Arun Jaitley Birthday: Remembering Arun Jaitley, the BJP ‘Stalwart’ who brought glory to the party!

Arun Jaitley Birthday: Today is the 70th birth anniversary of Arun Jaitley, the former finance minister of India who oversaw the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax.

The country lost a very mature finance minister and politician on 24th August 2019. The former finance minister of India is credited with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Under his tenure, the finance ministry took many important decisions such as demonetization, the merger of the Railway budget with the general budget and the introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. He was one of the rare politicians who had good relations even with the opposition leaders. Jaitley often helped BJP in bringing together the opposition to form a coalition government when needed. While we pay homage to one of the finest finance ministers we ever had, let’s know more about our former finance minister.

Today on Arun Jaitley Birthday, let’s look at some of the lesser-known facts about him.

1. Arun Jaitley was born on December 28, 1952, in Delhi. Jaitley completed his schooling at St. Xavier’s School, New Delhi from 1957-69. After completing his graduation in commerce, B.Com from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi, he went on to complete an LLB degree from the University of Delhi in 1977.

2. He was an active member of student politics and was a member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the Delhi University Campus and later became the President of the University Students Union in 1974. He went on to become a lawyer after pursuing an LLB course from Delhi University. His active participation in politics during his student days landed him in jail during the period of emergency.

3. Arun Jaitley practised law in the Supreme Court and various High Courts all over the country since 1987. Jaitley joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shortly after its formation in the year 1980. He has represented BJP veteran leader LK Advani, Madhavrao Scindia from Congress, Sharad Yadav from Janata Dal PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola in courts.

4. In 1991, Jailey rose through the party ranks to become a member of the BJP national executive committee. He was appointed as Additional Solicitor General by the V.P. Singh Government in 1989 and did the paperwork for the investigations into the Bofors scandal.

5. In 1999, then-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee picked Jaitley as the minister for information and broadcasting in his government. Before Amit Shah came onto the national scene, Arun Jaitley was one of the key strategists of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

6. Between 2000-04, Jaitley served as the union law minister in the Vajpayee government. After the BJP’s rout in general elections that followed, Jaitley was seen active in legal circles as well, continuing his profession as a lawyer. Mr Jaitley had a great command over his language and was a great orator.

7. He held the position of Vice-President of BCCI but resigned after the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

8. Mr Jaitley never won the Lok Sabha election in his career. In 2009, the BJP appointed him as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He, along with Sushma Swaraj, was among two of the most articulate voices of the party in the parliament.

9. His favourite politician was Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his favourite cricketers are Gautam Gambhir and Virendra Sehwag.

10. Arun Jaitley has penned various books on legal affairs and current affairs.

Jaitley served as the Finance Minister of India for five years, from 2014 to 2019, under the BJP-led NDA government. Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium was also renamed Arun Jaitley.