BJP veteran and former finance minister Arun Jaitley breathed his last at AIIMS today. His life was full of remarkable achievements. Jaitley’s logical and inflexible arguments as a leader in the Rajya Sabha were a formidable challenge to the ruling party. As a leader, he continued to defy the opposition’s efforts to surround the Modi government with the same rationality. Jaitley’s journey started with student politics, ending from becoming BJP’s leading leader to reaching the chair of Finance Minister. Jaitley’s political journey is like a winning warrior in which he never looked back.
Political life began with ABVP
Arun Jaitley’s political career started with ABVP and he was also elected as the President of the Students’ Union of Delhi University. In 1977, Jaitley was elected student union president and the same year he was also made the national secretary of ABVP. In 1980, he was also given the charge of Youth wing of BJP. Those who have known Jaitley closely since college days say that Jaitley was very popular as a student due to his style of speech. A graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce and a law faculty from Law Faculty, Jaitley was counted as a talented student.
Arun Jaitley also joined the movement of Jayaprakash Narayan when the Emergency was imposed in the country, the shining face of politics going to jail during the Emergency. Young Jaitley also went to jail during this time and he met senior leaders of the time. Even after his release from jail, he remained in contact with the Jana Sangh and in 1980 he was given the charge of BJP’s youth wing. At that time, the BJP was moving forward under the leadership of Atal-Advani and with this Jaitley’s stature also continued to grow.
Jaitley has been the lawyer of many of the country’s most famous cases. Arun Jaitley is counted as one of the finest lawyers of the country. In the 80s, Jaitley fought important cases in the Supreme Court and many high courts of the country. In 1990, he was given the status of Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court. V.P. He got the post of Additional Solicitor General in Singh’s government. The Bofors scam in which former PM Rajiv Gandhi was also named, he did paperwork related to that case in 1989. In Pepsi vs Coca Cola case, Jaitley fought the case on behalf of Pepsi. Sources associated with the BJP say that it was Arun Jaitley who guided the lawyers fighting the case of Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter and Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. However, in 2009 he left the practice of law.
Union minister made in Atal government
Arun Jaitley also held several positions in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Jaitley was earlier considered among Advani’s special people. In 1999, he was made Minister of State in the Vajpayee government. However, he was given a place in the cabinet within a year. He was also entrusted with the Law Ministry as well as the Ministry of Disinvestment.
In 2009, Arun Jaitley was made the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha in 2009. As a leader in the Rajya Sabha, the opposition Jaitley surrounded the government with great preparation. Jaitley was in the media not only inside the house but also in his interview and press conference, he does not leave any chance to attack the UPA government.
Born in 1952 in Delhi
Arun Jaitley, who became Modi’s closest aide, emerged as a strong supporter of BJP making Narendra Modi the Prime Ministerial candidate. He is said to have had a good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a long time and had also reached Rajya Sabha after electing him from Gujarat. When Modi was made the Prime Minister candidate, senior BJP leaders LK Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi were also angry. Jaitley stood firm on such an occasion and became the closest aide to Prime Minister Modi.
Amritsar lost the elections in 2014, but increased in stature
In 2014, Arun Jaitley contested the Lok Sabha election from Amritsar for the first time in his political career. He was defeated by Captain Amarinder Singh in this election. This defeat did not affect Jaitley’s stature and he was given a big responsibility in the Modi cabinet. As finance minister, PM Modi chose Arun Jaitley and he was also made the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha. However, from 2017 onwards, Jaitley was constantly facing health problems. His kidney was also transplanted in 2018 and he could not present an interim budget in 2019 from the Modi government. During that time he was in the US for treatment.
Did not join Modi government in 2019, took charge on social media. Arun Jaitley announced not to join Modi government in 2019. He had refused to join the government citing health reasons. Despite this, Jaitley continued to be active on social media on behalf of the government. He also wrote long blogs to answer the opposition’s allegations several times.
