Jaitley: The man who wore many hats in public life

Jaitley: The man who wore many hats in public life

Maha Media 24 August 2019

Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley passed away on Saturday noon after a prolonged illness at All-India

Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The 66-year-old multi talented politician was admitted in the Cardio Neuro centre at AIIMS and was on life support over the last month. Apart from jolly nature, Jaitley was known as multi-talented politician, lawyer, cricket administration and quintessential Delhi insider. After Late Sushma Swaraj, Jaitley was the most affable public face of ruling BJP.

A product of the student movement who was jailed during the Emergency, Jaitley’s was a political journey that mirrored the rise of the BJP in post-liberalisation India. With the demise of Arun Jaitley, India has lost a much-beloved politician symbolising the post-Emergency generation of student leaders who defied dynasties and rose up the ranks through sheer grit and talent. Under the Modi government, he held as many portfolios including finance, defence, corporate affairs and information and broadcasting, although he lost the only Lok Sabha poll he ever contested from Amritsar, in 2014.

As a finance minister, his achievements include the implementation the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime. He was also at the helm when the controversial decision to demonetize high value currency notes was taken in November 2016. Jaitley chaired 32 out of 36 meetings of the GST Council. These meetings saw over 900 decisions taken and not a single one required voting even when the GST Council had members from opposition-ruled States such as West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala. After Sushma Swaraj’s untimely demise, Jaitley’s death is a big loss for BJP.

The tragic passing away of Jaitley after Sushma Swaraj, and of Pramod Mahajan years earlier, it seems that it is end of the column of second-generation leaders that LK Advani had groomed in the 1990s to lead the BJP. With his passing away, the vestiges of the spirit of dialogue, camaraderie and democratic spirit have finally evaporated from the institutional sub-culture of the BJP.