Arun Jaitley: A timeline

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With Arun Jaitley's death, a light has gone out of Indian politics. Jaitley Ji breathed his last in New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He was 66. 

From being late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's blue-eyed man to BJP's Man Friday Arun Jaitley donned many a glove. 

IndiaTvNews.com takes you through the life and times of Arun Jaitley, a man whose absence creates a void that will be hard to fill:

1952: He was born on 28 December and raised in New Delhi. 

1973: Arun Jaitley did his graduation in commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi. He became a prominent leader of a movement against corruption launched by Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan. Jaitley was also the convenor of the National Committee for Students and Youth organization appointed by Jayaprakash Narayan. 

1974: Jaitley had also been the student leader of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the Delhi University campus and rose to be the president of the Students Union of Delhi University.

1975: During the period of Emergency (1975-77) when fundamental rights and Jaitley was also placed under preventive detention first in the Ambala Jail and then in the Tihar Jail, Delhi for a period of 19 months.

1977: He passed his Law degree from the Delhi University. Being the convenor of the Loktantric Yuva Morcha at a time when the Congress suffered defeat, Jaitley was appointed the president of the Delhi ABVP and All India Secretary of the ABVP.

1980: Within a short time after joining the party, Jaitley was made the president of the youth wing of the BJP and the secretary of the Delhi Unit.

1982: Arun Jaitley married Sangeeta, daughter of former Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Girdhari Lal Dogra.

1989: He was appointed as additional solicitor general by the VP Singh government and did the paperwork for the investigations into the Bofors scandal.

1990: Jaitley was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India. As the ASG, he was entrusted the BOFORs case, which had shaken the collective conscience of the nation then as for the first time cross-border transactions were investigated on a large scale.

1991: Jaitley had been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

1998: Arun Jaitley was a delegate on behalf of the government of India in the United Nation General Assembly session in which the bill against drugs and money laundering was introduced.

1999: Jaitley became the spokesperson of the BJP during the period preceding the general election. He was also elected as the President of the Delhi District Cricket Association.

2000: Arun Jaitley was appointed as the Cabinet Minister after the resignation of Ramjeth Malani. He was also the Law Minister in the Cabinet and introduced several amendments to the Civil Procedure Code, the Criminal procedure Code and the Companies Act.

2002: Jaitley became the General Secretary of the BJP in July and worked as the National spokesperson till 2003. He also successfully introduced the 84th amendment of the Constitution of India for freezing parliamentary seats till 2026.

2003: Jaitley joined the Union cabinet as the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice and functioned till May 2004.

2004: For penalising defection, Jaitley successfully introduced 91st amendments to the Constitution of India.

2006: Jaitley was re-elected as the member of the Rajya Sabha.

2009: He was elected the Vice President of the BCCI. 

2012: Jaitley, outside the premises of Parliament, said, "There are occasions when obstruction in Parliament brings greater benefits to the country." This statement is considered to have given legitimacy to obstruction of Parliament in the contemporary politics in India.

Under his guidance, the High Courts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were inaugurated.

He played an important role as a strategic planner for the BJP in eight Assembly elections.

2014: On 26 May, Jaitley became the Finance Minister with an additional charge of defense Ministry but later it was transferred to another person.

2015: In his 2015-16 budget speech, Jaitley announced Ayushman Bharat Scheme with a coverage of Rs 1 lakh to families. 

2016: During his tenure as the finance minister of India, the government demonetised the Rs 500- and Rs 1,000- banknotes with the stated intention of curbing corruption, black money, fake currency and terrorism.

2018: Jaitley re-elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

2019: Arun Jaitley refused to be a part of the government citing health reasons.

August 24, 2019: Arun Jaitley breathes his last...