Quick Facts
Biography
Amar Singh (born 27 January 1956) is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh was one of the leaders of Samajwadi Party. Known for his chaste Hindi and political connections, Amar Singh polarises the public opinion on him. He has several cases of corruption pending against him making him widely unpopular. 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 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 (on May 13), I will retire from politics." In 2016 he rejoined Samajwadi Party and was elected to Rajya Sabha even after facing a stiff opposition from a section of the party including the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav. He was also reinstated as one of the general secretaries of the party in October 2016.
Personal life
Singh was born in a Rajput family in Azamgarh.
Film
He played a small role in movie hamara dil aapke paas hai and
He is playing role of a politician in Director Shailendra Pandey'supcoming Hindi feature Film JD,
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.
On 21 December 2010, Singh launched his official website and blog after being encouraged by Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan, whom he was close to at the time.
On 6 January 2010, he resigned as general secretary of the party as well as from its parliamentary board and as its spokesperson. He also used his blog to speak about his abrupt departure from the Samajwadi Party.He was admitted at Dubai hospital and stated to be critical on 19.02.2013.
Mr Singh along with his close associate Jaya Prada were expelled from the Samajwadi Party in February, 2010. He 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 election. He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal party in March 2014, and contested from Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh in Indian general election, 2014 and lost.
Positions held
- Nov. 1996 Elected to Rajya Sabha
- 1997-98 Member, Committee on Papers Laid on the Table
- 1998-99 and Oct. 2004 onwards Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance
- June 1998 – Feb. 2004 and Aug. 2004 – Aug. 2006 Member, Committee on Finance
- 1999–2001 Member, Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Rajya Sabha
- Dec. 1999 – July 2000 Member, Select Committee on Prevention of Money Laundering Bill
- 1999 Dec.1999 – Nov.2000 Member, Joint Committee on Central Vigilance Commission Bill
- 1999 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Member, Informal Consultative Committee for Northern Railway Zone
- April 2001 – Dec.2002 Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on Stock Market Scam and matters relating thereto
- March 2002 – Nov. 2002 Member, Committee on Petitions
- Nov. 2002 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
- June 2003 – Aug. 2004 Member, Committee of Privileges
- Aug. 2004 – May 2009 and Aug.2009 onwards Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare
- Aug. 2004 onwards Member, General Purposes Committee
- Sept. 2006 onwards Member, Business Advisory Committee
- May 2008 – Nov. 2008 Member, Committee on Public Undertakings
- Nov. 2008 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
- Jan. 2010 onwards Member, Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health.
Controversies
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 rupees cheque to the family of Mohan Chand Sharma, a police officer who died in the encounter, which bounced when checked 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 Bharathiya 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
A. 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 Gulam Vanavati the attorney general of India accpeted 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 present finance minister Arun Jaitley which resulted in him being arrested again for getting indulgent in 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."