Arun Jaitley: Biography and Political Journey
Arun Jaitley Biography: Today is the death anniversary of senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley. At the age of 66, he passed away on 24 August, 2019. In the morning today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a tribute to a senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on hi first death anniversary. He tweeted "I miss my friend a lot" and also shared an old video, recalling him for his contributions as a political leader.
As we know that he was the Union Finance Minister through the Narendra Modi led BJP government's first term in power at the Centre. Previously, positions held by Arun Jaitley are Defence Minister, Corporate Affairs, Commerce and Industry, Law and Justice, Cabinet portfolios, etc. Let us read more about Arun Jaitley's early life, education, family, hobbies, net worth, political journey, etc.
Personnel Information on Life of Arun Jaitley
Name: Arun Jaitley
Date of Birth: 28 December, 1952
Place of Birth: New Delhi
Father's Name: Maharaj Kishen Jaitley
Mother's Name: Ratan Prabha Jaitley.
Spouse Name: Sangeeta Jaitley
Children: Son Rohan and Daughter Sonali
Education: B.Com from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi and L.L.B from Delhi University
Occupation: Lawyer and Politician
Important Positions held:
From 26 May,2014 to 14 May, 2018 - Finance Minister
From 13 March, 2017 to 3 September, 2017 - Minister of Defence
From 26 May, 2014 to 14 May, 2018 - Minister of Corporate Affairs
From 9 November, 2014 to 5 July, 2016 - Minister of Information and Broadcasting
From 3 June, 2009 to 26 May, 2014 - Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha
From 2000 to 2002 and 2003 to 2004 - Minister of Law and Justice
From 26 May, 2014 to 2 April, 2018 - Leader of the House, Rajya Sabha
Since April, 2018 – Rajya Sabha member
Death: 24 August, 2019
Place of Death: AIIMS Hospital, Delhi
Arun Jaitley was not able to present the Union Budget for 2018-19 and 2019-20 Interim Budget due to his poor health. In fact, in 2019, he did not contest the Lok Sabha Elections.
No doubt, when Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister, Modi Government was able to take some crucial economic initiatives like demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST).
How we can forget that during Jaitley's supervision, the Modi government merged the Railway Budget with the General Budget. Also, the decision of advancing the date of the general budget to 1 February was taken with the finance minister Arun Jaitley. For resolving the issues with companies, he introduced the insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. In recent times, IBC played a crucial role in the corporate sector.
Arun Jaitley's: Early Life and Family
He was born on 28 December, 1952 and raised in New Delhi. His father and mother were Maharaj Kishen Jaitley and Ratan Prabha Jaitley. His father was a lawyer. He did his schooling at St. Xavier's School, New Delhi from 1960-69. From Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi he did his graduation in Commerce in 1973 and passed his Law degree from Delhi University in 1977.
In the seventies, he was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student activist in the Delhi University and also became President of the University Students Union in 1974. On 24 May, 1982, he got married to Sangeeta Dogra and became the father of a son Rohan Jaitley and a daughter Sonali Jaitley.
Arun Jaitley's: Struggling Days and Political Career
During the proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975-77) civil liberties were suspended and Jaitley was also placed under preventive detention first in the Ambala Jail and then in the Tihar Jail, Delhi. In 1977, he was the convener of the Loktantric Yuva Morcha.
At this time the congress suffered defeat in the General Elections and he was appointed as the president of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP. Later, he became the president of the youth wing of BJP.
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Law Practice
Since 1977, after completing his law, he did his practice before the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts in the country. In the Delhi High Court, he was designated as a Senior Advocate in January 1990. In 1989, he was appointed as an Additional Solicitor General. In June 1998, he was a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session where decisions regarding the Declaration on Laws Relating to Drugs and Money laundering was approved.
Arun Jaitley as National Executive
Since 1991, he was a member of the national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting on 13 October, 1999. To give effect to the policy of disinvestments, for the first time a new ministry was created and he was appointed as a Minister of State for Disinvestment (Independent Charge).
On 23 July, 2000, additionally he took the charge of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs. In November 2000, he became a Cabinet Minister and simultaneously took the charge of the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs and Shipping. On 3 June, 2009, he was chosen as the Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Arun Jaitley's: Present Position
Currently, he is a member of Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. Since 26 May, 2014, he was a Minister in the Cabinet led Narendra Modi's government. From May 2014 to May, 2019, he was the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs. He was a Minister of defence in 2014 and 2017 and Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Government of India from 2014 to 2016.
Political Timeline of Arun Jaitley
- In 1977 - Appointed as the president of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP.
- In 1980, he joined BJP.
- Became the president of the youth wing of BJP and the secretary of the Delhi Unit in 1980.
- He became a member of the National Executive of the BJP in 1991.
- On behalf of the government of India, he was a delegate in the United Nations General Assembly Session in 1998.
- In 1999, he became the spokesperson of BJP, just before the General Assembly Elections.
- In 1999, Minister of State, Department of Information and Broadcasting. Additionally, headed the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.
- He joined the Council of Ministers as the Minister of State and also became the in charge of the newly formed Department of Disinvestment.
- In 2000, for the first time from Gujarat, he was made a member of the Rajya Sabha.
- In 2000, again appointed as the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs. Also, appointed as the head of the Ministry of Shipping.
- In November 2000, he was appointed as the Cabinet Minister after the resignation of Ramjeth Malani. Also, he was the Law Minister in the Cabinet and introduced several amendments to the Civil Procedure Code, the Criminal procedure Code and the Companies Act.
- In July, 2002, he became the General Secretary of the BJP.
- Till January 2003, he worked as the National spokesperson.
- In 2003, joined the Union cabinet as the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice and functioned till May 2004.
- In 2006, he was re-elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
- In 2012 again from Gujarat, he was re-elected as a member of Rajya Sabha for the third term.
- From 2009 to 2012, he was recognised as the Leader of Opposition.
- On 26 May, 2014, he became the Finance Minister with an additional charge of defence Ministry but later it was transferred to another person.
Arun Jaitley: Works and Achievements
- As a Law Minister, he brought several electoral and judicial reforms. He set up Advocates Welfare Fund and Investor Protection Fund.
- He implemented the scheme of setting up of the Fast Track Courts and also paid special attention to the computerisation of the courts.
- He brought amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act and the Negotiable Instruments Act to facilitate the expeditious disposal of cases.
- The High Courts of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were inaugurated under his guidance.
- In 2002, he successfully introduced the 84th amendment of the Constitution of India for freezing parliamentary seats till 2026.
- For penalising defection, in 2004 he successfully introduced 91st amendments to the Constitution of India.
- Played an important role as a strategic planner for the BJP in eight Assembly elections.
- In Gujarat, 2002 General Assembly elections, he helped his party colleague Narendra Modi to grab 126 seats out of 182.
- In 2007 again he helped Modi ji to come back to power by winning 117 seats out of 182 in Gujarat.
- He managed the Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh and won along with Uma Bharti in 2003.
- In 2004, he specifically put in charge in Karnataka and at the same time in Assembly election, BJP won 18 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats and captured 83 seats in the assembly elections and emerged as the largest party.
- He was appointed as the general secretary in charge of elections to MCD of Delhi in 2007 in which BJP won 184 out of 272.
- He was appointed as the Vice President of BCCI.
Interesting facts about Arun Jaitley
- When Arun Jaitley took an independent charge as a Minister of State for Disinvestment that time the ministry was newly created.
- He never won Lok Sabha Elections.
- He was appointed as Representative of the Central Government to hold discussions with the nominees of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Arun Jaitley was the chief Strategy planner of BJP for the 2014 election and was one of the reasons of the massive victory.
- He likes Cricket a lot and so he served in the Delhi Cricket Association (DDCA) and Board of Cricket in India (BCCI).
- He is a Lawyer, writer, author, and politician.
- According to the sources, his favourite politician was Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- His favourite player Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
- He did his paperwork's for the Bofors Scandal investigations.
- His clients include Madhavrao Scindia of INC to Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal to L.K Advani of BJP.
- He had penned several books publications on current and legal affairs.
- He had also appeared on behalf of multinational giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in India.
- He stopped practicing law in around 2009.
- Some of the famous books of Arun Jaitley are Andhere se Ujale ki Ore, Articles and Speeches by Arun Jaitley A Compilation, Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas book also released by Arun Jaitley.
No doubt, the contribution of Arun Jaitley to the BJP and the government for over two decades is not forgettable. He has been one of the main strategists for the party.
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