Tota Singh (1941 – 2022) was an Indian politician and senior leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal. In 2012, during the Shiromani Akali Dal-led government in Punjab, he was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and NRI Affairs. During his tenure as SAD leader, Tota Singh served as Senior Vice President, Shiromani Akali Dal High Power Committee Member and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee Member.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Tota Singh was born on Sunday 2 March 1941 (age 81 at death) in Didar Singh Wala, Moga, Punjab, British Raj. His zodiac sign was Pisces. Soon after completing his schooling at a local school in Moga, Tota Singh went to DM College, Moga to pursue his graduation in fine arts.
Physical appearance
Hair color: gray
Eye Color: Black
family
parents and siblings
His father’s name was Babu Singh.
wife and children
Tota Singh’s wife’s name is Mukhtar Kaur. The couple has four children, three sons and one daughter. His son Balwinder Singh is Deputy Secretary in the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Barjinder Singh Makhan Brar is a SAD leader and Dr. Jaswinder Singh is a dentist in Calgary. His daughter’s name is Dr. Paramjit Kaur Dhillon and she is a medical practitioner in UK.
Barjinder Singh Makhan Brar, second son of Tota Singh
Career
Tota Singh started his political journey in 1969 when he was appointed as the party president of Ferozepur, Faridkot and Moga districts. Ferozepur district was the largest district of Punjab at that time. From 1985 to 1987, Tota Singh served as the Chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board under the Surjit Singh Barnala Ministry. He contested the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections from Moga constituency supported by Shiromani Akali Dal and won. During the third Badal ministry, Tota Singh was appointed as the Education Minister till 2002. During his tenure as Punjab’s education minister from 1999 to 2000, Tota Singh made English a compulsory subject in primary schools. Previously, it was taught from the sixth grade. Meanwhile, he has taken necessary steps to modernize the education sector in Punjab and is credited with introducing computer literacy in government schools in Punjab. Tota Singh again won Punjab Legislative Assembly from Moga constituency in 2002 on Shiromani Akali Dal ticket. Five years later, Tota Singh won the Punjab Legislative Assembly elections from Dharamkot constituency in 2012 and soon after his victory, he was given the portfolio of Agriculture and NRI Affairs in the Cabinet Ministry. He then contested the assembly elections from Dharamkot constituency in 2017, but this time he lost the seat to Indian National Congress candidate Sukhit Singh, who became the MLA from Dharamkot soon after winning the election. In September 2021, Tota Singh contested the elections from Dharamkot constituency and his son Barjinder Singh Brar alias Makhani from Moga constituency.
confrontations
Illegal recruitment of clerks
- At the same time, Tota Singh was accused of illegally recruiting 134 clerks in the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB); However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave him a clean chit in the case and dismissed him from the case.
Use of government vehicle for personal use
- In May 2012, when he was serving as the Punjab Agriculture Minister, he was convicted in a Mohali court for using a Punjab School Education Board car for personal use. Tota Singh resigned as a cabinet minister soon after he was charged in the legal case and appealed to the Punjab High Court. The Supreme Court sentenced him to one year of imprisonment in the amount of thirty thousand manats. Later, the Haryana and Punjab High Court stayed the verdict.
Allegations against his son, Barjinder Singh
- In 2012, Barjinder Singh alias Makhan Brar, son of Tota Singh, came into the limelight when his name hit the headlines in the Moga sex scandal. Barjinder Singh, along with other top Punjab police officials, were accused of blackmailing the rich in the Moga scandal.
Allegations of Supplying Fake Pesticides
- In 2015, when Jathedar Tota Singh was serving as the Agriculture Minister of Punjab, his resignation was demanded by opposition leaders when whitewash and spurious pesticide spread destroyed a huge cotton crop in Punjab and blamed Tota Singh.
literary work
Apart from being a politician, Tota Singh was fond of writing books. A book named “Gatha Purkeyan di” was released by him in 2020.
Assets/Properties
movable assets
- Deposits in banks: Rs. 16,09,525
real estate
- Agricultural land: Rs. 8,75,00,000
- Non-agricultural land: Rs. 6,50,00,000
- Commercial buildings: Rs. 1,27,50,000
- Residential buildings: Rs. 2,50,00,000
Obligations
- Loans from Banks/FIs: Rs. 3,31,70,000
- Any other liability: Rs. 3,00,000
Net worth
As of 2012, Tota Singh’s net worth was Rs. 15.84 crores.
death
On 21 May 2022, Tota Singh died at a hospital in Mohali, Punjab after a long illness. He was being treated for a liver related ailment.
Facts/Trivia
- As one of the senior-most leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, Tota Singh earned the title of Jathedardar before his name.
- Tota Singh was a trusted leader in Surjit Singh Barnala’s ministry in Punjab and after the fall of Barnala’s government in Punjab, he joined Badali’s Shiromani Akali Dal.
Tota Singh with the then SAD CM Parkash Singh Badal
- Tota Singh was an undergraduate and when the SAD government appointed him as Punjab’s education minister in 1997, the opposition targeted the SAD-BJP government on the issue.
- SAD party president Sukhbir Singh Badal once said in a conversation with a media house that Tota Singh was like a father to him.
- At the beginning of his political career, before submitting his nomination papers for the Punjab elections, Tota Singh had said in one of his speeches that a mandatory dope test should be conducted on all politicians in Punjab. During that period, the cases of drug addiction reached its peak in Punjab.
- During his cremation on May 24, 2022, his grandchildren volunteered to participate in his last rites. Several media houses captured Tapreet and Japreet, shouldering his body, stacking firewood on the pyre and arranging the pyre for the last rites. Her funeral was also attended by Harjus Kaur Dhillon and Jasleen Kaur Brar, two of her other granddaughters. In an interview with Mediahouse, Japreet Kaur, the youngest daughter of Barjinder Singh Makhan Brar, said that her grandfather loved his grandchildren more than the sons of their family. she said,
No one in our family made a distinction between a boy and a girl. If we had a brother, he would have done the same. So why can’t we say goodbye to grandpa the way we want to? We didn’t think for a second what the public would say or if anyone would object. For us, he was our Baaji, who we always loved more than the sons of the family.”
In the same conversation, Tota Singh’s son, Barjinder Singh, said he was proud of his daughters, adding that it was their right to participate in their grandfather’s funeral. She said,
When my daughters told me they wanted to participate in rituals, I was very proud and told them it was their right. Sikhism has always taught us great women warriors like Mai Bhago who fought against the Mughals. If women can fight the Mughals, then performing these rituals is nothing.”
Japreet Kaur during his grandfather’s last trip
Japreet Kaur during her grandfather’s last rites
Categories: Television
Source: dienchau2.edu.vn
