Sardar Parkash Singh Badal has served as the Chief Minister of Punjab five times. He held office from 1970–71, 1977–80, 1997–2002, and 2007–2017. He is also the patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal. From 1995 to 2008, he led the party as its President. In 2015, the Government of India honored him with the country’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.

Born on 8 December 1927 in Abul Khurana, near Malout, Sardar Parkash Singh Badal graduated from Forman Christian College, Lahore. In 1970, he became the youngest Chief Minister of any Indian state at the time.

He was first elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1957 and, since then, has been elected as an MLA nine times. In 1969, he was re-elected to the Assembly and became Punjab’s Chief Minister.

He has always raised his voice for the peace and sovereignty of the country. During the Emergency in the 1970s, he was jailed along with other politicians under the infamous MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). He also spent a long time behind bars during the Akali agitation in defense of the rights of the people of Punjab.

On 11 December 2011, he was honored by Sri Akal Takht Sahib with the title “Panth Ratan Fakhr-e-Qaum” (meaning Jewel of the Panth, Pride of the Community), in recognition of his services to the Sikh Panth and for preserving Sikh heritage through monuments such as Virasat-e-Khalsa, and for his courage during the Akali struggle in the face of oppression.