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Arun Jaitley’s death marks end of an era of a reporter’s politician
Former finance minister Arun Jaitley, of course, had many friends in the media but his passing signifies something much larger than that.
There’s a strange thing that happens when someone you cover as a journalist passes away. For years and years, you’ve followed them every single day; you’ve seen them when they’ve succeeded, when they’ve been given some major responsibility or won an election and you also see them at some of the lowest points of their life. So while that person is seldom your friend, you become strangely connected and at their passing, there’s a loss you feel that’s hard to articulate. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley, of course, had many friends in the media but his passing signifies something much larger than that. It seems to be the end of the era of reporter’s politicians.
Let me explain what I mean by that from my limited interactions. When I started covering politics around 2004, there was no politician that I really knew. As a TV reporter, that’s always tough because you need to be constantly in touch for sound bites. The introduction that most others had was that they had a regional connect - those from Bihar, had a special bond with netas from there, those from Tamil Nadu, would chat in Tamil and instantly connect with leaders from there and the same from Maharashtrian, Malayali, Bengali and others leaders. I was from Delhi and had zero regional connect and so this was especially hard because there was no one that felt any kind of bond with me and neither was my family political. Fortunately for me, the former law minister was now a major opposition leader who didn’t just hold the BJP’s media briefing, but would also sit with reporters after that to generally chat.
RIP Arun Jaitley: Former finance minister and BJP stalwart dies at 66
Those sessions were always intimidating because it was full of those who had been covering politics for a very long time, all packed into the room with Mr Jaitley at the centre listening to questions and answering each one patiently. I rarely asked any, but whenever I did, he politely answered. What was most shocking to me as a young reporter was that there were many reporters who were deeply critical, they’d openly criticise whatever policy they wanted, disagree with what he was saying and say whatever they wanted. Mr Jaitley, I observed, simply stayed silent when such things were said. He just gave what was most important for political reporters- the context or behind-the-scenes of any developing story and the party’s thinking behind whatever decision it was making.
I remember when I went to cover the 2007 Gujarat elections. We were travelling all over but landed at the BJP office one day. There we bumped into then spokesperson and now UP Minister Siddharth Nath Singh. “Arun ji is here, do you want to say hi?’’ he asked. Of course, but would he agree to see us? He didn’t just meet me and a couple of other reporters and gave us the sound bites we needed but also told us exactly how BJP was viewing the election. I remember my channel being on in the background while he was speaking and a particular anchor on air. “Arrey, he’s now anchoring?’’ he asked of my colleague who covered BJP for a while. I was a bit surprised that Mr Jaitley even knew his name and his beat. “He has quite a sense of style, doesn’t he?’’ he said and I was quite surprised at how much attention he paid to each and every reporter.
Of course, this accessibility decreased when he became Leader of the Opposition. From picking up phone calls of any reporter that called, including mine, he now screened his calls much more. But even then, if you found a way to go up to him to talk, he’d always answer your question. During the 2015 Bihar election campaign when he was the finance minister, I couldn’t believe my luck to find him on the same early morning Air India flight as me and my cameraperson. He was on the front seat and so once the seat belt signs went off, I walked up to him. ``Kya haal hai?’’ he smiled. “Sir, can we do an interview?’’ “Here? No no.’’ “Sir, but I thought I’d just get your thoughts on the campaign till now.’’ At the time Nitish Kumar- Lalu Yadav Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) was the flavour of the season and I wanted him to talk about it because it would surely be a major headline. ``I’m not saying no to you but not here.’’ I had no idea where he was staying or where he was going but somehow I found out and turned up at his hotel. Sure enough, after some waiting, I was granted an interview and unlike many other netas who tell you what they won’t talk about, there was no precondition either.
Maybe that’s why I next approached him when we were planning the launch of my book Behind Bars in April 2017. When my publisher asked if there was anyone who fit the theme of prison and high profile inmates, I immediately thought of him, having gone to Tihar during Emergency. ``Why would he come though? He’s the finance minister,’’ I told myself. My publishers thought it was worth a shot and so I sent him a text message. I think the theme was one close to his heart, which is why he wrote the foreword of Coomi Kapoor’s book on the same subject too. ``I’ll do it. But you have to launch it in my office and you can call around 60 people. Is that ok?’’ he said to me. Of course, it was okay. He didn’t just come and speak movingly about his days in prison, he also chatted with all my reporter friends after.
That was perhaps the last proper interaction that I had with him, since I wasn’t a financial journalist. There are many who knew him far, far better than me but what I know for certain is that Arun Jaitley’s death marks the end of an era- an era where reporters and politicians had a relationship of mutual respect.
