MPs remember 1st Sikh speaker of Lok Sabha on his birth anniversary

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, August 30

Parliamentarians on Friday paid floral tributes to late Sardar Hukam Singh, the first Sikh to be elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Gathering at the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, on Singh’s birth anniversary on Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla led the tributes.

Sardar Hukam Singh was an eminent parliamentarian, a noted jurist, a social reformer and an able administrator. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly in April 1948; was a member of the Provisional Parliament (1950-52) and first, second and third Lok Sabha. Sardar Hukam Singh was elected as Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha on March 20, 1956, and was re-elected to the same office again during the second Lok Sabha. Singh was unanimously elected as the Speaker in the third Lok Sabha and chaired the House from April 17, 1962 to March 16, 1967. Later, he was the Governor of Rajasthan from 1967 to 1972.

Born on August 30, 1895, in Montgomery, West Punjab, Singh studied in Amritsar and at Punjab University Law College.

Alongside his legal practice, the late Lok Sabha Speaker actively participated in the freedom struggle and was arrested twice, in 1923 for his involvement in anti-Simon Commission demonstrations, and in 1924 in connection with the Gurdwara Reforms Movement, which aimed to free Gurudwaras from British interference.

He was elected to the constituent assembly from the East Punjab province on an Akali Dal ticket.

During his time in the assembly, he also served as the Puisne Judge in the State High Court in Kapurthala, his Lok Sabha profile shows.

Singh’s interventions in the assembly mostly related to safeguards for the Sikh community and reservations for minorities.

It was in 1952 that he was elected to the first Lok Sabha from PEPSU, representing the Akali Dal.

On March 20, 1956, he was unanimously elected as Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha.

Singh was elected a Lok Sabha MP for the second time in 1957 from Bhatinda and was re-elected as Deputy Speaker on May 17, 1957.

He became a third time member of Lok Sabha in 1962, this time from the Congress party representing Patiala and went on to be unanimously elected Speaker, making him the first Sikh to hold the post.

In 1967, Hukum Singh was appointed the Governor of Rajasthan, a post that he held until 1972.

Singh passed away on May 27, 1983.