Late Arun Jaitley‘s selected writings were recently published in a book titled A New India. This post includes a few insightful quotes from Arun Jaitley.
Insightful quotes
In his foreword, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi writes “those who can reduce complex issues and explain them in a simple manner are rarest of the rare. Arun Jaitley, in this aspect, was one of his kind.” This aptly summarizes Jaitley’s brilliance as a consummate communicator.
Late Arun Jaitley was one of India’s genius public figures. India will always remember him for his consensual efforts to usher in the transformational GST reforms. Arvind Subramanian pens his appreciation in an article and writes; “when I was chief economic advisor (CEA), Mr. Jaitley is a dream boss:..”.
Jaitley’s writing & speeches are of contextual substance and lucidly articulated thus becoming strongly persuasive arguments. I have selected a few insightful quotes from Arun Jaitley.
Inspiring
“Nations are built by those with positive mindsets and a national vigour, not by the compulsive contrarians.”
Posted on 17 January 2019
‘Compulsive contrarians’ set the narrative during India’s 2019 elections. The quote succinctly described then prevailing situation and convinced a vast majority of the Indian voting population between the choice differences. Recently, I had paraphrased it as “Businesses, as nations are run by those with positive mindsets and a vigour.” during a talk.
India’s GST Council
“The GST Council is India’s first experience at cooperative-federalism-based decision-making authority. …..The biggest success of the GST has been that the GST Council has proved to be an extremely effective and powerful decision making federal institution.”
Posted on 1 July 2018
New India
“The India of 2030 and the India of 2040 will present a completely different look with the socio-economic profile of the population having substantially changed. In this changed India, there will be a lesser role of caste in politics, the quality of elected representatives will improve and obviously the standards of probity will be much tighter.”
Posted on 15 April 2019
Aspirational Societies
“Aspirational societies with vibrant democracies do not invite anarchy.”
Posted on 26 May 2018
“Truth is both precious and sacrosanct…..Aspirational societies abhor kingdoms. They insist on accountability and performance.”
Posted on 15 February 2019
“History is never reversed by court judgements.”
Posted on 1 April 2019
“Governments no longer are the sole repository of all powers.”
Posted on 3 May 2014
Politics
“Opposition itself has a powerful role in Indian democracy. A stint in the Opposition does a lot of good to you when you introspect and plan for the future.”
Posted on 3 May 2014
“Politics, like nature, abhors vacuum.”
Posted on 15 March 2019
“There is never a last day in the calendar of politics. It is an ongoing calendar.”
Posted on 5 December 2013
Leaders
“Timid men can dwarf high offices.”
Posted on 8 May 2014
“An insecure leader is scared of the shadow of talented people.”
Posted on 24 March 2019
“Compulsive contrarians can hardly be objective.”
Posted on 19 March 2019
“A liberal should ordinarily be hostile to the idea of discrimination and injustice.”
Posted on 31 July 2019
The book
Because, I have been an ardent follower of late Arun Jaitley’s writing & speeches, the book was a good refresher. However, the entire section on emergency was new to me, revealing, and insightful.
Arun Jaitley was a consummate communicator. I had hoped to imbibe at least a few traits. RIP.
“For any youth looking to imbibe the importance of understanding public policy, Arun Jaitley’s blog is a goldmine.” writes PM Modi in the foreword.