Giani Bhupinder Singh (17.8.1910 – 13.3.1995), son of Bhai Narain Singh was born at village Chakaar (district Muzaffarabad, Kashmir). Bhai Narain Singh belonged to a Brahmin family. After 1947, he moved to Amritsar and was appointed as the Granthi of Darbar Sahib. In April 1958, he was promoted as Head Granthi. He performed his job with dedication. When Hindus committed sacrilege of the Sikh shrines (in 1957-58), he led, a protest procession at Delhi, on February 2, 1958. More than two hundred thousand Sikhs participated in this march. During the Punjabi Suba agitation (1960-61), he was arrested on September 6, 1960. On September 11, the Sikhs throughout the world observed “Protest Day”, to condemn the arrest of the Head-Granthi of Darbar Sahib. In October 1962, when Fateh Singh group captured the S.G.P.C., he resigned his job to protest against the mismanagement of the Sikh shrines by the new administration. He was elected the president of the Akali Dal (Master Tara Singh group), on January 22, 1964 and continued in this office till 1968. After the merger of both the Akali Dals, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Board on October 8, 1968. He was elected to Rajya Sabha, on March 25, 1970. (This led to another split in Akali Dal). In 1976, he was re-elected as a congress nominee (for two years only). After this he renounced politics. He spent rest of his life almost in isolation.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)