Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal expressed deep pain at the sad demise of former Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday. Piyush Goyal called Arun Jaitley his brother and mentor and said that he looked after him for years. Terming Arun Jaitley's demise a great personal loss, the Union Minister called Arun Jaitley 'one of the tallest political leaders that India has ever produced. Piyush Goyal appreciated the former Law Minister an 'outstanding statesman and administrator who devoted his life to public service and nation’s growth'. The BJP leader expressed deep condolences to the family of Arun Jaitley in the moment of grief.

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"A person who was always available for all of us, in times of need with his advice. A symbol of honest politics and above all an outstanding human being is no longer with us today. For all of us, for the nation, for his family, the party, the passing away of Shri Arun Jaitley is an extremely sad day," Piyush Goyal said. 

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PM Modi speaks about the 'unbreakable' bond between Arun Jaitley and BJP

Prime Minister Modi expressed grief on the loss of the former Finance Minister as he hailed him for his glorious political career. PM called Arun Jaitley's demise a personal loss and said that the former Finance Minister was a great advisor, leader and a friend. He also said that Jaitley's insight on issues and nuanced understanding of matters had very few parallels, adding that BJP and Arun Jaitley shared an unbreakable bond. PM Modi spoke about the long political career of the former Union Minister and said that he held multiple ministerial responsibilities, which enabled him to contribute towards India’s economic growth, strengthening our defence capabilities, creating people-friendly laws and enhancing trade with other nations.

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Remembering Arun Jaitley

Born in Delhi on December 28, 1952, Arun Jaitley studied at the St Xavier's school and went on to graduate with a degree in commerce from the Shri Ram College of Commerce in 1973, and went on to pursue an LLB at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. At that time, he is also said to have considered becoming a Chartered Accountant. Active in politics since his time as a student, Jaitley was a member of the ABVP, and served as the President of the Delhi University Students Union in 1974. Like a number of his contemporaries in the BJP, Jaitley was put under preventive custody for fighting the Emergency as part of the JP movement, the clampdown on him lasting 19 months. He rose to become the president of the Delhi ABVP and its All India Secretary, He became the president of the youth wing of the Jan Sangh which he had joined later.

Parallel to his political commitments, Jaitley also practiced law, before the Supreme Court and numerous High Courts. He was appointed ASG in the VP Singh government in 1989, and has also appeared in several corporate matters. He stopped practicing law only in June 2009 on becoming the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, he had served as the Minister for Law and Justice. 

He is best known for having served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs in the first Narendra Modi government, having also held portfolios of Defence and Information and Broadcasting. It was Jaitley who rolled out the GST in 2017 which saw India becoming a unified market for goods and services for the first time, and was also the first chairman of the GST council, being widely credited for forging consensus leading to the Constitutional amendment that eventually passed the GST Bill. Jaitley opted out of the second Narendra Modi government, having gone to the US for two spells of treatment for a medical ailment in 2018-19. He has, however, regularly taken to Facebook and Twitter to pen blogs on various significant issues in the country.

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