Major Jaswant Singh (3 January 193827 September 2020) was an Indian Army officer and politician. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was one of India's longest serving parliamentarians, having been a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha almost continuously between 1980 and 2014. He was NDA's Vice-presidential candidate in the 2012 Indian vice-presidential election. Singh was the only leader from Rajasthan who became Minister Of External Affairs, Finance and Defence.
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 between 1998 and 2004, he held multiple cabinet portfolios including Finance, External Affairs and Defence. He also served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission between 1998 and 1999. In the aftermath of India's nuclear tests of 1998, he was deputed by Prime Minister Vajpayee to act as India's representative to hold repeated, long-term dialogue with the United States (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, he served as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from 2004 to 2009.
Singh incurred the displeasure of his party colleagues when, after the party suffered its second successive defeat in 2009, he circulated a note demanding a thorough discussion on the debacle. Weeks later, a book authored by him was released, in which he was found to have written sympathetically about Jinnah. Post the event, Singh found himself marginalised within the party. In 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 (against Col. Sonaram Chaudhary) in Rajasthan. He was expelled from the BJP on 29 March 2014 when he did not withdraw his independent candidature, and went on to lose the election.
On 7 August 2014, he suffered a fall in the bathroom of residence and suffered a serious head injury. In June 2020 he was admitted to Army's Research and Referral hospital in Delhi for treatment. He remained in a state of coma for six years till his death in 2020.
Early life Singh was born on 3 January 1938 in the village of Jasol in Rajputana Agency of British India (now Balotra district) of Rajasthan, India in a Rajput family. His father was Sardar Singh Rathore of Jasol and mother was Kunwar Baisa. Singh was married to Sheetal Kanwar. They had two sons. His elder son, Manvendra Singh, is a former Member of Parliament from Barmer. He was an officer in the Indian Army in the 1960s and was an alumnus of Mayo College and the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla.
After his education from the National Defence Academy, he was enrolled in the Indian Army in the year 1957 and was designated to the position of the Captain in the Central India Horse unit. And he was also a participant of Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and was the commander of his unit. He was a Major at the time of Sino-Indian border dispute of the year 1965 after which he retired from the Indian Army in the next year to join politics after serving in the Armed forces for 10 years. He was a close accompany of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and made his links with Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He was a member and associate of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from the 1960s.
Career events
In the Vajpayee government, Singh was External Affairs Minister, and later went on to become the Finance Minister. 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 criticised by political parties for escorting terrorists to Kandhahar, Afghanistan. They were released by the Government of India in exchange for passengers from the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814.
Singh was denied a Member of Parliament ticket for Barmer by BJP for the 2014 Indian general election 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.
Political life Singh entered politics in the 1960s, with the first few years of his political life seeing limited recognition, until he was initiated in the Jan Sangh. He tasted success in his political career in 1980 when he was first selected for the Rajya Sabha, 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. Jaswant Singh was elected from Darjeeling Seat from the year 2009 to 2014.
Ministries and Work Jaswant Singh held many ministries under the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, including several important such as Defence, External Affairs and Finance. He has also held many important positions including that of Electronics and Science and Technology.
Minister of Finance (First time) Singh remained as the Minister of Finance in the short-lived government of First Vajpayee government from 16 May 1996 to 1 June 1996. In the short-lived government where he was Minister for just 24 days and there was also economic difficulty, a crisis due to the political instability, and there was a loss of employment similar to the 1991 Indian economic crisis which lead to the decline in the value of Indian currency. It was followed by the instability after the fall of Narsimha Rao government. After this there was a 1996 Bank Scam after this the fall of Atal Bihari Government automatically Singh was removed from the position and succeeded to P. Chidambaram for the position.
Minister of External Affairs After Atal Bihari Vajpayee becomes the Prime Minister of India for the second time in the year 1998, then Singh was appointed as the Minister of External Affairs and succeeded Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself for the position. He was at that time first Rajasthani to be a Minister of External Affairs of India at Union level in the Central Government. Singh has been one of the most trusted man of Vajpayee and was given task of establishing better international relation with the other nations. He has represented nation at an international level in the times of Kargil War and India's nuclear test. He was part of the Indian crisis management team who went to Kandahar after the IC 814 plane hijack. He remained Minister till 5 December 2002 after the removal of George Fernandes due to the Tehelka conspiracy. As the Minister of External Affairs he launched the first free-trade agreement (with Sri Lanka) in South Asia's history, initiated India's most daring diplomatic opening to Pakistan, revitalised relations with the US, and reoriented the Indian military, abandoning its Soviet-inspired doctrines and weaponry for close ties with the West.
Pokhran-II Pressure
BJP, came to power in 1998 general elections with an exclusive public mandate. BJP's political might had been growing steadily over the past decade over several issues. At that time after the successful test of the Second Nuclear Bomb it was considered a masterstroke by the government, it was said that Singh along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes were the one who played the important role in the functioning. He was one of the members of "Operation Shakti" and among the 12 people who knew about the secret mission. His most essential role came into existence after there were made international pressure on the nation due to the secrecy of the mission when Atal Bihari Vajpayee made a public announcement for the mission. At that time strong criticism was drawn from Canada on India's actions and its High Commissioner. Sanctions were also imposed by Japan on India and consisted of freezing all new loans and grants except for humanitarian aid to India. Some other nations also imposed sanctions on India, primarily in the form of suspension of foreign aid to India and government-to-government credit lines. However, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia refrained from condemning India.Charan D. Wadhwa (27 June – 3 July 1998). "Costs of Economic Sanctions: Aftermath of Pokhran II". Economic and Political Weekly. 33 (26): 1604–1607. . The biggest affect was on the relations of India with United States and there were made many restrictions on India and at that time Singh managed to control America at United Nations.Dittmer, L., ed. (2005). South Asia's nuclear security dilemma: India, Pakistan, and China. Armonk, NY: Sharpe. .
Kargil War
After the Kargil War and the win of Indian Armed forces in July 1999 the use of WMD led to a serious pressure of the world on India and this was led by the anger of United States against India due to Pokhran-II Nuclear test series and supported in the favour of Pakistan. At that time Singh was the one who represented India at the international level and had made many interviews with news channels and also made diplomatic talks with leaders and representatives of the United States], China, France, and many other nations. After that Singh made an interview with Atal Bihari Vajpayee in which to strengthening the position of Indian Government there was a release of a leaked conversation of Pervez Musharraf in which he admitted that he was involved in the attack on India in Kargil district in 1999 and that he also planned an attack to kill Nawaz Sharif and become the President of Pakistan. This was known to be a masterpiece and led to a very strong point resulting in the India's diplomatic relations and proving the burden of war on General Musharraf. After that India was freed from allegations of the Kargil War.
Kandahar Hijack