Jaitley gets high praise from party chief

The BJP president was speaking at the launch of the Finance Minister's book

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah complimented Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday for, he said, being at the core of the success of the 30-month Narendra Modi government.

Shah said the recovery of Rs 65,000 crore unaccounted money and impending rollout of a national goods and services tax reform were two big achievements of the government. “Both relate to Arunji’s portfolio,” he said.

The occasion was the unveiling of the Hindi translation of Jaitley’s newspaper articles, blog posts and speeches, titled Andhere se ujale tak (from darkness to light), of the past three years.

Shah attributed the success of the Indian economy as one of the fastest growing in the world to the leadership Jaitley had given at the finance ministry. He said the Congress-led government had left the government’s coffers in a pitiable state. The Modi government, he said, had launched several welfare schemes to help the marginalised and underprivileged join the mainstream, while ensuring economic growth. This in large measure was thanks to the contribution of Jaitley and his ministry, Shah said.

The BJP president also lauded Jaitley’s role as an election strategist for the party. Jaitley had played a pivotal role as the party general secretary and media in charge when L K Advani was party chief, he recalled. And, praised Jaitley’s role as leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014. For those five years, he said, Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj, his counterpart in the Lok Sabha, raised issues of public concern and contributed to people’s movements against the government of the day. Their struggle had laid the foundation for the Modi government at the Centre.

Drawing from cricketing imagery, Shah said the period of 2009 to 2014 was when the government of the day was bowling full tosses. “Jaitley never played defensively. He always struck the ball out of the stadium,” Shah said, to a hall full of Union ministers, members of Parliament, party leaders and supporters.

The BJP president said Jaitley was a rare example among politicians born after 1947 to have lived a value-based and unimpeachable public life. Though a leader from the ‘abhijaat varg’, or the elite, a product of Lutyens’ Delhi, "he has great ability to connect with those living in rural India”.

The finance minister spoke at length about his political journey from the days he was active in student politics of Delhi and his imprisonment during the 1975-77 emergency rule. Jaitley said he started writing on issues of the day when 17 years of age. He said it was Advani who would, after the BJP was born in 1980, craft the party’s ideological line and resolutions. Jaitley said he succeeded Advani and now the next generation had taken over.

On his role as BJP spokesperson, Jaitley said the character of the media had also witnessed a change over the years. One reason for penning one’s thoughts became important with the advent of electronic media. He said the media had started setting the agenda and it became difficult to put one’s point of view in front of the public, as the media was highlighting only those issues that were relevant to its agenda.

Jaitley also rued the lack of humour and satire in public life. The minister recalled how parliamentarians Atal Behari Vajpayee, Madhu Dandavate and Piloo Mody would effectively use humour in their speeches. He hoped this would return to Indian political life in the years to come.