Amar Singh (politician)


Amar Singh was an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh who was one of the leaders of the Samajwadi Party. 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 the Samajwadi Party and was later expelled from the party by its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on 2 February 2010. He spent a brief period in judicial custody in 2011. He finally retired from politics. In his statement he mentioned, "I want to give more time to my wife and my family. Therefore after the last day of polling, 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. On August 1, 2020, at the age of 64, Singh died while battling kidney ailment in Singapore.

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

Positions held

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. Later, Samajwadi Party expelled the six MPs for defying the party directive during the confidence motion voting.
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 for 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.
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. Amar Singh has pleaded health grounds for not appearing before the courts where the chargesheet was being heard. 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. 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.

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 indulging in the 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."

Personal life & Education

Singh was born in a Rajput family at Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. He did his schooling at Khatri Vidyalaya, Kolkata and at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Kolkata. He then studied at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and had his law education from University College of Law, Kolkata.

Film

Amar Singh played a small role in movie Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai and also played the role of a politician in Director Shailendra Pandey's up Film JD..He also acted in a Malayalam-language film Bombay Mittayi in 2011.

Death

Amar Singh died at the age of 64 in Singapore due to kidney failure.