RS pays tributes to Jaitley, Jethmalani

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 18

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday set aside agenda of the House and allowed Members to pay tributes to former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani — the two sitting Members — and three others who passed away recently.

Subsequently, the House was adjourned till lunch break as mark of respect to Jaitley and Jethmalani. The other three whose deaths were condoled are former Bihar Chief Minster Dr Jagannath Mishra, veteran trade union leader Gurudas Dasgupta and Sukhdev Singh Libra.

Leaders cutting across party lines hailed Jaitley as a good human, erudite and forceful orator, skillful parliamentarian and a liberal leader. Jaitley was considered to be a troubleshooter in Narendra Modi government. Even during his ill-health, he defended it with incisive reasoning, which was acknowledged by leaders. In his obituary references, Naidu described him as a “sagacious leader”, a “legal luminary” and a “towering intellectual”.

“He was instrumental in piloting several important legislation, including the GST Act, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Benami Transactions Act, etc,” Naidu said while recounting Jaitley’s contributions. He referred to Jaitley’s key role in implementation of the government’s initiatives, including Jan Dhan Yojana and linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts for direct subsidy.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress) recalled his personal association with Jaitley. Congress Deputy Leader in the House Anand Sharma said: “Had he (Jaitley) not been a bridge-builder, GST and Insurance Bills and many others would not have been passed.” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said Jaitley strengthened ABVP and Shiv Sena hailed him for always speaking the truth.