Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh (born 3 January 1938) is a retired officer of the Indian Army and a former cabinet minister. He is a founding member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is one of India's longest serving parliamentarians, having been a member of one or the other house almost continuously between 1980 and 2014. he was elected on a BJP ticket to the Rajya Sabha five times (1980, 1986, 1998, 1999, 2004) and to the Lok Sabha four times (1990, 1991, 1996, 2009). During the Vajpayee administration (1998-2004), he held some of the highest offices of the land, handling at various times the cabinet portfolios of Finance, External Affairs and Defence. He also served for a period as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission (1998–99). In the aftermath of India's nuclear tests of 1998, he was deputed by Prime Minister Vajpayee to act as India's single representative to hold repeated, long-term dialogue with the USA (represented by Strobe Talbott) on matters related to nuclear policy and strategy; the outcome of the sustained engagement was positive for both countries. After his party lost power in 2004, Jaswant Singh served as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2004 to 2009.

Jaswant Singh incurred the displeasure of his party colleagues when, after the party suffered its second successive defeat in 2009, he circulated a note demanding thorough discussion on the debacle. Only weeks later, a book authored by him was released, in which he was found to have written sympathetically about Jinnah. Singh remained unrepentant through the brouhaha that followed, but found himself marginalized thereafter within the party and left to his own devices, to tend to his parliamentary constituency of Darjeeling in West Bengal. Come the elections of 2014, his party decided not to field him from any constituency. He decided to contest anyway as an independent from his native constituency of Barmer in Rajasthan. This meant that he would face off against the candidate put up by his party, and after he refused to withdraw, he was expelled from the BJP on 29 March 2014. He lost the election to the candidate put up by his former party.

Only a few weeks later, on 7 August 2014, Jaswant Singh suffered a fall in the bathroom of residence and suffered a serious head injury. He was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital in Delhi for treatment. He has been in a state of coma ever since.

Early life
Singh was born on 3 January 1938 at village Jasol, Barmer district, Rajasthan in a Rajput family. His father was Thakur Sardara Singh Rathore and mother was Kunwar Baisa. Singh is married to Sheetal Kanwar. They have two sons. his elder son Manvendra Singh former Member of Parliament from Barmer. He also has two grandchildren (children of Manvendra singh Rathore) Harshini Kanwar Rathore (Granddaughter) and Hamir Singh Rathore (Grandson). He was an officer in the Indian Army in the 1960s and is an alumnus of Mayo College and the National Defence Academy (India), Khadakwasla.

Political life
Though Singh entered politics in the late 60s, the first few years of his political life lacked success and recognition, till he was initiated in the Jan Sangh, by BJP stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who is considered to be Jaswant's political mentor. He tasted success in his political career in 1980 when he was first selected for the Rajyasabha, the upper house of Indian parliament. He served as Finance minister in the short-lived government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which lasted just from 16 May 1996, to 1 June 1996. After Vajpayee became Prime Minister again two years later, he became Minister for External Affairs of India, serving from 5 December 1998 until 1 July 2002. Responsible for foreign policy, he dealt with high tensions between India and Pakistan. In July 2002 he became Finance Minister again, switching posts with Yashwant Sinha. He served as Finance Minister until the defeat of the Vajpayee government in May 2004 and was instrumental in defining and pushing through the market-friendly reforms of the government. He was conferred the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2001. On 19 August 2009, he was expelled from BJP after criticism over his remarks in his book which allegedly praised the founder of Pakistan in his book Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence. His last major position was as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2004 to 2009.

He was denied a ticket by the party to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha Parliamentary Elections from the Barmer-Jaisalmer constituency in Rajasthan. He was subsequently expelled from the BJP after deciding to contest the elections as an independent candidate, and lost to his former party's candidate Col. Sonaram Choudhary.

Shri Jaswant Singh was elected from Darjeeling Seat from the year 2010 to 2014. His contribution to the hills and its people is evident for he touched the lives of so may organisations and advised the political movement with all his experience and foresight.

Vice President Nominee
He was the candidate for the post of Vice president for the NDA in 2012. On 6 August 2012, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa extended AIADMK’s support to NDA's vice-presidential nominee Jaswant Singh saying that there has to be an opposition in a true democracy. He lost to Hamid Ansari who was the UPA's Vice presidential candidate.

Career
In the government of Vajpayee, Singh was External Affairs Minister. Later he became Minister of Finance with Yashwant Sinha. He was also the Defence Minister when George Fernandes was forced to resign after the Tehelka exposure.

Singh is widely regarded for his handling of relations with the United States which were strained after the 1998 Indian nuclear tests but which ameliorated soon after culminating in the 2000 visit of U.S. President Bill Clinton to India. His skill as a negotiator and diplomat during talks with the United States has been well acknowledged by his U.S. counterpart Strobe Talbott.

Singh has been frequently criticized by political parties for escorting terrorists to Kandhahar, Afghanistan. They were released by the Government of India in exchange for passengers from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

Singh was denied a Member of Parliament ticket for Barmer by BJP for the Indian general election, 2014 over Col. Sonaram Choudhary. Unhappy, Singh filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Barmer constituency. Subsequently, he was expelled from BJP for six years and lost the election.

Controversy
A controversy erupted immediately after the release of his book, in which Singh insinuated that a mole had existed in the Prime Ministerial Office during the tenure of P. V. Narasimha Rao, who had leaked information to U.S. sources. Soon after, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged him to name the mole. In response, Singh sent a letter to him. The letter, Manmohan Singh said later, had no signature, and no name of any mole. Jaswant Singh then backed off, saying his views on the subject were based on a "hunch".

Controversy hovered around him again when on 17 August 2009 another book authored by him, entitled Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence, was released. In this he praised Mohammad Ali Jinnah and claimed that the centralised policy of Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for Partition. He was later expelled from the primary membership of BJP as a result of the ensuing controversy. In interviews with media he quoted BJP as narrow-minded and to have limited thought. In 2010, he was readmitted to BJP.

Positions held

 * 1980 Elected to Rajya Sabha
 * 1986 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (2nd term)
 * 1986–1989 – Member, Public Accounts Committee, Rajya Sabha
 * Member, Committee on Privileges, Rajya Sabha
 * Member, Committee on Public Undertakings, Rajya Sabha
 * 1987 Member, Consultative Committee constituted under the Punjab State
 * 1989–1991 Legislature (Delegation of Powers) Act, 1987
 * 1990 Elected to 9th Lok Sabha
 * 1991–1996 Chairman, Estimate Committee
 * 1991 Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
 * 1991 Chairman, Committee on Environment and Forests
 * 1992 Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee to enquire into Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions
 * 1993 – Chairman, Committee on Energy
 * 1996–97 – Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (3rd term)
 * May 1996 – Union Cabinet Minister, Finance
 * 25 March 1998 – 4 Feb – Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
 * July 1998 – Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (3rd term)
 * Dec. 1998-1 Jul 2000 Union Cabinet Minister, External Affairs
 * Feb–Oct. 1999 Union Cabinet Minister, Electronics (Simultaneous charge)
 * 6 Aug.-13 Oct 1999 Union Cabinet Minister, Surface Transport (Simultaneous charge)
 * 15 October 1999 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (4th term)
 * 18 March-15 Oct 2001 Union Cabinet Minister, Defence (Simultaneous charges)
 * 1 Jul 2002-9 Apr 2 Minister of Finance & Company Affairs, Govt. of India
 * 10 April 2002–21 May Union Cabinet Minister, Finance
 * 2004 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (5th term)
 * 2004 Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha
 * August 2004 – August 2006 – Member, Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests
 * August 2004 – May 2009 – Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Installation of Portraits/Statues of National Leaders and Parliamentarians in Parliament House Complex
 * August 2005 – Member, General Purposes Committee
 * 2009 Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (4th term)
 * 6 August 2009 – 31 December – Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts
 * 10 September 2009 Member, Committee on Budget
 * 1 January 2010 Member, Committee on Public Accounts