Arun Jaitley was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He served as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Corporate Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting of India in Narendra Modi`s Cabinet ministry from 2014 to 2019. He was an experienced person in holding the respectable position in NDA government tenure. He was the Union cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry, Law and Justice in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government (1998-2004). He was a candidate from BJP for Amritsar for Indian general election, 2014 but he was defeated by the candidate of Indian National Congress, Captain Amarinder Singh.
Early Life of Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley was born on 28th December 1952 in Delhi to Advocate Maharaj Kishen Jaitley and Ratan Prabha Jaitley. He was born into a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family. He did his schooling at St. Xavier`s School, New Delhi from the year 1957-69. Arun Jaitley did the graduation in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He passed his Law degree from the University of Delhi, in 1977. During his career as a student, he was the receiver of numerous distinctions for his stupendous performances both in academics and extracurricular activities. He was the President of the Students Union of Delhi University in 1974. From that time he stepped towards the Indian political hemisphere.
Political Career of Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader in Delhi University Campus in 1970. He rose to be the President of the University Students` Union in 1974. During the period of Proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975-77) when national and social liberties were pendant, he was under preventive incarceration for a period of 19 months. Arun Jaitley became a high-flying leader of a movement against corruption launched in the year 1973 by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan, once supreme man against Indian National Congress. Arun Jaitley was the Convener of the National Committee for Students and Youth organisation appointed by Jayaprakash Narayan. Arun Jaitley was also a vigorous person in civil rights movements in Indian society.
In the early phase of his working career, Arun Jaitley has been practising law before the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts in the country since 1977. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1990. Later he was appointed as an Additional Solicitor General by the government of Vishwanath Pratap Singh in 1989.
Arun Jaitley moved to Indian politics when he was the member of the ABVP, the student wing of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) during his student years. He has been a member of the National Executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991.
Later, he became the spokesman of the BJP during the period preceding the 1999 Indian general election. After the Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to power under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he was appointed as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting on October 13, 1999. Arun Jaitley then moved to the office of Minister of State for Disinvestment (Independent Charge), a new ministry created for the first time to give effort to the policy of disinvestments under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) administration. He also took over the additional charge of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs on July 23, 2000 following the resignation of Ram Jethmalani as the Union Cabinet Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.
Rise to Fame
His fame rose when he was elevated as a Cabinet Minister in November 2000 and was made simultaneously the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs and Shipping. He was the first Minister of Shipping following the bifurcation of the Ministry of Surface Transport.
Arun Jaitley demitted the office of the Minister for Shipping with effect from September 1, 2001 and as Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in the year 2002. After that he joined as a Secretary General, Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Spokesman. He rejoined the Union Cabinet as the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice on 29th January 2003. With the defeat of the National Democratic Alliance in May 2004, Arun Jaitley returned to serving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a General Secretary.
He was a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, and was the leader in Rajya Sabha from NDA. He was also a member of the Central Election Committee of the party. He then took the oath as a Finance Minister of India with an additional charge of Defense Minister in Indian Union.
Arun Jaitley authored some publications on legal and current affairs in India and global politics. He presented a Paper on Law relating to Corruption and Crime in India before the Indo-British Legal Forum. In June 1998, he became a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session where the Declaration on Law relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved. On 9th November 2014, he took the charge of Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Personal Life of Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley was married to Sangeeta Jaitley. They had two children, son Rohan and daughter Sonali.
Death of Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley died on 24th August 2019 in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in New Delhi at the age of 66.
