Zail Singh | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 1982 | |
| President of India | |
| In office 25 July 1982 – 25 July 1987 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| Succeeded by | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| Union Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 22 June 1982 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
| Succeeded by | Ramaswamy Venkataraman |
| Chief Minister of Punjab | |
| In office 17 March 1972 – 30 April 1977 | |
| Governor | D. C. Pavate Mahendra Mohan Choudhry |
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | President's rule |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jarnail Singh (1916-05-05)5 May 1916 |
| Died | 25 December 1994(1994-12-25) (aged 78) Chandigarh, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Giani Zail Singh (pronunciationⓘ, bornJarnail Singh; 5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994)[1] was an Indian politician fromPunjab who served as thepresident of India from 1982 to 1987 andchief minister of Punjab in the 1970s. He was the firstSikh to become president.
Born inSandhwan in theprincely state ofFaridkot, Singh trained to be agranthi and was given the title ofgiani, meaning a learned man, while training at the Sikh Missionary School inAmritsar. Singh was associated with peasant agitations and the movement seeking a representative government in Faridkot. His political activism in thePraja Mandal, an organisation allied with theIndian National Congress, saw him sentenced tosolitary confinement between 1938 and 1943. He led aflag satyagraha and formed aparallel government in Faridkot State which were called off only after the intervention ofJawaharlal Nehru andVallabhbhai Patel. The stints in jail inspired him to change his name to Zail Singh.
Afterindependence, Faridkot was merged with thePatiala and East Punjab States Union and Singh served as its minister of revenue and agriculture during 1949–51 and oversaw the introduction ofland reforms in Punjab. Singh was a member of theRajya Sabha during 1956–62 and member of thePunjab Legislative Assembly during 1962–67 during which time he served briefly as a minister underPartap Singh Kairon. He had served as president of PEPSU Pradesh Congress Committee during 1955–56 and became president ofPunjab Pradesh Congress Committee in 1966 serving in that post until his election aschief minister of Punjab in 1972.
As chief minister, Singh is credited with having established India’s first semiconductor manufacturing unit inMohali, legislating the Punjab Land Reforms Act of 1972, ensuring reservation forMazhabi Sikhs andValmikis in education and public employment and repatriating the remains ofUdham Singh which were then cremated in Punjab with state honours. Singh’s policies aimed to undercut the influence of theShiromani Akali Dal party by championing Sikh religious causes. Following the defeat of the Congress party in the elections of 1977, Singh andSanjay Gandhi extended political and financial support toJarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a radical Sikh preacher.[2] Bhindranwale soon became the flagbearer of Sikh separatism and aninsurgency seeking the establishment ofKhalistan broke out in Punjab.
Elected to theLok Sabha in 1980, Singh was appointedIndia’s home minister by Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi. His tenure witnessed the worsening of theinsurgency in Punjab where his rivalry with the state'snew chief minister and support for Bhindranwale prevented resolute action against the insurgents. In 1982, he was electedpresident of India, succeedingNeelam Sanjiva Reddy. The initial years of his presidency saw theOperation Blue Star, theassassination of Indira Gandhi, and the1984 anti-Sikh riots. AfterRajiv Gandhi became prime minister, relations with Singh turned frosty as Gandhi refused to meet with or inform Singh on matters of policy and placing curbs on his foreign and domestic travels. Singh hit back by questioning government policy and subjecting proposals sent to him to minute scrutiny. In 1986, he employed apocket veto on the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill passed by Parliament.Allegations of corruption in the procurement ofhowitzers fromBofors, the government’s refusal to furnish the documents sought for by President Singh and his much-publicized reproach to the government led to speculation that Singh intended to dismiss the government of Rajiv Gandhi. Singh however retired at the end of his tenure in 1987 and was succeeded as president byR. Venkataraman.
Singh died in 1994 of injuries sustained in a road accident. Hissamadhi is at theEkta Sthal inDelhi. Singh’s memoirs were published in 1997. His birth centenary was celebrated in 2016 when a documentary film and a book on his life were released.
Jarnail Singh was born inSandhwan,Faridkot district on 5 May 1916 to Kishan Singh and Ind Kaur, as the youngest of their five children.[3] He was aRamgarhia Sikh, (Tarkhan) belonging to acaste associated withcarpentry.[4] Although his formal education ended with matriculation, Singh trained to be agranthi and studied at the Shaheed Sikh Missionary College in Amritsar where he was given the title ofgiani as a mark of his knowledge of the scriptures. Although his grasp of English was less than fluent, he was known for his earthy speeches in theUrdu andPunjabi languages.[5][6] He married Pardhan Kaur with whom he had three daughters and a son.[7][8] His nephew,Kultar Singh Sandhwan, becamespeaker of thePunjab Legislative Assembly in 2022.[9][10]
In 1936, Singh was imprisoned for a year for his participation in the Kisan Morcha.[11] In 1938, he founded the Praja Mandal, a political organisation allied to theAll India States Peoples' Conference, in Faridkot. The Mandal sought the establishment of an elected government in theprincely state – a demand rejected by its ruler, Sir Harinder Singh Brar. Singh was jailed between 1938 and 1943, spending time in solitary confinement in a Faridkot prison. Upon his release in 1943, he was forced to leave Faridkot but took up the cause of the people's movement in Faridkot outside the state.[12][13] It is during his time in prison that Singh changed his name from Jarnail Singh to Zail Singh.[14]
In 1946, he launched asatyagraha against the Faridkot government and was involved in the Flag agitation of that year for which he was imprisoned.[11][15] The flag agitation ended with the Nehru-Harinder Pact by which themaharaja agreed to the formation of political associations in the state and revoked the ban on hoisting the Congress flag in Faridkot.[a] The maharaja's failure to fully implement the pact led to a renewed agitation in the state in 1948 when Praja Mandal activists besieged the state's secretariat and Singh declared the formation of aparallel government in Faridkot. The agitation ended only after the intervention ofVallabhbhai Patel with the maharaja agreeing to free Singh and three other ministers of the parallel government from prison besides Praja Mandal activists arrested for their participation in the agitation.[19][20] In 1948, theStates Ministry of India merged Faridkot with the otherPhulkian states of Punjab to form thePatiala and East Punjab States Union.[21]
In January 1949, Singh became minister for revenue in the government of PEPSU under Chief MinisterGian Singh Rarewala.[22] The Rarewala ministry, however, was replaced with a caretaker government within ten months of its formation owing to political dissension. In 1951,Col. Raghbir Singh became the chief minister and Zail Singh was appointed minister for agriculture. His actions as minister include the repeal of the Criminal Tribes Act, the promulgation of the Political Sufferers ordinance and changes introduced to land laws that abolished the right of the Raja of Faridkot to seize lands of the peasants and removing the privileges enjoyed by landlords under existing land laws. He piloted the Biswedar Abolition Ordinance that provided for the appropriation without compensation of land owned by the landlords and tenancy rights to the cultivators.[b][26] In theelections of 1952, Singh lost from theKotkapuraJaito constituency.[27] He became president of PEPSU Pradesh Congress Committee during 1955–56 when it was merged with Punjab.[28]
During 1956 to 1962, he served asMember of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He resigned his membership in March 1962 to contest thePunjab Legislative Assembly elections and won from theFaridkot constituency.[29][30] He briefly served as a minister in thePartap Singh Kairon ministry but resigned in the wake of the1962 war with China and the reduction in size of the ministry.[31] In 1966, he became president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, a post he held until his appointment as chief minister in 1972.[32] Although he did not contest theelection of 1967, he was re-elected to thePunjab Assembly fromAnandpur Sahib through a by-election in 1970.[33]
In the1972 elections to thePunjab Legislative Assembly, Singh was elected fromAnandpur Sahib constituency.[34] The Congress party won a majority and formed the government with Singh aschief minister. He and a ten member ministry were sworn in on 17 March 1972.[35] Singh was the firstOther Backward Class leader and the only non-Jat Sikh to be electedchief minister of Punjab since its reorganisation in 1966 until 2021 whenCharanjit Singh Channi, aDalit Sikh, became chief minister.[36][37]
From the outset Singh projected himself as a champion of theSikh religion, in part, because he did not belong to the dominantJat caste and also to counter theAkali Dal party.[38] As part of this policy, he inaugurated theGuru Gobind Singh Marg – a highway linking Punjab’s most prominentgurudwaras, renamed several government hospitals afterSikh gurus, started theGuru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar and renamed a town nearChandigarh after one ofGuru Gobind Singh’s sons.[39] In response to their electoral setbacks, Akali Dal politicians gathered atAnandpur Sahib in October 1972 and passed aresolution demanding greater autonomy to Punjab and self-determination for the Sikhs.[40]
Singh’s government enacted the Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972, which fixedland ceilings at 18 acres (7.3 ha) per family. Several key provisions of the Act were struck down the following year by thePunjab and Haryana High Court prompting a further appeal by the state government in India'sSupreme Court.[41][42] The Act, which also provided for redistribution of surplus land, failed in its implementation and consequently there was little change inland ownership.[43][44][45]
Singh introduced a scheme for life-longpension for participants inIndia’s independence movement.[46] In 1974, he repatriated the remains ofUdham Singh from theUnited Kingdom which were then taken in a procession to Punjab, cleverly utilising the media attention and popular interest in it to burnish his credentials. The remains were cremated inSunam with fullstate honours and Singh himself lit thefuneral pyre.[40] He also took to honouring the legacy ofBhagat Singh, declaring a gazetted holiday on his birthday, converting his ancestral home atKhatkar Kalan into a museum and honouring his mother with the title of ‘Punjab Mata’.[47][48]
He was also responsible for getting theDepartment of Electronics to establish the Semiconductor Complex Limited atMohali in 1974 overriding their preferred choice ofMadras (now Chennai). This was India’s firstsemiconductor fabricating unit. It became operational in 1983 and manufacturedintegrated chips using American know-how.[49][50] In 1975, Singh introduced areservation of fifty per cent of jobs forValmikis andMazhabi Sikhs under the quota of jobs reserved for thescheduled castes. The move aimed to consolidate the dalit vote behind the Congress party and enhanced his own standing among them.[51][52]
Following the imposition ofthe Emergency of 1975, Singh zealously implemented the policies ofSanjay Gandhi’s five point program. The national population policy with its focus on compulsorysterilisation was implemented often through coercive steps of the police and administration. Singh was forced to implement the policy, in part, to retain favour with Sanjay Gandhi, whom he had once described as his saviour, and to stave off the challenge to his leadership from other Congress leaders of Punjab, notablyMohinder Singh Gill who was the party’s president.[53][54]
In thegeneral elections of 1977 that followed the Emergency, the Congress party for the first time failed to win even a single seat from Punjab.[55] Singh’s tenure as chief minister ended on 30 April 1977 when Punjab was placed underPresident's rule. In theelections to the state Assembly held in June 1977, the Shiromani Akali Dal was elected to office winning 58 out of 104 seats in the Legislative Assembly.[56][57]
The defeat of the Congress party in the elections of 1977 led Sanjay Gandhi and Singh to look for a Sikh leader who would weaken the Akali Dal by espousing a strident stand on matters of Sikh faith thus undercutting the Akalis.[58] The tactic was inspired partly by Partap Singh Kairon who, as chief minister, had propped upFateh Singh as a counter to the Akali leaderTara Singh during the 1960s.[59] Their choice wasJarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was then a little known Sikh preacher but would go on to be aFrankenstein's monster for his patrons. Bhindranwale came to limelight in 1978 when a clash between his followers andNirankari Sikhs led to the death of a dozen people. The Congress party lionised Bhindranwale and helped him establish theDal Khalsa party. In the general elections of 1980, Bhindranwale even campaigned for Congress candidates.[60]
In thegeneral election of 1980, which the Congress party under Indira Gandhi won; Singh was elected toParliament fromHoshiarpur.[61][62] He was inducted into thegovernment asMinister of Home Affairs on 14 January 1980 continuing in that post till 22 June 1982.[63][64] The Punjab government underParkash Singh Badal was dismissed and the state brought under President’s rule in February 1980. In theelections held in June, the Congress party won a majority in the Assembly andDarbara Singh, a political rival of Zail Singh, was appointed chief minister. The out of power Akali Dal now revived the demands in the Anandpur Sahib resolution and allied with pro-Khalistan forces abroad.[65][66][67]
The factionalism in the Congress and the political feuding between Zail Singh and Darbara Singh further complicated the situation in Punjab and prevented resolute administrative action against the insurgents.[66][58] Bhindranwale was able to use the discord between the central and state governments to his advantage. He was suspected of involvement in the murders of the NirankariguruGurbachan Singh in April 1980 and of the newspaper magnateLala Jagat Narain in September 1981. Even though arrest warrants were issued against him, who was then in the state ofHaryana, Bhindranwale was able to escape to his gurudwara in the Punjab in an official car provided to him by theHaryana Chief MinisterBhajan Lal on the instructions of Singh. Bhindranwale gave himself up for arrest later that month but was released from jail in October following widespread unrest in the Punjab and after Singh declared in Parliament that Bhindranwale was not involved in Narain’s murder.[68][69] In each of these instances even as Darbara Singh wanted to crack down on Bhindranwale, Zail Singh intervened on his behalf in the hope of using him as a pawn in his political battle against Darbara Singh.[70][71]
Bhindranwale's release served to demoralise thePunjab Police as they now became targets for Sikh extremists and furthered emboldened Bhindranwale.[72] Similarly, requests to ban the Dal Khalsa by the state government were stonewalled by theUnion Home Ministry before the prime minister intervened to have the ban imposed.[73][60] Singh’s tenure as India’s home minister has generally been viewed unfavourably. He was seen as a weak and inept minister who was appointed to prevent him from developing strong base in Punjab and as someone who mishandled crises in the Punjab,Kashmir and theNorth East.[74][75][76]
In June 1982, Singh was chosen by the Congress party to be its candidate for thepresidential election to succeedNeelam Sanjiva Reddy, rejecting a proposal by the opposition to have a consensus candidate. A group of ten opposition parties decided to field the Communist politicianHiren Mukherjee as their candidate.[77] Singh’s nomination was seen as a gesture to the Sikhs at a time when the separatist agitation for Khalistan was gaining popularity. However, it was also aimed at keeping Singh out of active politics allowing Singh’s bête noire Darbara Singh to run the Punjab government without interference from the Centre. Singh’s loyalty to the prime minister was another reason for his nomination as the Congress party was unsure of its prospects in the general elections scheduled for 1985.[78][54]
The opposition’s original candidate was dropped as Mukherjee was not a registered voter, which is a prerequisite for any person contesting a presidential election.Hans Raj Khanna, a former judge of theSupreme Court of India who had defendedfundamental rights and championed the inviolability of thebasic structure of the constitution duringthe Emergency and was subsequently overlooked for appointment asChief Justice, became the opposition candidate.[54][79]
The election was held on 12 July 1982 with theelectoral college comprising 756members of Parliament and 3827members of legislative assemblies. When the votes were counted on 15 July, Singh emerged the winner with 754,113 votes, or 72.7 per cent, against Khanna’s 282,685 votes and was declared elected the same day by thereturning officer. Singh won a majority in each of India’s state assemblies except forWest Bengal andTripura.[80][81] He was sworn in the seventh president of India on 25 July 1982. He was the first Sikh as also the first person from abackward caste to become president.[82][83][84]
Singh was known for his loyalty to Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi and had remarked that he would pick up a broom and become a sweeper if she were to ask him to do so.[85][86][87] It was reported that Singh would walk down to the South Court ofRashtrapati Bhavan to receive her when she called on him, even opening her car door in breach of all protocol.[88][89][90] In 1983,New Delhi hosted both theseventh summit of the Non-Aligned Movement and theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.Queen Elizabeth II andPrince Philip arrived on astate visit in November 1983, as the guests of President Singh and stayed at theRashtrapati Bhavan.[91][92]
As president, he spoke out against the Akali Dal’s assertion that Sikhs were being discriminated against in India, challenged the rule ofjathedars and the role of religious leaders in the separatist movement in Punjab, and criticised the use ofSikh shrines as sanctuaries by criminals.[93] In June 1984, theIndian Army launchedOperation Blue Star to neutralise Sikh militants based in theGolden Temple complex inAmritsar. Singh was not appraised of these plans neither when Punjab was brought underPresident’s rule nor when Prime Minister Gandhi met him for a routine briefing the day before the operation was launched.[94][95] When Singh visited the Golden Temple complex on 8 June, he was shot at by asniper. Although he was not hit, his security officer was seriously injured. Singh was deeply upset at the damage done to the temple complex.[96][97][98] Singh later justified the military operation saying bloodshed could have been avoided had militants surrendered and urging all Sikhs to ensure that their temples would not in the future be used to house arms and material not sanctioned by Sikh tradition.[99] In September, theAkal Takht, the highest temporal body in Sikhism, condemned Singh for his alleged role in the military operation and held him guilty of religious misconduct. He was exonerated 24 days later by the Sikh high priests after he expressed contrition and sought forgiveness before the Akal Takht for the ‘unfortunate incidents’ that had happened there.[100][96][101]
In August 1984, Rashtrapati Bhavan became the venue of an unusual political gathering whenN. T. Rama Rao, who had been dismissed aschief minister of Andhra Pradesh by thegovernor, met Singh with over160 members of the Legislative Assembly. The GovernorThakur Ram Lal had appointedN. Bhaskara Rao as the new chief minister and provided him a month’s time to prove his majority in the assembly despite the ousted chief minister’s claim of being able to prove his own majority in two days’ time and evidence that he was supported by a majority of legislators. Following widespread protests, the governor was recalled and Rama Rao returned as chief minister following a vote of confidence. The Singh presidency saw similar dismissal of state governments and imposition of President’s rule inJammu and Kashmir and inSikkim.[102][103][104]
Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi was assassinated on 31 October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.[105][106] Her sonRajiv Gandhi andFinance MinisterPranab Mukherjee were inWest Bengal campaigning for upcomingAssembly elections while Singh was on astate visit toNorth Yemen. He returned to Delhi the same evening and visited theAll India Institute of Medical Sciences where Indira Gandhi had been admitted. The presidential cavalcade was pelted with stones en route and violence against Sikhs began in Delhi.[107][108][109] After the deaths of prime ministersNehru in 1964 andShastri in 1966, the president had appointed the senior most Cabinet minister,Gulzarilal Nanda, as theacting prime minister while theCongress Parliamentary Party went about electing a new leader who would then become prime minister. That convention would have required Singh to appointPranab Mukherjee as the acting prime minister. However, the Congress Parliamentary Board, the executive committee of the parliamentary party, nominated Rajiv Gandhi for appointment as prime minister. Accordingly, Singh swore Rajiv Gandhi in as prime minister the same evening (31 October). The choice of Rajiv Gandhi was unanimously approved by the Congress Parliamentary Party three days later.[110][111]
Indira Gandhi’s assassination was followed byanti-Sikh rioting across India which lasted for four days till 3 November 1984.[112][113] Although constitutionally the supreme commander of theIndian Armed Forces, Singh was unable to act to stop the violence.[114][115][116]Tarlochan Singh, President Singh’spress secretary, later alleged that although the president had tried to talk to the prime minister regarding the rioting in Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi never got back to him whereasHome MinisterP. V. Narasimha Rao told him that the government was busy arrangingIndira Gandhi’s funeral.[117][118] Singh later admitted that his commitment to the Congress party and to theIndian Constitution were severely tested by these events but he chose to remain in his post.[119] Rajiv Gandhi soon called forparliamentary elections which were held between24 and 28 December 1984. The Congress party won 404 out of the 514 seats, the highest number ever won by a party in India’s general elections. A forty member council of ministers with Gandhi as the prime minister were sworn in on 31 December 1984.[120][121]
The relationship between President Singh and Prime Minister Gandhi quickly turned sour. Gandhi viewed Singh as a rustic parvenu whose actions were partly responsible for the imbroglio in the Punjab that had led to his mother’s assassination.[122][123] As prime minister, Gandhi called on Singh only once before the elections and dispensed with the practice of calling on the president to discuss matters of state entirely. Following his cue, union ministers too stopped calling on Singh, a situation that lasted for almost two years before Gandhi gave-in and called on Singh in March 1987.[124][125] Singh was known for also attending political iftars, offering Muslim prayers even though he was Sikh.[126] Gandhi stopped briefing Singh about matters of domestic andforeign policy and refused to sanction official visits abroad for Singh and Congress governments in the states began to put off visits by the president.[127][124] Singh retaliated by subjecting all proposals sent to him to minute scrutiny, seeking explanations from the government on not formulating a policy on judicial appointments, questioning its television coverage policy and cautioning thegovernor of Andhra Pradesh,Kumudben Joshi, to desist from interfering in the state’s politics besides seeking an explanation from theChief Election Commissioner of India about the delay in holding scheduled elections in the state ofHaryana. These interventions caused the government considerable embarrassment.[124]
Singh is also remembered for his stance on the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 1986. The bill, passed by both houses of Parliament, empowered central and state governments to intercept, inspect and detain any items in the post perceived to be a threat tonational security. In effect, the bill gave the government unbridled powers to surveil postal communication and violatedcitizens’ rights.[128] Singh, instead of returning the bill to Parliament for its reconsideration, decided to withhold his assent to it. If the bill were to be sent back to Parliament, in which the Congress party held an overwhelming majority, it could have reiterated its support for the bill which would have forced Singh to give it his assent. As the Constitution places no time limit within which presidential assent is to be given to legislation sent to him, Singh decided to keep it in abeyance – thus effecting apocket veto. The bill remained unsigned even by his successor who returned it to the Rajya Sabha for its reconsideration.[c][132][133]
During 1986–87, asallegations of corruption began to surface in the procurement ofBoforshowitzers by the Indian government; Singh sought information regarding the matter from the government. Gandhi took the stance that the president did not have the right to know every classified matter made available to the prime minister or theCouncil of Ministers and the Cabinet passed a resolution rejecting Singh’s demand. In Parliament, however, Gandhi stated that the "president was being fully informed", a patently false statement. Singh responded by writing to the prime minister narrating specific instances where no information had been furnished despite repeated demands. A copy of the letter was leaked to the press. This allegation by thehead of state against thehead of government served to further reduce the government’s credibility.[134][135][136]
By 1987, it was widely speculated that Singh intended to dismiss theRajiv Gandhi ministry and appoint in its place a caretaker ministry under either R. Venkataraman or P. V. Narasimha Rao.[137][138] As Singh’s tenure was drawing to a close, it was thought that such a move would lead to a second term in office for him with support from the opposition and members of the Congress party opposed to Gandhi.[139] Gandhi, who had strained relations with theChief of the Army StaffGeneral Sundarji and his Defence MinisterArun Singh, was opposed to giving Singh a further term in office.[140] Singh, however, never acted on the plan and decided not to seek a second term as he failed to get the open support of the opposition and feared it could lead to anarmy takeover.[141][142][143]
Singh led state visits toBahrain,Czechoslovakia, andQatar in 1983; toArgentina,Mauritius,Mexico,North andSouth Yemen in 1984. Singh was inAden, Yemen when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. He also made visits toGreece,Nepal,Poland, andYugoslavia 1986.[144] As the relationship between Rajiv Gandhi and Singh soured, the government began sendingVice-PresidentR. Venkataraman on trips abroad in place of Singh. Even visits to nations which were customarily made by thehead of state began to be made by the vice-president or the prime minister and some, such as a visit toZimbabwe, which had been finalised were cancelled. Consequently, Singh became one of the least travelled presidents of India.[145][146]
Singh was succeeded to the presidency byRamaswamy Venkataraman, who was sworn in on 25 July 1987.[147] Singh chose to spend his retirement in Delhi where the government provided him with a bungalow on Circular Road.[148][149]
Singh was severely injured in aroad accident when his car collided with a truck atKiratpur Sahib in theRopar district of Punjab on 29 November 1994.[150] He was admitted to thePostgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research inChandigarh where he died on 25 December 1994, aged 78.[151] TheGovernment of India declared 7 days ofnational mourning.[152] Hiscremation was held on 26 December in Delhi where hissamadhi is located atEkta Sthal.[153][154][155]
Singh's autobiography,The Memoirs of Giani Zail Singh, was published in 1996.[156]
A commemorativepostage stamp was issued by India'sDepartment of Posts on the occasion of Singh's first death anniversary in 1995.[15][157] TheGiani Zail Singh Campus College of Engineering and Technology,Bhatinda is named after him.[158] The birthcentenary of Singh was celebrated in 2016 at which a documentary film on his life and a book were released in his honour.[159][160]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of Home Affairs 1980–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of India 1982–1987 | |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theNon-Aligned Movement 1983–1986 | Succeeded by |
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