From ABVP activist to finance minister, know different shades of Arun Jaitley’s political journey

Born in the year 1952 to Maharaj Kishen Jaitley and Ratan Prabha Jaitley, Arun Jaitley was one of the most senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who held some key profiles in the Narendra Modi cabinet.

Arun Jaitley did his schooling at St. Xavier’s School, New Delhi from 1960-69 and did his graduation in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He obtained is Law degree from the University of Delhi, in 1977. Jaitley was the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student activist in the Delhi University in the seventies and became President of the University Students’ Union in 1974.

After obtaining LLB, Jaitley started practising law before the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts in the country since 1977. In January 1990, he was designated as a Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court and was appointed Additional Solicitor General in 1989. On behalf of the Government of India, Jaitley was part of the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly Session in June 1998 where the Declaration on Laws Relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved.

During the period of proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975-77), he was placed under preventive detention first in the Ambala Jail and then in the Tihar Jail, Delhi. In 1977, being the convener of the Loktantric Yuva Morcha at a time when the Congress suffered defeat in the General Elections, Jaitley was appointed the president of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP. Later, he headed the youth wing of the BJP as its president.

In his political journey, Arun Jaitley wore different hats. He has been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991. On 13 October 1999, in the Vajpayee Government, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge). He was also appointed as Minister of State for Disinvestment (Independent Charge), a new ministry created for the first time to give effect to the policy of disinvestments.

He also took additional charge of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs on 23 July 2000. Later, Jaitley became a Cabinet Minister in November 2000 and simultaneously took charge of the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs and Shipping. He was chosen as the Leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha on 3 June 2009.

In the Narendra Modi cabinet, Arun Jaitley looked after the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He was also the Minister of Defence (2014 & 2017) and the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India (2014-2016).