Arun Jaitley

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Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley at the India Economic Summit 2010 cropped.jpg
Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)
Personal details
Born (1952-12-28) 28 December 1952 (age 60)
New Delhi
Political party Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s) Sangeeta Jaitley
Residence New Delhi
Alma mater Shri Ram College of Commerce and University of Delhi
Occupation Politician and Lawyer
Profession Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Religion Hinduism
Signature
Website www.arunjaitley.com

Arun Jaitley (born 28 December 1952) is a prominent Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently the principal Opposition party in India. He is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and has previously held the portfolios as the Union cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry, Law and Justice in the National Democratic Alliance government (1998-2004).[1] [2]

Contents

Personal life [edit]

He was born to Maharaj Kishen Jaitley and Ratan Prabha Jaitley.[3] Born to a lawyer father,[4] he did his schooling at St. Xavier's School, New Delhi from 1957-69.[5] He graduated in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He passed his Law degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, in 1977.[6] During his career as a student, he was the recipient of several distinctions for his outstanding performances both in academics and extra curricular activities. He was President of the Students Union of Delhi University in 1974.[7]

Jaitley has been married to Sangeeta Jaitley since 24 May 1982. They have two children, son Rohan[8] and daughter Sonali.[3][1]

Political career as student union leader [edit]

Jaitley was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader in the Delhi University Campus in the seventies and rose to be President of the University Students' Union in 1974. During the period of proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975–77) when civil liberties were suspended, he was under preventive detention for a period of 19 months. He was a prominent leader of a movement against corruption launched in the year 1973 by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan. He was the Convenor of the National Committee for Students and Youth organisation appointed by Jai Prakash Narayan.[9] He was also active in civil rights movement and helped found PUCL Bulletin along with Satish Jha and Smitu Kothari.[4][7] After being released from jail he joined Jan Sangh.

Legal career [edit]

He has been practising law before the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts in the country since 1977.[1] He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1990.[2] He was appointed Additional Solicitor General by the V. P. Singh government in 1989 and did the paperwork for the investigations into the Bofors scandal.[4] His clients cover the political spectrum from Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal to Madhavrao Scindia of the Indian National Congress to L. K. Advani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has authored several publications on legal and current affairs. He has presented a Paper on Law relating to Corruption and Crime in India before the Indo-British Legal Forum. He was a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session in June 1998 where the Declaration on Law relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved.

Jaitley was a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session in June 1998 where the Declaration on Laws Relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved.[2] Jaitley has also appeared on behalf of giant multinational corporations such as PepsiCo against and Coca Cola and in various other cases in India. [10][11] After having been the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Jaitley represented Pepsi in 2002 in a case where the Supreme Court of India admonished and imposed stiff fines on 8 companies for painting advertisements on ecologically fragile rocks along the Manali-Rohtang road in the Himalayas. "The companies were also issued show-cause notices as to why exemplary damages should not be imposed on them for indulging in environmental vandalism."[12] In 2004, Jaitley appeared on behalf of Coca Cola in a case at the Rajasthan High Court.[13]

Political career [edit]

Arun Jaitley had been the member of the ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during his student ys. He has been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991.[14] He became the spokesman of the BJP during the period preceding the 1999 general election. After the Vajpayee Government came to power under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance, he was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge) on October 13, 1999. He was also appointed Minister of State for Disinvestment (Independent Charge), a new Ministry created for the first time to give effect to the policy of disinvestments under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. He 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. 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. He demitted the office of the Minister for Shipping with effect from September 1, 2001 and as Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs on July 1, 2002 to join as a Secretary General, BJP and its national spokesman.[1] He worked in this capacity till January 2003. He rejoined the Union Cabinet as the Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice on 29 January 2003. With the defeat of the National Democratic Alliance in May 2004, Jaitley returned to serving the BJP as a General Secretary, and back to his legal career.

He is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat (as of March 2006). He was chosen as the Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha on June 3, 2009 by L.K. Advani. On June 16, 2009 he resigned from the post of General Secretary of BJP as per his party's One Man One Post principle. He is also a member of the Central Election Committee of the party.[15]

In his capacity as the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, he has been credited for his excellent oratory which is matched equally by his intense research into the topic and his ability to succinctly convey the message without being shrill. He has a long political career. However, he has never contested any direct election.

Controversies and Criticism [edit]

  • Congress leader Kapil Sibal has hit out at Jaitley for allegedly suggesting to a US diplomat, as per a Wikileaks cable, that the use of Hindu nationalism was an opportunistic issue for the BJP and will always remain a "talking point" for the party. Jaitley however denied the usage of term "opportunistic" and said said that the use of the word opportunistic in reference to nationalism or Hindu nationalism is neither his view nor his language".[16][17]
  • In the Rajya Sabha, Congress Member of Parliament Mani Shankar Aiyar called Jaitley a "fascist" and accused Jaitley of protecting and supporting those responsible for the Gujarat riots of 2002. [18] However Aiyar later expressed regret stating that he had used them “inadvertently and without malicious intent”. This was after the BJP kept disrupting the Rajya Sabha continuously for two days subsequent to which Congress President Sonia Gandhi reportedly requested Aiyar to express regret so as to allow the Rajya Sabha to function.[19]
  • There was an inexplicable 5 fold increase in Jaitley's assets in the space of four months. In November 2011 his declared assets were reported to be Rs 23.86 crore, but in March 2012 he declared his assets to be more than Rs 120 crore when filing his Rajya sabha nomination.[20]According to the affidavit filed by him Jaitley's net worth is more than Rs 158 crore. Jaitley reportedly failed to disclose details of a plot in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, allotted to him at concessional rates. [21]
  • Congress leader Digvijay Singh criticised Jaitley for claiming that retired judges should not be given post-retirement jobs in government. According to Digvijay, Jaitley "conveniently forgets that as a law minister he himself made post retirement appointments of mediocre judges with known leanings towards BJP." [22]

Notable achievements [edit]

Legal [edit]

He represented the Birla family in their legal battle against R. S. Lodha on the question of ownership of Birla Corporation Limited, the property worth Rs. 5000 Cr and above.

He has represented Ram Gopal Verma in a case against the film-maker who had a distorted version of the National Anthem in his film Rann. He later dropped the song from the film.

84th Amendment [edit]

He successfully introduced the eighty-fourth amendment to the Constitution of India in 2002 freezing parliamentary seats until 2026.[23]

91st Amendment [edit]

He successfully introduced the ninety-first amendment to the Constitution of India in 2004 penalising defections.[24]

Role as strategic planner of BJP [edit]

Recently, Arun Jaitley had emerged as strategic planner for his track record of managing a number of victories in state Assembly election for the BJP.

Jaitley as General Secretary has managed 8 Assembly elections as of May 2008. Most recently, he oversaw the BJP's success in the state of Karnataka.

Gujarat [edit]

In 2002, Jaitley helped his close associate, Narendra Modi, win the Gujarat Assembly elections with a landslide mandate, winning 126 out of 182 seats.

In December 2007, Jaitley orchestrated a well organized campaign to return the incumbent Chief Minister Narendra Modi back to power. The BJP won 117 seats out of the 182 seats. Narendra Modi specifically asked the party high command to depute Jaitley in Gujarat. The primary poll issues were pro-incumbency of Narendra Modi and good governance by the state administration.

Madhya Pradesh [edit]

In 2003, Jaitley, managed the assembly elections for the BJP in the state of Madhya Pradesh. He, along with Uma Bharti, won

Karnataka [edit]

Arun Jaitley was specifically put in charge of Karnataka, which went to polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha in May 2004. Karnataka is the only southern state in which the BJP has a sizable presence and a positive mandate for the BJP was expected. The BJP won 18 out of 26 Lok Sabha Seats in the State and emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly, capturing 83 seats, as opposed to the Congress' 68 and the Janata Dal (Secular)'s 59.

In May 2008, Jaitley oversaw a phenomenal election campaign in Karnataka, outdoing his previous performance. In the 224-member Assembly, the BJP won 110 seats, falling 3 short of a majority. Soon after, Jaitley negotiated the support of 5 independent MLAs thus taking the BJP's strength to 115. All party leaders starting from President Rajnath Singh to colleague Sushma Swaraj and the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate in Karnataka, B.S. Yedyurrappa, credited Jaitley with the victory. The Karnataka victory is widely touted as BJP's entry in South Indian politics.

Bihar [edit]

In 2005, after the February elections resulted in a hung verdict, re-elections were held in November in the state of Bihar. This election was fought by the BJP in a coalition with the JD(U). He was the chief strategist of the NDA combine. The BJP, ended up winning an all-time high of 58 seats and with the JD(U)'s 88 seats were able to form the government. Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) was instated as Chief Minister and the BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi was installed as Deputy Chief Minister.of Bihar.

Punjab [edit]

In February 2007, Jaitley managed the BJP's campaign in Punjab and coordinated a strategy between the party and its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal. Out of the 23 seats the party contested, it won 19, a figure that surpassed all expectations and is the party's best-ever performance in the state.

MCD [edit]

Late in 2007, Jaitley was appointed general secretary in-charge of elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Of the 272 member Corporation, the BJP won 184 wards.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "PIB Press Releases". Pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2012-10-25. 
  2. ^ a b c "Hall of Fame - Top 50". J. Sagar Associates. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  3. ^ a b http://164.100.47.5:8080/members/website/Mainweb.asp
  4. ^ a b c "Sorry". Indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25. 
  5. ^ "My memorable School days at St. Xaviers". Arun Jaitley. Retrieved 17 February 2013. 
  6. ^ "Member Profile: Arun Jeitley". Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 17 February 2013. 
  7. ^ a b http://pib.myiris.com/profile/article.php3?fl=D20166
  8. ^ The writer has posted comments on this article (2004-04-24). "Knot for everybody's eyes - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25. 
  9. ^ Singh, Justice Manmohan. "Mr. Arun Jaitley vs Network Solutions Private Limited". Delhi High Court. Retrieved 6 May 2013. 
  10. ^ "Cola war now goes to court,". 
  11. ^ "SC stays contempt proceedings against Coke, Pepsi, The Economic Times,". 
  12. ^ "SC imposes Rs 1 cr cost on firms for defacing rocks, The Times of India,". 
  13. ^ "Court blow to cola giants, The Telegraph,". 
  14. ^ "Rajya Sabha Members Homepage - Arun Jaitley". Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  15. ^ "Central Election Committee". BJP. Retrieved 6 May 2013. 
  16. ^ "Sibal hits out at BJP over WikiLeaks cable on Jaitley". NDTV.com. 2011-03-27. Retrieved 2012-10-25. 
  17. ^ "Arun Jaitley denies remark in WikiLeaks cable". NDTV. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  18. ^ "In Rajya Sabha, Aiyar calls Jaitley a fascist". Times of India. May 4 2010. 
  19. ^ "Aiyar expresses regret for remarks in Rajya Sabha". The Hindu (in English). IANS. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 
  20. ^ "5-fold rise in Jaitley's assets". DNA. March 20 2012. 
  21. ^ "Jaitley files for Rajya Sabha, is worth Rs 158 cr". Indian Express. March 20 2012. 
  22. ^ "Arun Jaitley's criticism of Justice Katju's appointment uncalled for". Times of India. February 18 2013. 
  23. ^ Arun Jaitley introduced the 84th Amendment to freeze parliamentary seats until 2026
  24. ^ Arun Jaitley introduced the 91st Amendment to penalise defections(pdf)

External links [edit]

Political offices
Preceded by
Ram Jethmalani		 Minister of Law and Justice
2000-2002		 Succeeded by
Hansraj Bhardwaj
Preceded by
Hansraj Bhardwaj		 Minister of Law and Justice
2003-?		 Succeeded by
Veerappa Moily
Preceded by
unknown		 Minister of Shipping
2000-2001		 Succeeded by
G K Vasan
Preceded by
unknown		 Minister of Commerce and Industry
2003-04		 Succeeded by
unknown
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