Jaswant Singh's illustrious political legacy— A snapshot

One of the founding members of the ruling party, Jaswant Singh Jasol from Barmer, Rajasthan, was a political stalwart who reached the zenith of his political career during the reign of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Best known for smoothing over wrinkles between US and India caused by Pokhran nuclear tests, he held important portfolios in positions such as Finance Minister and Minister of External Affairs.

Singh’s skills as a master negotiator was acknowledged by US’s Strobe Talbott during the US-India talks on nuclear armament.

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As Finance Minister, he was instrumental in pushing market-friendly reforms including privatising government owned businesses that were not performing well.

Later on, after UPA came to power in 2004, he was the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

In addition to this, he wrote several books such as Jinnah: India and Partition, A Call to to Honour: In Service of Emergent, India At Risk: Mistakes, Misadventures and Misconceptions of Security Policy and Conflict & Diplomacy. His book Jinnah: India and Partition which eulogised Jinnah sparked controversy within BJP and was expelled from the party for the first time in 2009.

His membership was reinstated later.