Shatrughan Sinha

Shatrughan Prasad Sinha (born 15 July 1946) is an Indian actor and politician. He is a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Asansol constituency as a member of All India Trinamool Congress. Earlier, he was elected as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha (2009–2014, 2014–2019) from Patna Sahib. He was a Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Shipping in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Sinha first gained popularity in the early 1970s playing supporting roles in successful films, including Mere Apne, Bombay to Goa, Raampur Ka Lakshman, Do Yaar, Aa Gale Lag Jaa, Heera, Dost and Do Thug. He achieved stardom with Kalicharan (1976) and consistently starred in top–grossing Indian films from the late-1970s to the 1980s, such as Vishwanath, Jaani Dushman, Kaala Patthar, Dostana, Kranti, Naseeb, Ilzaam, Khudgarz and Aag Hi Aag, as well as some of his acclaimed performances, such as Paras, Tanhai, Blackmail, Muqabla, Bombay 405 Miles, Naram Garam, Haathkadi, Phaansi Ke Baad, Khoon Bhari Maang and Adharm.

Early life Sinha was born in Patna, Bihar, to Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha and Shyama Devi Sinha on 15 July 1946. He is the youngest of four brothers – Ram, Lakshman, Bharat and himself. He graduated from Patna Science College with a Bachelor of Science degree. He then earned a Diploma in Acting from the Film and Television Institute of India Pune. Currently the institute awards a scholarship to Diploma students in his name. He moved to Mumbai, where he started his career in the film industry. In 2008, he became a judge on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge show, season 4 on STAR One TV. On 3 October 2009, Sinha appeared on Sony Entertainment Television Asia's show Dus Ka Dum season 2 as host for a special episode. He is currently hosting the Bhojpuri version of the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati on Mahuaa channel.

He portrayed Chief Minister Konda Shivaji Rao, a character based on NTR in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra.

Political career Sinha entered politics by contesting in a by-election opposite Rajesh Khanna. He quoted in an interview that his biggest regret in his life was contesting election against his friend Khanna. Khanna won the election by 25,000 votes but was hurt and never spoke to Sinha thereafter. Sinha did try to reconcile with Khanna but to no avail; Khanna died in 2012.

He won the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar during the 2009 Indian general elections. He defeated another cinema celebrity, Shekhar Suman. Out of a total of 552,293 votes polled, Sinha received 316,549 votes. He won the seat in the subsequent 2014 Indian general elections as well. In 2014, he received 485,905 from the 813,411 total votes polled. As of May 2006, he was appointed as the head of the BJP Culture and Arts Department.

On 6 April 2019, Sinha became a member of the Indian National Congress in presence of Congress general secretary K. C. Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala. Sinha became a member of the Indian National Congress Party, having joined them after not being given a seat for the 2019 Indian general elections by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In March 2022, Sinha joined Trinamool Congress to contest in the By-election for the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency. On 16 April 2022, Sinha won by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party's Agnimitra Paul by a margin of 303,209 votes.

In the 2024 Indian general elections, Sinha won from Asansol seat, defeating BJP's Surendrajit Singh Ahluwalia by a margin of 59,564 votes.

2026 Rebellion

In June 2026, almost immediately after the massive Trinamool Congress defeat, around 20 MPs of TMC including Yusuf Pathan, Saayoni Ghosh, Sinha, Bapi Halder, Mala Roy, Mitali Bag, Deepak Adhikari, Arup Chakraborty, Sharmila Sarkar, Satabdi Roy, Rachna Banerjee, Prasun Banerjee and others, allegedly declared rebellion from their Party, and presented their written wish to join Bhartiya Janata Party. This group was led by Kakoli Ghosh.

Later, on 14 June, 20 MPs, including Sinha, signed a formal letter declaring their split from Trinamool Congress as to merge with the Nationalist Citizen Party of India (NCPI). They formally submitted the letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

The total strength of TMC in Lok Sabha had been 28, so that a number of 20 MPS made it eligible for splitting from the Party, as per the Indian Defection laws, so as to escape the anti-defection disqualification.

Awards

Filmography

Playback singer: Dost (1974) (uncredited) Jwalamukhi (1980) Naram Garam (1981)