Former Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley passes away at 66

Arun Jaitley, the former finance minister of India and a stalwart of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has died at the age of 66, reports India Today.

He was unwell for a large part of the last two years, having undergone a kidney transplant surgery in 2018, following which he was placed in isolation.

Four years earlier in 2014, Jaitley underwent a bariatric surgery to address the excess weight he had gained due to diabetes.

During the Narendra Modi government's first term in office, Arun Jaitley was seen as the prime minister's 'go-to' man. Jaitley was the one to take on the responsibilities of temporarily handling ministries other than his primary portfolio of finance.

As finance minister, Jaitley presented all of the Modi government’s budgets except the 2019 Interim Budget due to his ill health.

After the BJP's victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Jaitley wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that he not be given any responsibilities in the new government as he wanted to focus on his health.

A lawyer by profession, Jaitley was among the leaders who were jailed by the Indira Gandhi government during the state of emergency between 1975 and 1977. He was a student leader at the time.

After being released from jail, Jaitley joined active politics as a member of the Jan Sangh and rose through the ranks of the organisation, which later became the BJP.

He also served on the cabinet of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajapyee. Between 2009 and 2019, when the BJP sat in the Opposition benches, Jaitley served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

In addition to his wife, Jaitley is succeeded by two children.