Arun Jaitley

Lore & Background

Arun Jaitley was born on 28 December 1952 in Delhi into a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin family which migrated from Lahore during Partition of India. He studied at St. Xavier's Senior Secondary School, Delhi, graduated with a BCom from Shri Ram College of Commerce in 1973, and earned an LLB from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in 1977. He was a student leader with the ABVP and was detained during the Emergency (1975–77) for 19 months. He was designated a Senior Advocate by the Delhi High Court in 1990 and served as Additional Solicitor General of India in 1989. He stopped practising law in June 2009 when he became Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He served as Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (1999–2000), Law and Justice (2000–04), and Finance (2014–19). He oversaw the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, demonetisation, merger of Railway budget with general budget, and introduction of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. He decided not to join the second Modi Cabinet in 2019 due to health issues.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hum to life at 6:47 PM, and the first wave of fans is already pressing against the turnstiles. A young boy, no older than seven, grips his father's hand and squints up at the scoreboard, trying to read the name of the opening batter. Around them, the air smells of masala chai and the faint, sweet tang of cut grass. A woman in a blue scarf adjusts her son's tiny helmet and whispers, 'Watch the yorkers tonight, yaar.' The groundkeeper rakes the last few lines of the pitch with a wooden bat, and the crowd's murmur swells into a low, anticipatory growl. Somewhere in the stands, a drum starts—just a single, steady beat—and then another, and then the whole stand is a drum. The first ball is bowled. The Kotla roars. Delhi is alive.

Reader's Guide

Arun Jaitley was a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2014 and re-elected from Uttar Pradesh in March 2018. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Amritsar but lost to Amarinder Singh.

Did You Know?

• He was under preventive detention for 19 months during the Emergency (1975–77).
• He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2020.
• He never contested a direct election until 2014.