BOOK RELEASE

Humour and satire missing in political discourse: Jaitley

PTI10_20_2016_000251A BJP President Amit Shah with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the release of the latter's book "Andhere Se Ujale Ki Aur" at party headquarters in New Delhi | PTI

"Humour and satire play a huge role in the democracies, but in our country it has come to an end. We used to watch Piloo Mody, Madhu Dandavate and Atal Bihari Vajpayee use it. Hope that phase returns," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said during a function to release a book containing his political writings.

The book – Andhere Se Ujjale Ki Aur – is a Hindi translation of an earlier book which was compilation of blogs and articles written by Jaitley in the last three years.  It was released by BJP chief Amit Shah, in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP and columnist Swapan Dasgupta, at party's headquarters on Ashoka Road.

Dasgupta narrated an incident referring to his “old friend” Jaitley’s famous one liners that had the house in splits. Referring to BJP leader Vijay Goel, who was sitting in the front row during the function, Dasgupta said Jaitley had coined a term “Prince of Wales” for the sports minister. “Every time Goel asked for a ticket, he was told that it had been given to Charati Lal Goel (Vijay’s father). Hence the title,” Dasgupta said. Goel left the venue soon after Dasgupta finished his speech. It was not clear if Goel took offence. 

Jaitley in his speech thanked Dasgupta for not revealing everything he knew.

Shah in her speech commended Jaitley as “successful finance minister and senior leader.” Though he was part of the Lutyens Delhi, his writings reflected the sensibilities of the poor and he wrote also about corruption scandals like 2G, mining and Lalu Yadav’s corruption, Shah said.

Commending his strategic skills and acceptance in media, Shah said though Jaitley is known as “darling of the media,” he had not shied away from criticising the media.  “He spent 19 months in jail during Emergency. When he came out, he had gained 10 kgs. Where ever he went, he was in high spirits, “ Shah added.

Talking about his writing, Jaitley said that he used to read newspapers in the morning, and then dictate a few paras to his stenographer, before making a speech in the parliament. It helped in bringing order in thoughts, and they were put on social media. After this, many suggested that I write on important issues and put them on social media as they reach a larger audience, he said, adding that he wrote almost daily between July 2013 to May 2014. 

"Once in government, one should be circumspect in his speech... despite so many years in the party, there has never been an occasion where my comments had brought embarrassment," the finance minister said.

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Topics : #Arun Jaitley

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