Amar Singh (politician)

Amar Singh (born 27 January 1956) is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh who was one of the leaders of Samajwadi Party.[2][3] He was the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. On 6 January 2010, he resigned from all the posts of Samajwadi Party[4] and was later expelled from the party by its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on 2 February 2010.[5] He spent a brief period in judicial custody in 2011. He finally retired from politics.[6] In his statement he mentioned, "I want to give more time to my wife and my family. Therefore after the last day of polling (on May 13), I will retire from politics." In 2016, he was elected to Rajya Sabha with support from Samajwadi Party even after facing a stiff opposition from a section of the party including the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav. He was also reinstated as one of the general secretaries of the party in October 2016.

Amar Singh
Singh speaking at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2008.
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha [1]
Assumed office
5 July 2016
Preceded byAmbeth Rajan
ConstituencyUttar Pradesh
Personal details
Born (1956-01-27) 27 January 1956
Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political partyIndependent (with support of the Samajwadi Party)
Other political
affiliations		Samajwadi Party
Rashtriya Lok Dal
Spouse(s)Pankaja Kumari Singh
Children2 daughters
Alma materUniversity of Calcutta
ProfessionPolitician
Websiterashtriyalokmanch.bharatvarsh.asia

Political career

Singh's prominence in Delhi surged when the UPA government was reduced to a minority after the Communist Party of India withdrew their support over the proposed Nuclear Accord with the United States. His Samajwadi Party pledged support to the UPA government with the support of its 39 members.[7]

On 6 January 2010, he was kicked out from the party as well as from its parliamentary board and as its spokesperson. He also used his blog to speak about his abrupt departure from the Samajwadi Party. Mr Singh along with his close associate Jaya Prada were expelled from the Samajwadi Party in February, 2010. On 21 December 2010, Singh launched his official website and blog, supposedly after being encouraged by Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan, whom he was close to at the time.

Singh floated his own political party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and fielded candidates in 360 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2012 assembly polls. However his party did not win a single seat in these election. He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal party in March 2014, contested the general elections that year from Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh in 2014 Indian general election and lost.[8]

He was admitted at a hospital in Dubai with kidney failure and was stated to be critical on 19 February 2013.[9]

Positions held
  • Nov. 1996 : Elected to Rajya Sabha
  • 1997-98 : Member, Committee on Papers Laid on the Table
  • 1998-99 and Oct. 2004 onwards : Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance
  • June 1998 – Feb. 2004 and Aug. 2004 – Aug. 2006 : Member, Committee on Finance
  • 1999–2001 : Member, Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Rajya Sabha
  • 1999 : Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Member, Informal Consultative Committee for Northern Railway Zone
  • April 2001 – Dec.2002 : Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on Stock Market Scam and matters relating thereto
  • March 2002 – Nov. 2002 : Member, Committee on Petitions
  • Nov. 2002 : Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
  • June 2003 – Aug. 2004 : Member, Committee of Privileges
  • Aug. 2004 – May 2009 and Aug.2009 onwards : Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare
  • Aug. 2004 onwards : Member, General Purposes Committee
  • Sept. 2006 onwards : Member, Business Advisory Committee
  • May 2008 – Nov. 2008 : Member, Committee on Public Undertakings
  • Nov. 2008 : Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
  • Jan. 2010 onwards : Member, Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health.
  • 2016 : Elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh as an independent member by support of Samajwadi Party

Controversies

On 22 July 2008 he accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of kidnapping six MPs of his party from Uttar Pradesh and holding them captive in Uttar Pradesh Bhavan, New Delhi.[10][11][12][13] Later, Samajwadi Party expelled the six MPs for defying the party directive during the confidence motion voting.[14]

He also courted controversy by asking for a probe in the Jamia Nagar Batla house encounter case. First he gave ₹10 lakh cheque to the family of Mohan Chand Sharma, a police officer who died in the encounter, which bounced when checked its validity. Later he asked for a judicial enquiry into the firing incidence suggesting that the encounter may have been fake. Mohan Chand Sharma's family criticized him and returned his money.[15][16][17][18]

Amar Singh has been chargesheeted for offering bribes to three parliament members of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2008 under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Delhi Police on 24 August 2011.[19] Amar Singh has pleaded health grounds for not appearing before the courts where the chargesheet was being heard.[20] However, distressed by adverse media reports, Mr. Singh has appeared before the courts to dispel allegations that he is running away from a process of law. After hearing his personal pleas, the Court has sent Mr. Amar Singh to judicial custody till 19 September 2011, in Delhi's Tihar jail.[21] But the money trail in this scandal was not traced to Amar Singh's account as per Supreme Court order and nor concrete evidence could be found against him.

He is the man who brought corruption to mainstream politics in India. Before him, touts or middlemen used to work for politicians. But Amar Singh made corruption so prevalent and widespread, that touts were eliminated and politicians openly became corrupt.

2011 tapes controversy

Amar Singh had filed a petition in 2006 after some of his telephone conversations were illegally tapped and were in circulation. The leader had moved the apex court and got a restraint order against their publication in the media. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of India removed the stay on publishing the taped conversations with Bollywood star including Bipasha Basu.


The Government of India's council through its top law officer Goolam Vahanvati, the then Attorney general of India accepted on record that these tapes were illegal and morphed. A case was registered on the basis of this illegal taping. And a man called Anurag Singh was arrested for this misdeed. He again tried to repeat the same thing with former finance minister Arun Jaitley which resulted in him being arrested again for getting indulgent in same cyber crime.

Clinton Cash

In reference to the book Clinton Cash, the New York Post questioned Singh's $5 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation, writing "Singh’s donation was treated with suspicion and amusement in India."[22]

Personal life

Singh was born in a Rajput family[23] in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Film

He played a small role in movie Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai and also played the role of a politician in Director Shailendra Pandey's[24] up Film JD.[25][26][27]

References
  1. http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/samajwadi-party-wins-7-rajya-sabha-seats-in-up-kapil-sibal-emerges-victorious-1418013
  2. "Corruption case: Amar Singh gets reprieve from high court". law.gaeatimes.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  3. Rajesh Chopra www.liveindia.com. "Amar Singh's telephone conversations recorded, Such acts are surely very bad and very shameful". liveindia.com. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. "Amar Singh quits all party posts". The Hindu. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  5. "Amar, Jaya expelled from SP". The Times of India. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  6. "amar singh | News You Can't Use!". iyerdeepak.wordpress.com. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  7. "Samajwadi Party declares support to UPA". The Hindu. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  8. "Amar Singh, Jaya Prada join Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal". NDTV.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  9. "Amar Singh was hospitalised in Dubai - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  10. "BSP denies Amar Singh charge on kidnap of MPs". Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  11. "Amar Singh accuses Mayawati of "kidnapping" six SP MPs". Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  12. "SP's googly before trust vote". rediff. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  13. "Amar accuses Maya of poaching MPs". NDTV. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  14. "SP expels six MPs for voting against govt". Press Trust of India. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  15. "Sharma's family rejects SP offer". Outlook India. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  16. "Killed Delhi cop's kin rejects Amar's cheque". rediff. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  17. "Family of slain Delhi cop rejects Amar Singh's cheque". The Indian Express. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  18. "Try mechanism, not mike: Cong to Amar Singh". Economic Times. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  19. "Amar Singh chargesheeted in cash-for-votes scam". NDTV. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  20. "Amar Singh arrested, sent to Tihar jail in cash-for-votes scam". Hindustan Times. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  21. "Amar Singh sent to Tihar Jail for 13 days in cash-for-votes scam". Indiavision news. 6 September 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  22. Earle, Geoff; Campanile, Carl (28 April 2015). "'Clinton Cash' questions India politician's $5M donation". New York Post. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  23. Chande, B. (1999). Betrayal of Indian Democracy. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. p. 337. ISBN 9788171567928. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  24. http://www.firstpost.com/printpage.php?idno=2462080&sr_no=0
  25. http://www.abplive.in/incoming/2015/10/09/article735724.ece/Politician-Amar-Singh-all-geared-up-for-his-acting-debut?slide=5
  26. "Politician Amar Singh to act in a film". 7 October 2015.
  27. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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