Rajinder Singh Sparrow

Lieutenant General
Rajinder Singh
MVC**
Nickname(s) "Sparrow"
Born (1911-10-03)3 October 1911
Died May 1994
Allegiance  British India
 India
Service/branch  British Indian Army
 Indian Army
Years of service 1932–1966
Rank Major General
Unit 7th Light Cavalry
Commands held 7th Light Cavalry
1st Armoured Division
Battles/wars World War II
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Awards Maha Vir Chakra**
Other work Member of the Lok Sabha

Major-General Rajinder Singh MVC** (3 October 1911 – May 1994) was an Indian Army officer and a two time member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament. He was nicknamed 'Sparrow'.

Singh served in the ranks of the British Indian Army from 3 October 1932 to 31 January 1938. He attended the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, and was commissioned onto the Unattached List, Indian Army on 1 February 1938. He spent the next year attached to The King's Regiment (Liverpool), a British Army regiment, stationed on the North West Frontier.[1] He was then admitted to the Indian Army and joined the 7th Light Cavalry on 24 February 1939. He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 April 1939,[2] and served during World War II.

Singh opted to join the Indian Army upon the partition of India in 1947, and commanded the 7th Light Cavalry from September 1947 to May 1949. He was twice awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest military decoration in India, the first for his role during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, for outstanding leadership during the advance and capture of Jhangar (Operation Bison),[3] and the second for displaying gallantry in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965,[4] during which he was GOC of the 1st Armoured Division.[5][6]

Singh held the appointment of regimental colonel of the 7th Light Cavalry from July 1959 to July 1969.

After retirement he entered politics and became a minister in the short lived Gurnam Singh ministry in 1967. Later he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1985 for the Jalandhar constituency as a candidate of the Indian National Congress.[7][8][9] He died in May 1994, at the age of 83.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Indian Army List, January 1939
  2. ↑ Indian Army List, various dates
  3. ↑ Singh, Prabhjot (1 November 1998). "Red letter day for 7 Light Cavalry". The Tribune. Chandigarh. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Former Congress (I) MP Rajinder Singh Sparrow passes away". India Today. 15 May 1994. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Major General Rajinder Singh Sparrow, MVC, GOC 1st Armoured Division". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 1 June 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Pradhan, R. D.; Chavan, Y. B. (2007). 1965 War, the Inside Story: Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan's Diary of India-Pakistan War. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 50. ISBN 978-81-269-0762-5.
  7. ↑ "List of winner/current and past and runner up MPs of Jalandhar Parliamentary Constituency, Punjab". Elections.in. 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Seventh Lok Sabha Members". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "Eighth Lok Sabha Members". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  • "Major General Rajinder Singh 'Sparrow', MVC & Bar". One India One People. 1 December 2016.
  • "Army Honours its Glorified Veterans". Sainik Samachar. 16 August 2016.
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