Jaswant Singh
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- For the Indian Army commander, see Joginder Jaswant Singh.
- For the Indian author, see Lt Col Jaswant Singh Marwah.
Jaswant Singh (born January 3, 1938) is an Indian politician. He is from the Indian State of Rajasthan and was an officer in the Indian Army in the 1960s and is an alumnus of Mayo College and the National Defence Academy (India), Khadakwasla. He served as Finance minister in the short-lived government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which lasted just from May 16, 1996, to June 1, 1996. After Vajpayee became Prime Minister again two years later, he became Minister for External Affairs of India, serving from December 5, 1998 until July 1, 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. Known for his moderate political views, he is a self-described liberal democrat even though the Bharatiya Janata Party is often described as a right-wing nationalist organization. He was conferred the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2001. Currently he is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
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[edit] Career
He is one of the few Indian politicians to have been the Minister for Defence, Finance and External Affairs.
He started the new government of Vajpayee, which lasted its full term, as the External Affairs Minister and later on switched his ministry to Finance with Yashwant Sinha. He was also the Defence Minister when George Fernandes was forced to resign after the Tehelka exposure.
Mr. 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 visit of U.S. President 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.
Jaswant Singh is also the most influential person in the BJP not from a RSS background.
[edit] Controversies
In July 2006, Singh released a book titled A Call to Honour: In Service of Emergent India - .[1] A controversy erupted immediately after the release of the book, in which Singh had insinuated that a mole had existed in the Prime Ministerial Office during the tenure of former PM P.V.Narasimha Rao, who had leaked information to American sources. Soon after, the then Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh challenged him to name the mole. In response, Singh sent a letter to him. The letter, Dr. Manmohan Singh told 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".[1]
| Preceded by Manmohan Singh |
Minister of Finance of India 1996–1996 |
Succeeded by P Chidambaram |
| Preceded by Yashwant Sinha |
Minister of Finance of India 2002–2004 |
Succeeded by P Chidambaram |
| Preceded by Atal Behari Vajpayee |
Minister for External Affairs of India 1998–2002 |
Succeeded by Yashwant Sinha |
| Preceded by George Fernandes |
Minister for Defence of India 2000–2001 |
Succeeded by George Fernandes |
