Zail Singh; 1st President of India From Minority Sikh Community

Zail Singh, 78, the first Indian president from the minority Sikh community. Singh was president from 1982 to 1987, during the height of the 10-year Sikh rebellion for independence in the northern state of Punjab. The militants claimed that Sikhs were discriminated against by majority Hindus. Born in the village of Sandhwan in Punjab, Singh trained to become a Sikh priest. He joined the independence movement against British rule and later was a prominent leader of the Congress Party in Punjab. He became a member of the federal Parliament in 1980 and was home minister until he was nominated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as the Congress Party’s presidential candidate. In Chandigarh, India, on Sunday, a month after he was injured in an automobile accident.