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 1929 Jaghina, Bharatpur State, British India (present-day Rajasthan, India) |
| Died | 10 August 2024 (aged 95) Gurugram, Haryana, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress (1984–2006) Bahujan Samaj Party (2008)[1] |
| Spouse | Heminder Kaur |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | New Delhi |
| Alma mater | Mayo College, Ajmer St. Stephen's College, Delhi Scindia School |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS (16 May 1929 – 10 August 2024) was an Indian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005. Having been suspended by the Congress in 2006,[2] he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2008 but was removed from the party within four months.[3][1]
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 Indian National Congress 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 Congress party to which he belonged as beneficiaries of illegal pay-offs in the scandal related to the UN's Oil-for-Food Programme.[4]
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.[5][6]
- ^ a b India, Press Trust of (10 August 2008). "Natwar Singh joins BSP". India Today. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ "Natwar Singh quits Congress party". Hindustan Times. 13 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ "BSP expels former external affairs minister Natwar Singh". The Times of India. 18 November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ "Volcker Report names Natwar Singh and Congress Party as "beneficiaries"". The Hindu. 29 October 2005. Archived from the original on 31 October 2005.
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