Suffering from kidney ailments, Mr Arun Jaitley took off from the world at the age of 66. He was admitted in the AIIMS on 9th August and announced dead on 24th August after breathing his last breath at 12:07 pm. Mr.Arun Jaitley becomes the second prominent national leader to pass away after Sushma Swaraj who passed away on the 6th of August.
Along with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the entire nation too has lost two of its greatest Indian political leaders.
Mr.Arun Jaitley was the former finance minister of India. Under his term, India saw the face of some major reforms. He was the one under whose stewardship, both demonetisation of the 500 and 1000 rupee notes and implementation of the GST took place.
A person of such great stature in Indian politics had cordial and friendly relationships across the political spectrum. Mr.Jaitley was a grassroot political leader, who along with Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar, senior BJP leader formed core leadership in the party after the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee lost power in 2004. They were the ones who build strong leadership in the party and became a powerful opposition to Congress.
When the Modi government first came to power in 2014, Arun Jaitley was given the office of finance making him the finance minister of India. However, during the recent Lok Sabha election, he withdrew from politics citing the reasons for his ill health.
Mr.Arun Jaitley’s last rites were performed on Sunday in full state honours at the Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi. Leaders from all over the country visited to pay homage and attend his funeral. Some of the prominent leaders were, president Ramnath Kovind, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, JP Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kapil Sibal and many more were present during his last rites.
Mr.Jaitley played a key role in governing the nation. He was a mentor, strategist, inspiration and a guide to all at the party. He often helped his party leaders overcome major predicaments. While other leaders rushed to attend the funeral, prime minister Narendra Modi, unfortunately, couldn’t be there. He paid his homage through twitter as he was on his tour to Bahrain for the G7 Summit.
With Mr.Arun Jaitley passing away, a crack has gone down in BJP. BJP, this year has lost some of its greatest leaders that include, Shushma Swaraj, Manohar Parrikar, and Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
