Personal life
He was born to Maharaj Kishen Jaitley and Ratan Prabha Jaitley.[3] Born into aPunjabi Hindu Brahmin family to a lawyer father,[4][5] he did his schooling at St. Xavier's School, New Delhi from 1957-69.[6] He graduated in Commerce fromShri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi in 1973. He passed his Law degree from the University of Delhi, in 1977.[7] 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.[8]
Jaitley has been married to Sangeeta Jaitley since 24 May 1982. They have two children, son Rohan[9] and daughter Sonali.[1][3]
Political career as student union leader
Jaitley was an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader in theDelhi University Campus in the seventies and rose to be President of the University Students' Union in 1974. During the period of proclamation ofInternal 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.[10] He was also active in civil rights movement and helped found PUCL Bulletin along with Satish Jha and Smitu Kothari.[5][8] After being released from jail he joined Jan Sangh.
Legal career
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. Singhgovernment in 1989 and did the paperwork for the investigations into the Bofors scandal.[5] 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 theBharatiya 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. [11][12]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."[13] In 2004, Jaitley appeared on behalf of Coca Cola in a case at the Rajasthan High Court.[14]
Political career[edit]
Arun Jaitley had been the member of the ABVP, the student wing of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) during his student years. He has been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991.[15] 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.[16]
In his capacity as the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, he has been credited for his excellent oratory skills which is matched equally by his intense research into the topic. However, Being in the party since 1980 he never contested any direct election until 2014. He was the party's candidate for Amritsar (replacing Navjot Singh Sidhu) for Indian general election, 2014 which he lost to Congress candidate Amarinder Singh.
He is currently the Finance Minister with an additional charge of Defence Minister in the Union of India.
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