Chowdhary Balbir Singh

Chaudhry Balbir Singh was an Indian politician.

Early life

He was born in Hoshiarpur, Punjab to a family of farmers.

Career

He joined the independence struggle at age 17 in 1934. He used his family printing press to produce propaganda against the British Raj. He was jailed several times during the Raj. At the time of independence he was responsible for settling scores of Indians In Hoshiapur town who came from across the border and did not have a place to live. He joined politics immediately after independence. In 1948 he quit the Congress party and joined the Sanjukt Socialist party as part of the Lohia group. He contested his first Assembly election in 1952 and lost. After that he contested every Assembly election, winning in 1957, 1967 and 1969. In 1975 he was jailed with other opposition leaders during Indira Gandhi's administration. He was released in June 1977. In 1977 he contested the Lok Sabha election on the Janata Party ticket and became a member of Parliament. He showed his disagreement with Khalistan movement.

He was assassinated by terrorists on 10 May 1985. He was known as the 'Sher e Punjab' by people of Punjab and 'Man with the red turban' in the Parliament house. He worked for the underprivileged. After his assassination the city of Hoshiarpur went through a lot of instability and danger of communal tensions, but the situation was ably handled by his son kamal Chaudhry who was posted at nearby Adampur airforce station as Squdron Leader of the Indian Air Force. The locals who were already feeling fatherless after the assassination of their beloved leader, saw a prospective leader in Kamal Chaudhry. Kamal Chaudhry later quit Air Force and joined politics soon after in 1985 and contested parliamentary elections winning four times in 1985, 1989, 1992 and 1997.