Ch. Birender Singh (born 25 March 1946) is a senior Indian political leader and a well-known face in Indian Politics. He lately served as Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & Drinking Water from 2014 to 2016 and later as the Union Minister of Steel from 2016 to 2019 in the

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

led NDA Government in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Birender Singh is the grandson of great peasant leader

Sir Chhotu Ram Sir Chhotu Ram (born Ram Richpal; 24 November 1881 – 9 January 1945) was a prominent politician in British India's Punjab Province, an ideologue of the pre-Independent India, who belonged to the Jat community and championed the interest of op ...

. His father Chaudhary Neki Ram was a politician in joint

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. After being associated with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

for over 42 long years, Chaudhary Birender Singh declared joining the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

on 16 August 2014 in a large political rally organized in

Jind Jind is one of the largest and oldest city in Jind district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is administrative headquarter of Jind district. Rani Talab is the main destination for tourists while Pandu-Pindara and Ramrai are the main religiou ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

in the presence of erstwhile President of the BJP,

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

Early life

Singh comes from a socially, politically, and economically influential family. His grandfather

was an iconic peasant leader in India and Pakistan. He graduated from Government College, Rohtak and completed his law degree at

Panjab University, Chandigarh Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

. During this development, Singh was active in sports, captaining the district. Jind cricket team 1964–67 and playing with Punjab University Team (1969–70). Birender Singh married

Premlata Singh Premlata Singh (born 15 January 1950) became a member of the 13th Haryana Legislative Assembly in 2014 from the BJP representing the Uchana Kalan Vidhan sabha Constituency in Haryana. Premlata married Birender Singh on 9 June 1970. Birender ...

on 9 June 1970.

has been a member of the legislative assembly of

representing Uchana Kalan constituency from 2014 to 2019.2014 Haryana Results
/ref> His son Brijendra Singh was previously a bureaucrat who served as an IAS officer of 1998 Batch and was posted in

for 21 years. He elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from Hisar in

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

Political life- Elections Won

Birender Singh won five times from Uchana to be a legislator in Haryana Vidhansabha (1977–82, 1982–84, 1991–96, 1996–2000 and 2005–09) and served three times as Cabinet Minister in Haryana. He has also served the country as a Parliamentarian three times. Birender Singh contested his first election in 1972 & from 1972 to 1977, he was the Chairman of Block Samiti Uchana. He contested the legislative assembly election in 1977 from Uchana Kalan constituency on

ticket and won the seat with a sizeable margin, despite a strong anti-congress wave in the country. This made him a star political figure in India overnight. During his first term as MLA, He was chairman, Govt. Assurances Committee (1978–79) and chairman, Estimates Committee (1981–82), Haryana. During his second term as MLA in Haryana, Ch. Birender Singh held the portfolio of Cooperatives and Dairy Development Ministry in Haryana from 1982 to 1984. In 1984, Ch. Birender Singh was elected as Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Hisar Constituency, after defeating

Om Prakash Chautala Om Prakash Chautala (born 1 January 1935) is an Indian politician from Haryana who served as a former Chief Minister of Haryana from Indian National Lok Dal and son of 6th Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. Biography Chautala is the ...

by a giant margin. During this term as a Loksabha MP, Ch. Birender Singh was a member of Estimates Committee of the Parliament (1984–86), Consulative Committee on Defence (1986–88), and Consultative Committee on Power (1988–89). During his third term as MLA (1991–96), Ch. Birender Singh held the portfolio of Revenue and Planning Ministry in Haryana from 1991 to 1992. During his fifth term as MLA (2005–09), Ch. Birender Singh held the portfolio of Finance, Labour and Employment Ministry in Haryana from 2005 to 2009, also serving as Excise and Taxation Minister from 2007 to 2009. In 2010, Birender Singh was elected as Congress'

MP Rajya Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the States and union territories of India, Indian states to the one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by ...

from Haryana for a 6 years term (2010–16) from which he resigned in 2014 before joining BJP. During his term as Rajya Sabha MP from Congress, Birender Singh served as the chairman, Standing Committee of Parliament on Human Resource, Women & Child Development, Youth & Sports Ministry from Sept 2013 to April 2014. Birender Singh joined

on 29 August 2014, after tendering his resignation from the

membership Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the upper house of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

on 28 August 2014. He was elected for Rajya Sabha again as BJP MP, for the remaining two-year term (2014-2016). In November 2014, Ch. Birender Singh took oath as a Cabinet Minister, Govt. Of India. and was given the charge of the

Ministry of Rural Development Ministry of Rural Development may refer to: * Ministry of Rural Development (Cambodia) * Ministry of Rural Development (Hungary) * Ministry of Rural Development (India) * Ministry of Rural Development (Malaysia) Ministry of Rural Development may r ...

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a m ...

and

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation was a ministry of the Government of India formed in 2011. From May 2019, the ministry has been merged with the Ministry of Jal Shakti. In 1999, the Department of Drinking Water Supply (DDWS) was for ...

. He was re-elected to

for the third time on 11 June 2016 for a six-year term (2016-2022). In July 2016, during the second cabinet reshuffle of the

Narendra Modi ministry Modi ministry may refer to: Union Council of Ministers * First Modi ministry, the 22nd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019 * Second Modi ministry, the 23rd government of India headed by Narendra Modi from 2019 onwards ...

, Chaudhary Birender Singh replaced

Narendra Singh Tomar Narendra Singh Tomar (born 12 June 1957) is an Indian politician and a member of the 17th Lok Sabha. He is the incumbent Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. He has been Minister of Rural Development, Minister of Panchayati Raj, Minis ...

as the Steel Minister. He resigned two years before the end of his tenure, after his son Brijendra Singh won from Hisar Loksabha Constituency in 2019 general elections.

Political Life- Organisational Roles

Singh has held numerous key organisational positions in Haryana and National Politics. From 1977 to 1980, he served as President of District Jind Unit of Congress as well as Youth Congress. In 1980, he was appointed President of Haryana Youth Congress, a position he held for 2 years. In 1985, he was appointed President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. He also served as Observer in Elections to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in the same year. In 1987, he was appointed a Special Invitee to Congress Working Committee. In 1990, he was appointed President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee by Rajiv Gandhi and led Congress to absolute majority in 1991 Legislative Assembly Elections of Haryana. During the same year, he served as Incharge of Elections to the State Organisation of Congress in Karnataka. In 1998, Birender Singh served as Congress' General Secretary, Incharge of Rajasthan and Pradesh Returning Officer for Congress for Uttar Pradesh. From 1998 to 2002, he served on the Central Election Committee of Congress, its highest decision making core group. In 2002, Birender Singh served as Congress' observer to elections to Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. In 2004, Birender Singh was appointed by Congress as the General Secretary Incharge of Uttar Pradesh and served as Chairman of the Congress' screening committee for Maharashtra. In 2011, he was made the general secretary of AICC in charge of poll-bound states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Ch. Birender Singh led the party to victory in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh elections, which were fought under his guidance. In 2014, Birender Singh resigned from Congress after serving the party for 42 years.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Birender Living people 1946 births Haryana MLAs 2009–2014 People from Jind India MPs 1984–1989 Rajya Sabha members from Haryana State cabinet ministers of Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Haryana Narendra Modi ministry Lok Sabha members from Haryana India MPs 2009–2014 Steel Ministers of India Members of the Cabinet of India