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Bhim Singh (born August 17, 1937) (Dogri: भीम सिंह) is an Indian politician, activist, lawyer and author. He is the leader of the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), a political organisation based in India and the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He founded the party in 1982 and was it's chairman for 30 years until 2012 when he nominated his nephew in place. He has held several key posts in the Indian Youth Congress, such as Vice-president (1977–78), General Secretary (1974–76) and President of Jammu & Kashmir State Youth Congress (1973–74) appointed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.〔 Before breaking away from the Congress Party to found the JKNPP in 1982, he served as a General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress Party. He has been an elected member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (1977–87) from Chenani-Ghordi (Udhampur). In 1988, future prime minister Vajpayee joined him on hunger strike in front of the Election Commission offices as they had rigged an election against Bhim Singh preventing him from joining the Indian Parliament. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court ruled in favour of Bhim Singh, ruling that he had won the Lok Saba by-election from Udhampur, a seat once held by his fellow Dogra clansman Dr. Karan Singh, the former Crown prince of Jammu and Kashmir and it's first President. Bhim Singh from the village of Bhugterian near Ramnagar is a descendant of the Wazir and General Zorawar Singh of the Royal Dogra Clan, referred to by historians as "Conqueror of Ladakh" and the "Napoleon of India" for his 19th century conquests of the Himalayan Kingdoms of Ladakh, Tibet and Baltistan. While the Dogra Rajput dynasty is believed to be descended from the mythical Ikshvaku (Solar) dynasty that in Eastern religious scriptures has produced personalities such as Lord Rama, Gautama Buddha, and twenty-two out of the twenty-four Jain Tirthankaras. Despite his Hindu royal and religious histories, Prof. Bhim Singh has politically and through the judiciary fought for democracy and secularism for over 55 years in Muslim majority Jammu & Kashmir, described by President Bill Clinton as the "most dangerous place in the world." In doing so Singh has spent 8 years in jail and endured militancy, Islamic extremism, terrorism and false arrests as consequence of the Jammu & Kashmir insurgencies and the ongoing Jammu & Kashmir armed conflict between India, Pakistan & China.〔 He was allegedly poisoned in the Srinagar Central Jail in 1978 after speaking out against Sheikh Abdullah the first Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir. In 1985, in a landmark hearing he was awarded fifty thousand rupees by the Supreme Court of India for his false imprisonment after being suspended as a Member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.〔 The order of compensation from his case would change the tort law in India.〔 While his 1996 efforts in moving the supreme court and the election commission are seen as instrumental in returning democratic elections after nine years of absence to militancy torn Jammu and Kashmir.〔〔 He is locally known as "Sher (Lion)-e-Jammu." ==Early life and career== Already as a college student Bhim Singh was a political activist going on hunger strike as early as 1959, and then was arrested in 1966 for leading thousands of students in protest as the President of the J&K Students Congress Organization. During the protests of October 1966, that called for an establishment of a university in Jammu four students were killed and fifty-three injured. On October 17, 1966, Brij Mohan, Subhash Chandra and Gulshan Handa died in protests on the G.G.M. science college site in Jammu. While the senior superintendent of police shot student leader Gurcharan Singh on 18 October at a students march in Kanak Mandi, Jammu. The superintendent had aimed for Bhim Singh but M.P. Khosla, the future chief secretary of Jammu & Kashmir had intervened to save Bhim Singh's life. Later Bhim Singh escaped curfew to visit and appeal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Gandhi set up an inquiry into the affair under Pranab Mukherjee, the future President of India, that found several government and police officials responsible for the deaths. University of Jammu was subsequently opened in 1969. Soon after he left India to travel the world from 1967 to 1973. Mostly by the way of motorbike he managed to visit more than a 120 countries. During his travels he was recorded by the Nigerian Times in 1970 as the first person to cross the Sahara Desert on motorcycle from Tan-Tan, Morocco to Senegal through Spanish Sahara and Mauritania. In Chile he was personally received by its then President Salvador Allende, and in the Middle East he met with Yasir Arafat who later accepted Bhim Singh's invitation to India. On his travels he attended the University of London earning an LL.M and later in 1972 was called to the bar at law as a specialist on Palestine and Middle East affairs. Bhim Singh who has been a vocal supporter of Arafat for over three decades and is the Chairman of the Indo-Palestine Friendship Society would first meet a young Yasir Arafat in 1968 at a Red Cross office on the east bank of the Jordan river. In 1973 Prof. Bhim Singh would travel to Syria in support of Arafat and to join the PLO over the dispute of Golan Heights between Israel and Syria during the Yom Kippur War. When in 1992 Arafat was exiled from Lebanon, Bhim Singh would once again visit him in support in Tunis and a few years later Singh would travel to Ramallah to see Arafat, where he had set up a temporary capital for Palestine. His book documenting the travels "Peace Mission: Around the World on Motorcycle" was published by Har Anand Publications in 2009. A Hindi version for the book was released a year later by Sheila Dikshit, chief minister of Delhi. At the book release K. Padmanabhaiah former Home Sectary of India recalled Singh's contributions to reinstating the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1996 assembly elections which were held after a gap of nine years. The Vice-President of India, Mohammad Hamid Ansari released his book "Unbelievable—Delhi to Islamabad," guest of honour Dr. Amitabh Mattoo at the book launch compared Bhim Singh to Che Guevara commenting on his efforts to fully integrate Jammu & Kashmir into India. Prof. Bhim Singh has worked for several decades lobbying for an amendment to Article 370 to integrate Jammu and Kashmir in to India. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bhim Singh (politician)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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