the then-president [[Neelam Sanjiva Reddy]] toyed with the idea of appointing an interim government with Barnala as prime minister but had to drop the idea at the last moment, fearing horse-trading by a top member of the Cabinet, and Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary [[Charan Singh]] assumed prime ministership.
 
Barnala served as [[chief minister]] of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] from 29 September 1985 until 11 May 1987. Barnala, a member of the Sikh political party [[Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal)]], served as [[chief minister]] during a period of Sikh militant movement in Punjab. The state had under in Barnala's chief ministership from 1985 to 1987, and after nearly two years in office, [[President's Rule]] was imposed.
 
In 1996, Barnala once again came close to becoming prime minister as in the [[1996 Indian general election]],  with no political party getting a mandate, it was a good time for a [[regional party]] to have its prime minister. Regional parties accounted for about 80 MPs in the [[Lok Sabha]]. The [[Asom Gana Parishad]] of [[Prafulla Kumar Mahanta]] and [[Telugu Desam Party]] of [[Chandra Babu Naidu]], including The Left parties, zeroed on Barnala, but at the last minute Barnala's parent party [[Shiromani Akali Dal]] led by Barnala's supposedly close friend [[Parkash Singh Badal]] without informing Barnala joined hands with the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] hence Barnala yet again missed being [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]].
 
In 1997, Barnala was a candidate of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] and its allies in the election of the [[Vice-President of India|vice-president of India]].
 
In 1998, Barnala was again elected to [[Parliament of India|Parliament]] and became the minister for Chemical & Fertilizers and Food & Consumer Affairs in the Vajpayee Cabinet.
 
At the time of his death, he was the patron of a four-party alliance Sanja Morcha in  [[Punjab, India|Punjab]]. Like few other anti-Congress leaders of his time, he has spent about three and a half years in jail as a political prisoner, including 11 months in solitary confinement.
 
== Governnoship ==
 
Since then, Barnala has served as a governor of several states. He first served as governor of Tamil Nadu from 1990 to 1991 for about nine months. Barnala refused to recommend the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government, and when he was later transferred as [[governor of Bihar]] he chose to resign. He served as the [[lieutenant governor]] of [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]] from December 1990 to 18 March 1993.
 
He was the first governor of [[Uttarakhand]] from its creation in 2000 until 2003,<ref>{{Cite news|title=Uttaranchal is born;Governor, CM sworn in|language=en-IN|work=The Rediff|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2000/nov/08utt.htm|access-date=2021-03-13}}</ref> and governor of [[Andhra Pradesh]] from 2003 to 2004. During this time he also held additional charge of [[Odisha|Orissa]] as governor for some time and was governor of Tamil Nadu till 31 August 2011 during his Tamil Nadu years. He also held additional charge of [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puduchery]] for a few months. He is the second longest-serving governor in Indian history after [[A R Kidwai|Dr. A. R. Kidwai]] and the only governor to have served three terms in the history of [[Tamil Nadu]] State of 300 years.
 
==Author and painter==
 
In 1996, Barnala authored a book, ''Story of an Escape,'' about his experiences of living a disguised life in various locations of India. His other book released in December 2007 is titled ''My Other Two Daughters'' and has been transliterated in [[braille]] by [[Kunwar Singh Negi]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jagran.com/uttarakhand/dehradun-city-11172580.html | title=पद्म भूषण कुंवर सिंह नेगी नहीं रहे | publisher=[[Dainik Jagran]] | date=20 March 2014 | access-date=20 July 2016 |language=hi}}</ref>
 
Barnala painted landscapes and political portraits, many of which are on display in the official residences he occupied in his various tenures. His paintings have also been sold in various fund raisers.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001090709/http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/05/stories/2006040519150400.htm Painting for charity]</ref><ref name="paint">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2005/04/15/stories/2005041514490300.htm |title=A brush with the Governor |author=T.S. Shankar |date=15 April 2005 |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=17 January 2017}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
 
==Personal life==
Surjit Singh Barnala was married to [[Surjit Kaur Barnala]], who is also an active politician. In August 2009, Surjit Kaur become the President of the [[Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal)]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090821/punjab.htm#4 |title=Barnala family revives SAD (L) |author=Goyal, Sushil |date=21 August 2009 |work=Tribune India |access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> The couple had three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Jasjit Barnala, is not actively involved in politics and is a businessman. Their second son, [[Gaganjit Singh Barnala|Gaganjit]] is a politician. His youngest son, NeilInder, died in a road accident in 1996 and daughter, Amrit, in 2012 of cancer.<ref name="DeathHindu">{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Surjit-Singh-Barnala-passes-away/article17040243.ece |title=Surjit Singh Barnala passes away |work=The Hindu |date=14 January 2017 |access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> He has 8 grandchildren varying from 37 years to 17 years old.
 
==Death==
 
Barnala died at [[Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research|PGIMER hospital, Chandigarh]], following a prolonged illness, on 14 January 2017, aged 91. He was admitted to the hospital on 12 January.<ref name="Death">{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/former-punjab-chief-minister-surjit-singh-barnala-passes-away-aged-91/articleshow/56538368.cms |title=Former Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala passes away, aged 91 |work=Times of India |date= 14 January 2017 |access-date=17 January 2017}}</ref> He was cremated with full state honours at his native village on the next day.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}


==References==
==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


{{s-start}}
{{s-par|in-lwr}}
{{s-bef|before=Teja Singh Swatantra}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for [[Sangrur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sangrur]] |years=1977 – 1980}}
{{s-aft|after=Gurcharan Singh Nihalsinghwala}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=Gurcharan Singh Dadhahoor}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for [[Sangrur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sangrur]] |years=1996 – 1999}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Simranjit Singh Mann]]}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Parkash Singh Badal]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Agriculture (India)|Minister of Agriculture]]|years=1977 – 1979}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Rao Birender Singh]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[President's rule]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)|Chief Minister of Punjab (India)]]|years=29 September 1985 – 11 June 1987}}
{{s-aft|after=[[President's rule]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[P. C. Alexander]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Tamil Nadu]]|years=24 May 1990 – 15 February 1991}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Bhishma Narain Singh]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=Lt Gen Ranjit Singh Dayal (Retd)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]|years=December 1990 – March 1993}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Vakkom Purushothaman]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[M. Arunachalam (Tamil Nadu politician)|M. Arunachalam]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers]]|years=1998 – 1999}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Suresh Prabhu]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Raghuvansh Prasad Singh]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution]]|years=1998 – 1999}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Shanta Kumar]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=None<br>'''State Created'''}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Uttarakhand]]|years=9 November 2000 – 7 January 2003}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sudarshan Agarwal]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[C. Rangarajan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Andhra Pradesh]]|years=3 January 2003 – 4 November 2004}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sushilkumar Shinde]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[P. S. Ramamohan Rao]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Tamil Nadu]]|years=3 November 2004 – 31 August 2011}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Konijeti Rosaiah]]}}
{{S-end}}


 
==External links==
{{Bio-stub}}
{{Commons category|Surjit Singh Barnala}}
* [http://www.tn.gov.in/gov_governor.html Biography on the Government of Tamil Nadu website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071001063925/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/11/05/stories/2005110500110100.htm  From Politics to Painting]
* [http://www.barnala.co.in/ssbarnala.htm  CV of Barnala]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721023240/http://www.tnrajbhavan.gov.in/PressReleases/2010/PR211010.htm Prime Minister, Chief Minister and other Minister great Mr. Barnala  On his 86 bday]
{{Governors of Uttarakhand}}
{{Governor of Andhra Pradesh}}
{{Governors of Tamil Nadu}}
{{Chief Ministers of Punjab (India)}}{{Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (India)}}{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnala, Surjit Singh}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnala, Surjit Singh}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:Disease-related deaths in India]]
[[Category:People from Barnala]]
[[Category:University of Lucknow alumni]]
[[Category:Chief Ministers of Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]
[[Category:Lieutenant governors of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]
[[Category:Lieutenant Governors of Puducherry]]
[[Category:Governors of Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:Governors of Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Governors of Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Governors of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Governors of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Governors of Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:Agriculture Ministers of India]]
[[Category:Members of the Cabinet of India]]
[[Category:Indian Sikhs]]
[[Category:Shiromani Akali Dal politicians]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:Punjabi people]]
[[Category:Sikhism]]
[[Category:People from Mahendragarh district]]
 
[[Category:Punjab, India MLAs 1985–1990]]
 
[[Category:2nd Lok Sabha members]]
{{simple-Wikipedia}}
[[Category:5th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:6th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:11th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:12th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Indian vice-presidential candidates]]
[[Category:Chief ministers from Shiromani Akali Dal]]
[[Category:Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India)]]
[[Category:State funerals in India]]

Revision as of 10:29, 1 June 2021


Surjit Singh Barnala
File:The Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari with the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi (cropped) (Surjit Singh Barnala).png
8th Governor of Tamil Nadu
In office
3 November 2004 – 31 August 2011
Chief MinisterJ. Jayalalithaa
M. Karunanidhi
Preceded byP. S. Ramamohan Rao
Succeeded byKonijeti Rosaiah
In office
24 May 1990 – 15 February 1991
Chief MinisterM. Karunanidhi
Preceded byP. C. Alexander
Succeeded byBhishma Narain Singh
Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
Additional Charge
In office
9 April 2009 – 27 July 2009
Chief MinisterV. Vaithilingam
Preceded byGovind Singh Gurjar
Succeeded byIqbal Singh
18th Governor of Andhra Pradesh
In office
3 January 2003 – 4 November 2004
Chief MinisterN. Chandrababu Naidu
Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy
Preceded byC. Rangarajan
Succeeded bySushilkumar Shinde
1st Governor of Uttarakhand
In office
9 November 2000 – 7 January 2003
Chief Minister Nityanand Swami
Bhagat Singh Koshyari
N. D. Tiwari
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded bySudarshan Agarwal
5th Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
In office
19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byM. Arunachalam
Succeeded bySuresh Prabhu
5th Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
In office
December 1990 – 18 March 1993
Preceded byRanjit Singh Dyal
Succeeded byVakkom Purushothaman
11th Chief Minister of Punjab
In office
29 September 1985 – 11 June 1987
GovernorArjun Singh
Hokishe Sema
Shankar Dayal Sharma
Siddhartha Shankar Ray
Preceded byPresident's rule
Succeeded byPresident's rule
12th Minister of Agriculture
In office
18 June 1977 – 28 July 1979
Prime MinisterMorarji Desai
Preceded byParkash Singh Badal
Succeeded byBrahm Prakash
Personal details
Born(1925-10-21)21 October 1925
Ateli, Punjab, British India
(now in Haryana, India)
Died14 January 2017(2017-01-14) (aged 91)
Chandigarh, India
Political partyShiromani Akali Dal
Spouse(s)Surjit Kaur Barnala
Children4

Surjit Singh Barnala (21 October 1925 – 14 January 2017) was an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Punjab state from 1985 to 1987. Following that he served as the governor of Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and a Union Minister on handling various portfolios.[1]

Early life

Barnala was born in Begpur Village in Ateli Tehsil, Haryana. Born of a well-to-do family (his father was a magistrate), Barnala passed law from Lucknow University in 1945. In Lucknow, he was involved in the Quit India Movement of 1942. Subsequently, he practised law for some years, and became politically active in the late 1960s, rising through the ranks of Akali Dal. Though, he first stood for election in 1952 but lost by a meagre 4 votes.

Politics

Barnala's first ministerial assignment was in 1969 when he has sworn in as education minister in the Justice Gurnam Singh Government and was instrumental in setting up the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar.

In 1977 he was elected to the Indian Parliament and was inducted in the Morarji Desai Cabinet as the agriculture minister at the time when the ministry included Irrigation Water Resources, Food, Environment and Forests, Consumer Affairs, Power and Chemical And Fertilizers and Rural Development. In 1978, Barnala signed the historic Ganga Waters Agreement (Farakka Agreement) with Bangladesh.

In 1979, during the turmoil in the national government when PM Morarji Desai resigned, the then-president Neelam Sanjiva Reddy toyed with the idea of appointing an interim government with Barnala as prime minister but had to drop the idea at the last moment, fearing horse-trading by a top member of the Cabinet, and Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh assumed prime ministership.

Barnala served as chief minister of Punjab from 29 September 1985 until 11 May 1987. Barnala, a member of the Sikh political party Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal), served as chief minister during a period of Sikh militant movement in Punjab. The state had under in Barnala's chief ministership from 1985 to 1987, and after nearly two years in office, President's Rule was imposed.

In 1996, Barnala once again came close to becoming prime minister as in the 1996 Indian general election, with no political party getting a mandate, it was a good time for a regional party to have its prime minister. Regional parties accounted for about 80 MPs in the Lok Sabha. The Asom Gana Parishad of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Telugu Desam Party of Chandra Babu Naidu, including The Left parties, zeroed on Barnala, but at the last minute Barnala's parent party Shiromani Akali Dal led by Barnala's supposedly close friend Parkash Singh Badal without informing Barnala joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party hence Barnala yet again missed being Prime Minister.

In 1997, Barnala was a candidate of the BJP and its allies in the election of the vice-president of India.

In 1998, Barnala was again elected to Parliament and became the minister for Chemical & Fertilizers and Food & Consumer Affairs in the Vajpayee Cabinet.

At the time of his death, he was the patron of a four-party alliance Sanja Morcha in Punjab. Like few other anti-Congress leaders of his time, he has spent about three and a half years in jail as a political prisoner, including 11 months in solitary confinement.

Governnoship

Since then, Barnala has served as a governor of several states. He first served as governor of Tamil Nadu from 1990 to 1991 for about nine months. Barnala refused to recommend the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government, and when he was later transferred as governor of Bihar he chose to resign. He served as the lieutenant governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands from December 1990 to 18 March 1993.

He was the first governor of Uttarakhand from its creation in 2000 until 2003,[2] and governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2003 to 2004. During this time he also held additional charge of Orissa as governor for some time and was governor of Tamil Nadu till 31 August 2011 during his Tamil Nadu years. He also held additional charge of Puduchery for a few months. He is the second longest-serving governor in Indian history after Dr. A. R. Kidwai and the only governor to have served three terms in the history of Tamil Nadu State of 300 years.

Author and painter

In 1996, Barnala authored a book, Story of an Escape, about his experiences of living a disguised life in various locations of India. His other book released in December 2007 is titled My Other Two Daughters and has been transliterated in braille by Kunwar Singh Negi.[3]

Barnala painted landscapes and political portraits, many of which are on display in the official residences he occupied in his various tenures. His paintings have also been sold in various fund raisers.[4][5]

Personal life

Surjit Singh Barnala was married to Surjit Kaur Barnala, who is also an active politician. In August 2009, Surjit Kaur become the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal).[6] The couple had three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Jasjit Barnala, is not actively involved in politics and is a businessman. Their second son, Gaganjit is a politician. His youngest son, NeilInder, died in a road accident in 1996 and daughter, Amrit, in 2012 of cancer.[7] He has 8 grandchildren varying from 37 years to 17 years old.

Death

Barnala died at PGIMER hospital, Chandigarh, following a prolonged illness, on 14 January 2017, aged 91. He was admitted to the hospital on 12 January.[1] He was cremated with full state honours at his native village on the next day.[citation needed]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Former Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala passes away, aged 91". Times of India. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Uttaranchal is born;Governor, CM sworn in". The Rediff. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  3. ↑ "पद्म भूषण कुंवर सिंह नेगी नहीं रहे" (in हिन्दी). Dainik Jagran. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  4. ↑ Painting for charity
  5. ↑ T.S. Shankar (15 April 2005). "A brush with the Governor". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 January 2017.[dead link]
  6. ↑ Goyal, Sushil (21 August 2009). "Barnala family revives SAD (L)". Tribune India. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "Surjit Singh Barnala passes away". The Hindu. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
Lok Sabha
Preceded by
Teja Singh Swatantra 		Member of Parliament
for Sangrur
1977 – 1980 		Succeeded by
Gurcharan Singh Nihalsinghwala
Preceded by
Gurcharan Singh Dadhahoor 		Member of Parliament
for Sangrur
1996 – 1999 		Succeeded by
Simranjit Singh Mann
Political offices
Preceded by
Parkash Singh Badal 		Minister of Agriculture
1977 – 1979 		Succeeded by
Rao Birender Singh
Preceded by
President's rule 		Chief Minister of Punjab (India)
29 September 1985 – 11 June 1987 		Succeeded by
President's rule
Preceded by
P. C. Alexander 		Governor of Tamil Nadu
24 May 1990 – 15 February 1991 		Succeeded by
Bhishma Narain Singh
Preceded by
Lt Gen Ranjit Singh Dayal (Retd) 		Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
December 1990 – March 1993 		Succeeded by
Vakkom Purushothaman
Preceded by
M. Arunachalam 		Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
1998 – 1999 		Succeeded by
Suresh Prabhu
Preceded by
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh 		Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
1998 – 1999 		Succeeded by
Shanta Kumar
Preceded by
None
State Created 		Governor of Uttarakhand
9 November 2000 – 7 January 2003 		Succeeded by
Sudarshan Agarwal
Preceded by
C. Rangarajan 		Governor of Andhra Pradesh
3 January 2003 – 4 November 2004 		Succeeded by
Sushilkumar Shinde
Preceded by
P. S. Ramamohan Rao 		Governor of Tamil Nadu
3 November 2004 – 31 August 2011 		Succeeded by
Konijeti Rosaiah

External links

Template:Governors of Uttarakhand Template:Governor of Andhra Pradesh

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