General VK Singh

Singh, now 72, lost the legal battle over his age issue with the Defence Ministry in 2012 and joined Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption agitation against the UPA Government before joining the BJP just before the elections.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Singh defeated Raj Babbar of Congress from Ghaziabad seat by 5.67 lakh votes, which was second biggest margin in this election after Modi, who trounced his Congress rival Madhusudan Mistry by over 5.70 lakh votes in Vadodara.

The majority of his tenure as Army chief was overshadowed by his battle with the Government over his age issue as he claimed it to be May 10, 1951 whereas the Government said it was May 10, 1950.

The issue saw Singh become the first service chief in the country to drag the Government to court and later, the Supreme Court decided in favour of the Government.

In his autobiography, Singh blamed unnamed officials in the Prime Minister’s Office including a coterie of bureaucrats and journalists for making attempts to destabilise him during his tenure as the Army chief.

In May 2014, Singh was appointed as Minister of State of External Affairs and Minister of state (independent charge) for North East Region in the NDA-led Indian government. He was relieved of responsibility for the North East Region in November 2014, when Jitendra Singh replaced him.

VK Singh, is currently the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and also for Road Transport and Highways.

In 2015, he spearheaded ‘Operation Raahat’ for evacuation of Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from war-torn Yemen. In 2016, he led ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’ to rescue Indians from South Sudan. In 2018, he led efforts to locate missing Indian workers in Iraq, at a time the country was fighting ISIS.

Singh went on to retain his seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but was denied the ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Atual Garg was given a ticket in his place instead.