Natwar Singh
K. Natwar Singh | |
|---|---|
Singh in 2005 | |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 22 May 2004 – 6 December 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Yashwant Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| Minister without portfolio | |
| In office 8 December 2005 – 22 May 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Mamata Banerjee |
| Succeeded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 May 1931 Jaghina, Bharatpur State, British India (present-day Rajasthan, India) |
| Died | 10 August 2024 (aged 93) Gurugram, Haryana, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress (1984–2006) Bahujan Samaj Party (2008) |
| Spouse | Heminder Kaur |
| Children | 2, including Jagat Singh |
| Residence | New Delhi |
| Education | Mayo College |
| Alma mater | St. Stephen's College, Delhi Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
Natwar Singh (16 May 1931 – 10 August 2024) was an Indian politician and diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service who later served as India's Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005. Having been suspended by the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2006, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2008 but was removed from the party within four months.
Singh was selected into the Indian Foreign Service in 1953. In 1984, he resigned from the service to contest elections as a member of the INC party. He won the election and served as a union minister of state until 1989. Thereafter, he had a patchy political career until being made India's foreign minister in 2004. However, 18 months later, he had to resign after the United Nations' (UN) Volcker committee named both he and the INC to which he belonged as beneficiaries of illegal pay-offs in the scandal related to the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme.
In 2014, he wrote his autobiography One Life is Not Enough. This book was criticised for its attempt to create sensation, while the Congress criticised Natwar Singh for distortion of facts due to his removal from the political position.