His Excellency Shri. Surjit
Singh Barnala
Governor of Tamil Nadu
Sardar
Surjit Singh Barnala was born on 21st October, 1925 at Ateli, Begpur
now in District Mohindergarh in Haryana where his father was a Magistrate. His
father passed away when he was only nine years of age. Sri Surjit Singh Barnala
had to struggle hard for acquiring education. After matriculation, he went to
Lucknow for higher studies and passed Law from Lucknow University in 1946.
During his stay at Lucknow, he participated in Quit India Movement in 1942,
received lathi blows from the Police and was arrested. He started practicing
Law in District Court at Barnala. And in 1967, he was elected as MLA from
Barnala Assembly Constituency and represented the Constituency till 1999. In
1969, he became Education Minister of Punjab. During his tenure, he was
instrumental in establishing Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. In 1977, he
was elected as MP and was inducted as Cabinet Minister in Janata Party’s
Government headed by Morarji Desai with Agriculture, Food, Irrigation and Rural
Development as his portfolios. When he was elected to the Parliament, Barnala
Assembly Constituency seat fell vacant and was contested by his wife Mrs. Surjit
Kaur who won with a large margin. During Emergency and after operation Blue
Star, he was kept in Solitary confinement for a long time. He went to jail nine
times for various political agitations and spent in all, three and a half years
in jail. In 1985, he was elected President of Shiromani Akali Dal after the
assassination of Sant Longowal. Under his leadership, Akali Dal had a landslide
victory in Assembly Elections and he became the Chief Minister of Punjab in
1985. He managed the affairs of the State very well in spite of there being
terrorism at its peak in those days. He stood like a rock against terrorism and
became the prime target of terrorists. He faced them boldly when other
politicians in the State had succumbed to their threats. In 1990, he was
appointed as Governor of Tamil Nadu, but due to some differences with the
Central Government, he resigned after about a year. He was elected to Lok Sabha
in 1996 and again 1998 and was appointed as Cabinet Minister with Chemical &
Fertilizers and Food & Civil Supplies Portfolios. He was the first Governor of
Uttranchal State. He was the Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 03.01.2003 till
02.11.2004. On 03.11.2004 he assumed office as Governor of Tamil Nadu. He
has again been appointed for a full term as Governor and was given the oath of
Office on 20th June 2006.
He has
traveled widely and has represented India in the United Nations, F.A.O., S.A.R.C.
and other international organizations. Mountains are of special interest to
him. He has extensively traveled through the mountains in India and also the
Alps in Europe and American and Canadian Mountains. A nature lover, he is fond
of painting, reading and writing. He has painted scores of paintings mainly during the jail stints and
exhibitions of his paintings were held in 1998 in the Art Gallery of Patiala
University and in 2004 at Hyderabad State Art Gallery.
He has also
authored a book entitled “Story of an escape” which was published by Penguin.
Its second edition was published as “Quest for freedom – Story of an escape” by
Natraj Publishers, Dehradun and was released by the President of India Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam. It has been published in Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Urdu
and has been set in Brail also.
Home
