Arun Jaitley memorial debate: Jaitley-like vision missing today, says Dhankhar

Dhankhar was addressing the concluding ceremony of the first Arun Jaitley memorial debate organised by Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said that as leader of the Opposition, former finance minister and BJP leader Arun Jaitley yielded space to the government and appreciated the other point-of-view, something that is “missing today to the detriment of political governance”.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Sangeeta Jaitley and DU V-C Yogesh Singh at SRCC on Wednesday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Dhankhar was addressing the concluding ceremony of the first Arun Jaitley memorial debate organised by Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce. The event was attended by Jaitley’s spouse Sangeeta Jaitley, and DU vice chancellor Yogesh Singh.

Jailtley was an alumnus of SRCC. “While leader of the Opposition, he (Jaitley) yielded space to the government. The government was always assured that with a rational mind, your point of view will be appreciated, something we miss today to the detriment of political governance,” Dhankhar said.

The Vice President said that one of Jaitley’s “greatest failures” was that he could “never make a single enemy”. He said that the Indian political spectrum will not find another leader like Jaitley. “He had a number of ministerial assignments, including the ministries of defence, finance, corporate affairs, law, information and broadcasting, but he never had trouble with bureaucracy…”.

Dhankhar also recalled Jaitley for his expertise in debates, saying that he “never believed in aggression; he believed in persuasion”. Dhankhar said that he had created a mechanism that decisions would be taken only with unanimity. “In the history of this country... we have had two glorious occasions for the Central Hall (of Parliament). One, when India got independence... and second, when GST was rolled out. He (Jaitley) was the architect of GST... ” he said. The GST system was rolled out in 2017 when Jaitley was the finance minister.

In her address, Sangeeta Jaitley said the former Union minister was a visionary. “His main concern was tackling the problems of the country even when he was in the Opposition,” she said.