Tributes pour in for Arun Jaitley on birth anniversary

Indian democracy needs leaders with 4Cs, namely character, calibre, capacity and content, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday at a sombre gathering, where he released a book on late former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on his 67th birth anniversary.

Jaitley epitomised the four qualities, said Naidu, who also listed another set of 4Cs — cash, caste, criminality, communal colours — that has to be avoided in India.

“Leaders with 4Cs are needed in India. People with character, calibre, capacity and content are needed. Arun Jaitley was one such man,” he told the gathering of Union ministers, parliamentarians, senior civil servants and friends and admirers of Jaitley, whose wife Sangeeta and children were also present on the occasion.

Naidu hailed the former finance minister as “brilliant” and said there was a need for an “enlightened debate” on larger issues and challenges faced by India. “Violence has no place in democracy and we should not deviate from the real issues of the country.”

The book, The Renaissance Man: The Many Facets of Arun Jaitley, compiled by Harsha Vardhan and Deepa Venkat, is a collection of articles written on Jaitley after he died on August 24.

Naidu said that for a long time, Jaitley and he used to discuss various issues daily and the late politician had a distinct ability to understand and easily communicate complex issues. “Unmindful of his health, Jaitley burnt midnight oil to build consensus on the GST {Goods and Services Tax} bill... He never hesitated to call a spade a spade. It was surprising that even the strongest critics of the BJP were his friends.”

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also spoke on the occasion.

“I went to meet him when I became Speaker... Unlike many people who cling to power till the last breath, Jaitley left power on his own,” Birla said, referring to Jaitley’s decision not to join the cabinet of the second Narendra Modi government because of his ill health.