Arun Jaitley’s blogs to show light: Amit Shah

Rajya Sabha Member Swapan Das Gupta, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and BJP president Amit Shah release Mr Jaitley’s book Andhere Se Ujale Ki Aur in New Delhi. (Photo: G.N. Jha)

BJP president Amit Shah released a compilation of Hindi translation of Union minister Arun Jaitley’s speeches, blogs and articles, titled Andhere Se Ujale Ki Aur (From darkness to light) on Thursday.

Describing Mr Jaitley as a “successful finance minister, Mr Shah praised his writings, saying that one might allege that he had “lived in the Lutyens area”, but his articles have given voice and raised issues which concern a common man, living in a remote village. Heaping praise on Mr Jaitley, the BJP president said he is one of the few post-Independence leaders who worked to restore value-based polity.

Remembering the days when he had started writing, Mr Jaitley said he has been in the thick of political events since the days of Emergency and has been writing for decades on relevant issues. He rued media’s tendency to set the agenda and said it selectively picks parts of people’s comments to suit its narrative. He also rued the lack of humour and satire in public life, saying there used to be a lot of space for this earlier and referred to the likes of former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and politicians Piloo Mody and Madhu Dandavate.

Praising Mr Jaitley’s work as the finance minister, Mr Shah credited him of piloting government’s two vital “achievements”, the GST bill and income declaration scheme.

“When values in public life fell after Independence, then some leaders consistently fought to restore them. If a list of such leaders, irrespective of party affiliations, is made, Jaitley’s name will figure among them,” Mr Shah said, praising him for his transparent and value-based politics. He was also among those party leaders who started the practice of putting in place a sound election management system, from strategising to picking relevant issues, Mr Shah said.

Referring to BJP’s multi-pronged campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Jaitley said he wrote on the party’s request regularly from July-August 2013 to May 2014 when the last round of polls took place and results were announced.

His aim has been to express the party’s viewpoint seriously and added that he has never used a word or sentence may have caused it trouble.