We remember freedom fighter and the former President of India, Gaini Zail Singh, who was born on the 5th of May, 1916, in Faridkot, Punjab. He opposed the rule of the Maharajah of Faridkot in his home state and was imprisoned several times for it. When Zail Singh was barely 15 years old, he became active in the joined the independence movement. In 1938, he established the Praja Mandal, a political organization allied to the Congress Party, in his home district of Faridkot. He was arrested by the police and sent to a five-year jail sentence. While he was referred to as 'Giani' for his scholarly mastery of the Sikh ures, during his incarceration he changed his first name to Zail after being imprisoned several times for opposing the rule of the maharajah of Faridkot. In 1947, with the reorganization of India along secular lines, he opposed the ruler of Faridkot State and was incarcerated. Zail Singh was called on to be the Revenue Minister of the newly formed Patiala and East Punjab States Union. Later, Singh served in the Rajya Sabha from 1956–62 and was elected the Chief Minister of Punjab in 1972. In 1980, he was elected to the Lok Sabha and appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs. In 1982, he was unanimously nominated to serve as the President and became the first Sikh to hold this office. Giani Zail Singh passed away on the 25th of December, 1994 in Chandigarh. We salute the great Indian.