4. Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Known as a political maverick, Dr Swamy treaded on the toes of several big political heavyweights like Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi, Sonia Gandhi and even Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
After the Janata Party broke into several pieces in 1980, Swamy headed the rump Janata Party, keeping the 'Haldhar' symbol with him.
Recently his Janata Party merged into the BJP.
Swamy served as Law Minister for four months during former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar's regime.
Of late, he has been instrumental in filing cases against prominent politicians in courts to expose major scams, particularly the 2G scam.
In early life, while pursuing his studies in Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, he critiqued the work of his professor P C Mahalanobis (one of India's greatest statisticians) of plagiarism and was right.
Soon during his tenure in IIT as an economics professor, he came to be known for his non-Left views. He argued that India doesn't need foreign aid and still could achieve 10 percent growth rate.
In March 1970, during the Parliament debate on the budget, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi mentioned Swamy by name and dismissed him as a “Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas.”
Swamy had come forward with his Swadeshi Plan for Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
In 1972, Swamy was given a letter saying he had been sacked from IIT with effect from 5 pm and his wife, who taught mathematics, was also sacked. Swamy took IIT to court, eventually winning his case in 1991.
He rejoined as a professor for one day and then resigned.
He still has a case pending against IIT for a claim of salary arrears for the 1972-91 Period, which he wants with 18 percent interest.
During Emergency, when an arrest warrant was issued against him, he fled to America, seeking safe haven. Dr. Swamy was then a member of Rajya Sabha and in case of absence of more than six months he could have lost his seat.
In 1976 when emergency was still in force and an arrest warrant still pending in his name, he came to Parliament in the garb of a Sikh to attend the session and managed to escape India after attending the session.
