Nirmal Singh (Haryana)

Nirmal Singh Mohra is an Indian politician from the state of Haryana who is fondly addressed as ‘Pradhan Ji’. He became a member of Aam Aadmi Party while merging Haryana Democratic Front, a political party which he formed in 2019. Previously, he was the member of the Indian National Congress.[2][3]

Nirmal Singh
Nirmal Singh in 2014.
Born (1953-02-03) 3 February 1953 [1]
Ambala, Haryana, India
NationalityIndian
OccupationPolitician
Political partyAam Aadmi Party
(2022-present)
Other political
affiliations		Indian National Congress
(1974-1996)
(1999-2019)
Haryana Democratic Front
(2019-2022)
Spouse(s)Smt. Naib Kaur
Children4 incl. Chitra Sarwara

He has been elected as Member of the Legislative Assembly in Haryana Legislative Assembly for 4 terms (1982, 1991, 1996 and 2005) from Naggal constituency in his career. In 1982, 1987, 1991, 2000 and 2005 he contested on the congress ticket. In 1996, on denial of the ticket by the Congress, he contested as an independent candidate.[4][5][6] In 1986, at the age of 33, he became the youngest minister to be part of the Haryana Cabinet. He has held the office of Minister for Animal Husbandry, PWD and Revenue in Government of Haryana during his tenure as an MLA.

In October 1994, he was implicated in a murder case. He resigned from his position as Minister of State for Revenue and was put behind bars for the next two and half years, without bail, pending trial.[7][8] He contested the next election in 1996 from behind bars as an independent candidate and won with all the other contestants forfeiting their deposits. He was honorably acquitted of all charges in February 1997.

He was the first Haryana leader to raise the issue of discrimination in jobs, development and funding shown towards North Haryana. To highlight this he held two mega-rallies in the historic grounds of Kurukshetra, Haryana. First one was ‘Hisaab Lagao Rally’ in the year 2002 which was followed by a second mega rally as ‘Hisaab Chukao Rally’ in the year 2004, which saw massive participation from public and leadership alike from across Haryana.[9][10][11]

In 2009 Haryana Election, Naggal constituency ceased to exist and parts of it were merged with Ambala Cantt. Singh contested 2009 elections and 2014 elections unsuccessfully against Anil Vij from Ambala Cantt. on the congress ticket.[12][13]

In 2019 Haryana Election, Singh contested unsuccessfully from Ambala City while his daughter Chitra Sarwara contested unsuccessfully from Ambala Cantt.[14][15]

Political career

After Sanjay Gandhi’s demise, he came to work closely with Rajiv Gandhi. In 1976 he was appointed Block Youth Congress President and progressed to being appointed General Secretary of Pradesh Youth Congress, Haryana in 1980. He served as President State Youth Congress from August 1982-89 for 7 straight years, which is a record in itself. Fifteen members of Youth Congress under his mentorship are now state level leaders across Haryana. In 1982, he became the youngest person to be elected as MLA from Naggal Constituency, Haryana. In 1986, while he was the youngest minister in Haryana cabinet, he was also given the charge of President, State Youth Congress. Between 1987-89, he was General Secretary Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress Committee with dual charge of Youth Congress President. During 1983, he was a Member of India’s first political Youth delegation to China after war. In 1985, he accompanied Rajiv Gandhi on his first visit to United States after being appointed as Prime Minister of India. He re-joined Congress in 1999 in the presence of Ahmed Patel.

Positions Held

1974: Joined Youth Congress under the leadership of late Shri. Sanjay Gandhi. At that time Ambika Soni was the president of IYC.

1976: Appointed Block Youth Congress President under Ghulam Nabi Azad (IYC President).

1978: Appointed District President Youth Congress, Ambala.

1980: Appointed General Secretary of Pradesh Youth Congress, Haryana.

1982: Elected as M.L.A for the 1st time from Naggal Constituency, Ambala, Haryana.

1982-89: Served as President State Youth Congress from August 1982 for 7 years. During this time Sh. G.N. Azad, Tariq Anwar, Anand Sharma, Mukul Vasnik, Gurda Kumar & Ramesh Chennthala were respective Presidents I.Y.C. (Note: worked Under Oscar Fernandez, Harish Rawat & Bhola Pandey when they were general secretary in charge of Haryana youth congress.)

1983: Was a Member of India’s first political youth delegation to China after war.

1985: Accompanied Late Shri. Rajiv Gandhi to U.S.A when he was the Prime minister of India.

1986: Joined Cabinet of Haryana CM Ch. Bansi Lal as State Minister with dual charge of Youth Congress President, Haryana.

1987-89: Became General Secretary Haryana Pradesh Youth Congress Committee with dual charge of Youth Congress President.

1991: Elected as M.L.A for the 2nd time from Naggal Constituency, Ambala, Haryana.

1991-93: Joined Cabinet of Haryana CM Ch. Bhajan Lal as Cabinet Minister.

1996: Elected as M.L.A for 3rd time from Naggal Constituency, Ambala, Haryana.

2005: Elected as M.L.A for 4th time, Naggal Constituency, Ambala, Haryana.

2009: Lost Election from new constituency of Ambala Cantt. post delimitation of old constituency of Naggal. Got 43% of total polled votes.

2012: President of District. Congress Committee (Rural).

2014: Stood Second in Ambala Vidhan Sabha with Heavy Majority of 42% of total votes polled.

2015: Vice President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.

2017: President of District Congress Committee (Rural) from the last 15 years.

2019: Left congress and formed his own political party, Haryana Democratic Front.

2022: Became member of Aam Aadmi Party while merging Haryana Democratic Front to Aam Aadmi Party.

As philanthropist

A champion of poor and women empowerment, his house everyday sees help being extended to the poor girls' weddings, financial help for medical treatment and such to help people tide over a difficult spot.

He is foremost in supporting children who are active and show potential in sports. It usually translates into him providing kits to children, additional awards in tournaments and going out of his way to get grants for traditional sports such as Wrestling and Indian martial arts.

One of the activities he has actively pursued since his early days is to organize blood donation camps. First he organized blood donation camp in 1981 at Rukmani Devi Hall and collected 450 units which was record at that time. After that he again organized blood donation camp in 1985 at Village Pyarewala and collected 150 units. On the occasion of death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi he organized blood donation camp at Congress Bhawan, Ambala Cantt in 2001. Recently on Kargil Vijay Diwas, he again organized a blood donation camp inviting all of Ambala to participate. Highlight of the event was that Military Hospital team itself came and collected units to be used for the armed forces besides a total of 201 units being donated that day.

References
  1. "Haryana Vidhan Sabha MLA Details". 9 April 2022.
  2. "Former Haryana Minister Nirmal Singh joins AAP along with his daughter and son". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  3. "Former Haryana minister launches political front". Hindustan Times. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  4. "Local issues predominant". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  5. "Naggal Assembly Constituency". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  6. "Three-cornered contest for Naggal seat". The Tribune. 28 January 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  7. "Former Haryana minister Nirmal Singh arrested". Hindustan Times. 10 May 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  8. "Former Haryana minister held". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  9. "Nirmal invites Bhajan to rally". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  10. "Ex-minister to seek ticket from Kurukshetra". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  11. "Hooting at PM's rally during Bhajan Lal's speech". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  12. "Vij and Singh face off again in Ambala Cantt, rivalry intense". The Indian Express. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. India, Press Trust of. "Haryana State Assembly Election Results 2014: Anil Vij wins and defeats Nirmal Singh | India.com". www.india.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  14. Standard, Business. "Ambala Cantt Election Result 2019: Ambala Cantt Assembly Election 2019 Results | Ambala Cantt Vidhan Sabha MLA Result". www.business-standard.com. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  15. "Ambala City Assembly Election Results 2019". News18. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.