Harinder Singh Khalsa

Harinder Singh Khalsa is one of the senior most politicians in Punjab. He was born in Ludhiana, British India to Gopal Singh Khalsa and Smt. Basant Kaur. His father was an Akali Dal politician, who served as the chief Parliament secretary of Punjab assembly in 1937, and was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1952, serving as the leader of opposition. Harinder Singh obtained an M.A. (English) degree from the Government College, Ludhiana. He married Satwant Kaur in 1976. The couple has three sons.

Harinder Singh Khalsa started his career as an English lecturer at the G.G.N. Khalsa College, in Ludhiana. During his academic career (1964-1974), he published two textbooks: A Manual of General English and Social Science. In May 1974, he joined the Punjab Civil Service. In July 1974, he joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and worked as a Second Secretary in Jakarta. Later, he served as a First Secretary in Bangkok and Norway.

In June 1984, while posted in Norway, he resigned in protest against the Operation Blue Star. As the Congress government filed some cases against him, he decided to stay in Norway, running a small eating joint and working as a postman in Norway. He returned to India in 1990, after being assured that the cases against him would be dropped.

During 1990-91, he served as the Chairman of Punjab Human Rights Organization, an NGO that highlighted the excesses committed by the state government during the anti-insurgency operations. During 1991-03, he served as a secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC).

He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Bathinda during 1996-98 as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal. He was a member of the third National Commission for SC/ST under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2014, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party and was elected as an MP from Fatehgarh Sahib and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Fatehgarh Sahib. He won by a margin of 54,144 votes. On 29 August 2015, he was suspended from AAP due to anti-party activities. He has denied any involvement in any such activities.