What better explains, elaborates, and elucidates the life and time of a maverick politician and strategist of Amar Singh’s stature and significance. He is profoundly known for his network, linkages, and connections in the political and corporate world making him reach the pinnacle as he became one of the aspiring and promising lieutenants of the Samajwadi Party patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Owing to his proximity with Mulayam Singh Yadav, he was appointed as the general secretary of Samajwadi Party and an important pointsman, strategist, and functionary of the party introducing figures like Jaya Prada, Jaya Bachchan to the rank and fold of the party. He shared close association, bonds and ties with the Bachchan family as he helped Amitabh Bachchan get bailed out from a financial crunch around the late 1990s when Amitabh’s production house was reeling through a great burden of debt and crisis.
On many of the platforms, Amar Singh recalled and reminisced his contributions made to the Bachchan’s in his capacity as a friend, and as someone who knew the family well especially after rift started brewing up between Amar Singh and Bachchans, given the over-ambitious character of Singh. Amar Singh had a penchant for maintaining and managing rank, file, power, and authority wielding clout and dominance in the Samajwadi Party for fourteen years serving as general secretary.
Commanding a supreme space in the chain of hierarchy, Amar Singh harboured realist Machiavellian instincts and intent pioneering his sharp feature and rise in the national politics familiar with the conduct of the political theatrics. In 2008, his sincere advice to Mulayam Singh Yadav crucially played a defining role in Samajwadi Party’s alliance with the UPA led Congress regime at the centre. This was after the Left parties walked out from the Manmohan Singh government due to ideological differences on Indo- US civil nuclear deal.
This strengthened and cemented the deal of the Yadavs with one of the politically powerful dynasts of the country as Amar Singh was described as a resourceful leader and politician possessing the rare talent and traits of a shrewd and cunning statesman necessitated for survival, support and strength in our political system and setup. He would always emerge as an enthusiastic and energetic victor irrespective of the shape and size of the controversy, scam, and scandal as the volume never seemed to bother him at all.
He was literally in the good books of each and everyone beginning from Ambani to Sahara- suave and modest in his articulations and bargains by being acutely aware of his limitations braving his influence and might for people in and around him.
Amar Singh, by being drawn to powerful political and corporate coteries and cliques, represented his attitude and belief in inking deals and negotiations, thus essaying his conviction and capacity as a tricky political genius who knew how and by how much to bow and bend. His death at the age of 64 will constantly remind us of his political currency and power shaping his presence and participation as he became a witness to the unfolding of political dramas in and around.