Arvind Khanna

Arvind Khanna (born 29 May 1967) is an Indian politician, businessman, investor and philanthropist. Khanna is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which he joined in January 2022. He is a senior leader of the BJP and a prominent figure in BJP Punjab. He is serving as Vice-President of BJP Punjab since December 2022 and is a member of BJP Punjab's core committee and finance committee. In his political career, Khanna has been known for using his wealth and engaging in philanthropy to further consolidate his influence. He served as the member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Sangrur from 2002 to 2007 and the MLA from Dhuri from 2012 to 2014. From 1998 to 2015, Khanna was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). During his time in the INC, Khanna served as General Secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), PPCC treasurer, President of the Punjab Youth Congress, and a member of the All India Congress Committee.

Khanna's business interests, through his ASAS group of companies, which he founded in 2008, were in the arms, aerospace, technology, software and telecommunications equipment industries. He also founded TSL Defence Technologies in 2001, which was one of India's first private sector defence manufacturing companies. During his business career, Khanna was noted for being a powerful businessman. Reportedly, Khanna was a central figure in the defence industry of India and allegedly, exerted substantial control over the approval of Indian arms deals. However, the allegations against him were never proven, and the investigations into Khanna found no evidence of wrongdoing and were dropped. He has also had other business interests and investments in various industries. In 2022, Khanna ended all involvement in his business interests due to his return to politics.

In 1997, Khanna founded the Umeed Foundation, one of the largest non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Punjab. He has also held positions in sports administration, including serving as the president of the Professional Golfers Association of India.

Early life and education
Arvind Khanna was born on 29 May 1967 in Delhi, India. Khanna is the second son and third child of businessman Vipin Khanna and Naginder Khanna, and a member of the Khanna family. His elder siblings are Vinita and Navin, and his younger brother is Aditya. His mother, Naginder, was the daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala.

Khanna attended school at Millfield in Somerset, England. He then attended college at Pepperdien University in California, from where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in business management. During his time in university, Khanna lived in Beverly Hills, California. He has been a junior champion golfer in India, and has also played golf for Millfield, Pepperdine University and the Indian national men's team. In 1991, Khanna came back to Delhi and joined his family businesses.

Early political career
Khanna was introduced to politics by Sukhbir Singh Badal, and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1997. Khanna and Badal are close friends. After joining the party, he became the General Secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal's youth wing.

Indian National Congress
In 1998, Khanna joined the Indian National Congress and served as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) party treasurer. He also served as the President of the Punjab Youth Congress. Khanna has been elected twice as a member of the legislative assembly (MLA). In the 2002 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, Khanna contested from Sangrur and secured 42,339 votes (44.2%), winning by a margin of 19,132 votes. In the 2004 Indian general election, he contested from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, and lost in a closely contested election against Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. In the 2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, he won from Dhuri by securing 51,536 votes (45.65%). Khanna served as the General Secretary of the PPCC and was also attached to the Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) President's office. He was also a member of the All India Congress Committee.

Khanna wielded significant influence in the Punjab Congress because of his vast personal fortune and his relationship with Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab. Khanna and Singh are first cousins, being related through Khanna's mother, Naginder, who was Singh's paternal aunt. During his time in the Congress Party, Khanna was Singh's right-hand man and controlled access to Singh. Khanna would regularly provide his private airplane and helicopter for Singh's use. Khanna also gained control over the Punjab Congress' political strategy by using his personal fortune to fund Singh's office during his second term as PCC President, and hiring managers to monitor, coordinate and schedule Singh's meetings. In his visits to Chandigarh, Singh would stay in Khanna's house in Sector 10.

However, in May 2014, he resigned as an MLA, and then left the Congress Party in 2015. At the time, he also considered joining the Shiromani Akali Dal, but decided to leave politics entirely. Khanna stated that his reasons for leaving politics were to focus on his businesses and spend time with his family. It was also reported that he was discontent with the Punjab Congress and its leadership, which Khanna himself stated to be true. During his time in the Punjab Congress, Khanna was the party's main financial benefactor.

Bharatiya Janata Party
In 2021, speculation arose in the media that Khanna may be joining the Shiromani Akali Dal and contesting from Sangrur in the 2022 elections. In January 2022, Khanna reentered politics and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union Cabinet Ministers, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Hardeep Singh Puri. Khanna is a senior leader of the BJP and an influential figure in BJP Punjab.

BJP Punjab
Khanna was considered to be the most prominent of the politicians that joined BJP Punjab before the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections. He contested from Sangrur in the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections and lost to Narinder Kaur Bharaj.

Within a year of joining the BJP, Khanna was appointed to senior offices in BJP Punjab. In December 2022, Khanna was appointed as Vice-President of BJP Punjab. He was also appointed to BJP Punjab's newly formed finance committee. In March 2023, he was put in charge of managing the Jalandhar West Assembly constituency for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency by-election in May 2023.

Khanna has been involved in growing the BJP's standing and influence in Punjab through recruiting senior leaders from rival political parties. In May 2022, Khanna was among the BJP leaders, which included Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, BJP National President J.P Nadda, former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee President Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Parminder Singh Brar, that welcomed former Congress leader Sunil Jakhar to the BJP.

In June 2022, several senior Punjab politicians, including 4 former Punjab Cabinet Ministers from the Indian National Congress, joined the BJP in the presence of Amit Shah and other BJP leaders, which included Khanna, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Jakhar, then-BJP Punjab State President Ashwani Kumar Sharma and Sirsa.

Khanna has been active in BJP Punjab's programmes. From May to June 2023, Khanna took part in BJP Punjab's outreach programme to highlight the national the first and second Modi ministries' achievements in Punjab from 2014 to 2023. In July 2023, Khanna, along with BJP Punjab President Sunil Jakhar and other senior politicians from the Punjab BJP, visited the flood affected areas in Kharar during the 2023 North India floods. In November 2023, he was appointed to the BJP Punjab core committee. In March 2024, Khanna and Jakhar were the only senior BJP leaders who attended the gathering in Badal for the first death anniversary of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. On 14 April 2024, Punjab Police detained 40 farmers that had gathered to protest Khanna's visit to Malerkotla. The 40 farmers were later released by Punjab Police on the same day. In the 2024 Indian General Election, Khanna contested, unsuccessfully, from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency; however, he gained a considerable increase in his vote share.

Punjab opposition
In September 2022, Khanna spoke at the mock Punjab Assembly session that was organised by the BJP against the Aam Adami Party (AAP) Government in Punjab. In August 2022, Khanna and other senior BJP leaders met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Mohali and discussed issues the state is facing, which included Modi stating his concerns about Punjab's depleting water table. In October 2022, Khanna accompanied Hardeep Singh Puri, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, to the inauguration of Asia's largest compressed biogas plant in Lehragaga, Sangrur district. The plant was commissioned by Verbio, a German bioenergy company. He has also criticised the AAP Government in Punjab for not adequately handling lawlessness incidents in the state.

In June 2023, as part of BJP Punjab's outreach programme, Khanna participated in the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mansukh Mandaviya's rally in Longowal against the AAP Government's policies relating to Punjab's healthcare centres. In July 2023, Khanna was part of a BJP Punjab delegation that met with the Governor of Punjab, Banwarilal Purohit. During the meeting, the delegation criticised the APP Government's response and measures in managing the 2023 North India floods in Punjab and asked Purohit to force the APP Government to take more adequate measures to manage the impact of the floods.

Business career
Khanna began his business career in 1991. His business interests were in the arms, aerospace, technology, software and telecommunications equipment industries. Khanna has been reported to be a powerful businessman. In 2001, Khanna founded TSL Defence Technologies, which was one of the first private sector defence companies in India. TSL Defence Technologies was also one of the first 9 Indian private sector companies to receive a defence manufacturing license. TSL Defence Technologies manufactured simulators, simulator accessories, electronic warfare equipment and airborne radars.

In 2008, Khanna founded ASAS Investments, which had business interests in both India and foreign countries. ASAS Investments provided market research, market analysis and advisory services to foreign companies that were looking to enter the Indian market and Indian companies that were seeking to do business in other countries. The company also acquired strategic investments in startups and other businesses which required either capital, a strategic advisor or access to connections in India or globally. Other ASAS group companies that Khanna founded were ASAS Global Services, ASAS Tec, ASAS Tech Solutions, ASAS Aviation and ASAS Projects.

Khanna, through his ASAS group of companies, had also collaborated with foreign companies to bring advanced hardware and software technologies to the Indian defence, aerospace and telecommunications industries. Through various companies that Khanna owned, he was a shareholder of Indian defence and aerospace companies, Defsys Solutions from 2012 to 2015, Defsys Technical Services from 2015 to 2016 and Realism Technologies from 2015 to 2016, that had offset agreements with foreign defence and aerospace original equipment manufacturers.

Other companies Khanna had founded include Root Invest, Umeed Urban Solutions, Umeed Projects, Umeed Social & Economic Development, Umeed Rural Outsourcing and Tiger Corporation. From 1997 to 2006, Tiger Sports Marketing, a Tiger Corporation joint venture with Asia Sports Group, managed the commercial rights of the Indian Golf Tour. In 2006, Tiger Sports Marketing set up, managed and marketed the first Professional Golf Tour of India. He was also one of the co-owners of Punjab Kings, which was known as Kings XI Punjab at the time, Indian Premier League cricket team founded in 2008.

Khanna also had investments in the real estate and hospitality industries. In 2006, Khanna, through one of his investment companies, and businessman Gursamarjit Singh invested in a company that developed a hotel in Delhi, and the company was sold in 2012. Singh's office also managed Khanna's real estate investments portfolio, however, according to an Indian business registry, the last business interaction between Singh and Khanna took place in 2018. Singh, a real estate businessman based in the UK, was a donor to the Conservative Party and was seen with former British prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson. In 2020, Singh posted a birthday message for Khanna on the social media platform Instagram, referring to Khanna as the capo dei capi (a term which translates to boss of bosses in Italian), however, Singh's lawyers stated that the comment was a private joke between friends. Singh's lawyers in India also stated that Khanna and Singh have no business relationships, and that Khanna is a personal friend amongst Singh's other personal friends.

In 2022, Khanna ended his involvement in all business activities due to reentering politics.

Controversies
Khanna's father, Vipin, was allegedly one of the largest and most powerful arms dealers in India. In his business career, Khanna was reported to be a key figure in the Indian defence industry and allegedly exerted considerable control over the approval of arms deals in India. Khanna, and his family, were investigated and accused in several arms deals. However, the investigations into Khanna and his family never resulted in any convictions and never proved any wrongdoing.

In 2000, the Indian Navy had placed a purchase order for seven Barak anti-missile defence systems and 200 Barak missiles, from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), an Israeli defence and aerospace company. In 2007, Khanna and his family were accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of having influenced the deal in favour of IAI, receiving kickbacks from the company, and it was also suspected that companies owned by Khanna and his family had received substantial payments from IAI. Eventually, the case against Khanna and his family was dropped due to lack of evidence.

In 2003, Denel, a South African defence and aerospace company, had received an order by the Indian Army to supply 1200 bunker buster anti-material rifles. In 2005, Khanna and his family were accused for allegedly facilitating the deal. The CBI suspected Khanna and his family of receiving 12.75% in commissions for securing the contract in Denel's favor, and to influence the Ministry of Defence's Price Negotiation Committee. However, Khanna and his family denied any involvement in the Denel deal, and eventually, the CBI dropped the case due to lack of evidence.

In 2009, Israel Military Industries (IMI), an Israeli weapons manufacturer, was awarded a contract by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to build a factory to produce artillery charges. The CBI accused Khanna's company, TSL Defence Technologies, and its employees of influencing the contract selection on behalf of IMI with senior members of the OFB. The Delhi High Court later acquitted Khanna and his company, and gave them a clean chit. In addition to this, the Delhi High Court also levied a fine on the Ministry of Defence for falsely implicating Khanna's company in the case.

From 2012 to 2015, Khanna, through various companies he owned, was a shareholder of Defsys Solutions. The company was linked to allegations of corruption regarding its influence on and facilitation of India’s procurement of 36 Dassault Rafale multirole combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force in 2016. The entire procurement process for the Dassault Rafale lasted from 2012 to 2016. Built by Dassault Aviation, a French defence and aerospace company, the Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft procurement was, at the time, the largest arms deal in Indian history. However, none of the shareholders of Defsys Solutions were investigated for allegations of corruption in the Dassault Rafale procurement. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India dismissed the petition that sought to review the court’s 2018 judgment that upheld the purchase of the combat aircraft. In 2022, the Supreme Court allowed the withdrawal of a public interest litigation which sought to form an enquiry into the fighter aircraft deal. Khanna did not face any allegations of being involved in the Dassault Rafale procurement and he was not linked to any of the alleged wrongdoings in the Rafale deal.

Philanthropy
In 1997, Khanna founded the Umeed Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in Sangrur. The Umeed (which translates to hope in Hindi) Foundation is one of Punjab's largest NGOs. Since it was founded, the NGO has reached out to 550 villages and has helped 12 million people. The Umeed Foundation's initiatives are primarily focused on the economic and social empowerment of women, providing health care and employment generation. The NGO's healthcare initiatives involve providing primary health care in rural Punjab. The NGO has also been supported by various organizations that include the Council of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), Medanta, Cipla, Mohandai Oswal Hospital, the Australian High Commission in India and the Government of Japan.

In 2008, the Umeed Foundation collaborated with the Bharti Airtel Foundation and laid the foundation stone of the Satya Bharti School in Sangrur. The foundation stone was laid by Khanna's mother, Naginder. In 2012, Umeed participated in the New York International Gift Fair and displayed products made by underprivileged women from rural Punjab under the NGO's social and economic empowerment initiatives. In 2023, the Umeed Foundation restarted its services. After restarting its services in 2023, the NGO focuses on providing healthcare, employment and education for the underprivileged people of rural Punjab. The NGO has also helped form women's self help groups in villages which receive employment training.

Sports and sports administration
Khanna has competed in golf tournaments in India and had served as the president of the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGI). He had an instrumental role in growing and popularising professional golf in India. Khanna has also helped and supported young Indian golfers with their international promotions. Khanna financially assisted professional golfer Smriti Mehra in the 1990s, when she was competing in tournaments in the United States. Through one of his companies, Khanna also sponsored professional golfer Gaurav Ghei, his friend and playing partner during the 1990s. He is one of the co-owners of Christie's Golf, a Delhi Golf Club League team.

Khanna also served as the president of the Fencing Association of India and as the Secretary-General of the Punjab Olympic Association.

Personal life
Khanna is married to Shagun Khanna, a lifestyle blogger. They have two sons, Adhiraj and Suryaveer. Adhiraj and Suryaveer maintain business and financial interests that are separate from Khanna's. Adhiraj married Tanya Chadha, the daughter of industrialist Raju Chadha, in 2021.