Surjit Singh Barnala

Surjit Singh Barnala was a leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal and a former Union minister who became Chief Minister of Punjab after the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. The Tribune called him a moderate leader of the Akali Dal. He was born on 21 October 1925 at Ateli village, then in Gurgaon district, was schooled in Nabha and graduated from Lucknow, took part in the Quit India movement in 1942 and practised law before entering politics in 1952, when he lost the Dhanaula seat by three votes.

Key moments

• 1967 to 1985: elected to the Punjab Assembly five times; Education Minister in Gurnam Singh's government and a founder of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
• 1977 to 1979: Union Agriculture Minister in Morarji Desai's government.
• Summer 1985: Sant Harchand Singh Longowal signs the Accord with Rajiv Gandhi. After Longowal's assassination Barnala is elected acting Akali Dal president on 25 August. He is chosen leader of the Akali legislature party on 27 September and takes the oath as Chief Minister on 29 September 1985.
• 26 January 1986: the date the Accord set for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab passes without the transfer. Tarlochan Singh wrote in 2023 that all the blame was put on Barnala because he did not resign.
• 30 April 1986: the day after the Panthic Committee's declaration of Khalistan, police are sent into the Golden Temple complex to search for the committee. The Tribune reports that Captain Amarinder Singh, number two in the Barnala government, resigned in protest because the Chief Minister had not taken him into confidence, and that Union Minister of State for Home Arun Nehru had rushed to Amritsar and insisted on sending the force in though the administration was sure no one was left inside.
• 11 May 1987: the Centre dismisses his government and imposes President's Rule. The Tribune gives 11 May, in its profile of him and in an archive report headed "Punjab poll on February 19", and so does the text of Wikipedia's article. Only Wikipedia's infobox gives 11 June 1987.
• 1990 to 2011: Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Governor of Tamil Nadu (1990 to 1991 and 2004 to 2011); Governor of Uttarakhand (2000 to 2003) and Andhra Pradesh (2003 to 2004). In 1991 he refused to recommend dismissal of the DMK government and was transferred to Bihar, and chose to resign. In 1998 he joined the Vajpayee cabinet as minister for chemicals and fertilisers.
• 14 January 2017: dies at PGIMER, Chandigarh, aged 91.

What he is remembered for. Sikh writers hold him responsible for the Accord's failure and for the police entry into the Harmandir Sahib complex in April 1986. Tarlochan Singh calls his career controversial and says the community felt he had betrayed it by not leaving office when the Accord failed. The Tribune, by contrast, remembers a moderate who nearly became a consensus candidate for Prime Minister in 1996.