Who is Jaswant Singh and why did GJMM agree to his choice?

GJMM Supremo, Bimal Gurung, pulled a master stroke “For the Cause of Gorkhaland” by finally getting BJP to take heed and replace BJP candidate, an IPS officer Dawa Sherpa, by an Indian Army Officer turned politician and leader of the UPA Opposition, BJP Parliamentarian, Jaswant Singh.

According to various inner circle sources of the GJMM, he was chosen because “of his stature, political weight in the Indian Parliament, history, Career and Spirituality as well as the fact that his name and candidature alone will be synonymous to the aspirations of the hill people for the future creation of the Indian Union State of Gorkhaland.”

 

Jaswant Singh (born on  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.

Father's Name       :       Late Thakur Sardar Singhji

Date of Birth         :       3 January 1938

Place of Birth        :       Jasol in Distt. Barmer (Rajasthan)

Marital Status       :       Married on 30 June 1963

Spouse's Name    :       Smt. Sheetal Kumari

Children              :       Two sons

Educational Qualifications :    B.A., B.Sc.

    Educated at Mayo College, Ajmer; Joint Services Wing, Clement Town,
    Dehradun;  N.D.A.,  Khadakvasla  and  Indian  Military  College,
    Premnagar Dehradun (Uttar Pradesh)

Profession             :        Agriculture and Writing

Permanent Address :

       Jasol House, Paota Area, Jodhpur-342001 (Rajasthan)

Positions Held :
  
1980             Elected to Rajya Sabha
1980-89        Member, Committee of Privileges
                    Member, Committee of Public Undertakings
                    Member, Public Accounts Committee
1986             Re-elected to Rajya Sabha*
1989             Elected to Lok Sabha (Ninth)
Dec. 1989-     Member, Panel of Chairmen, Lok Sabha
May 1991
May 1990-91    Chairman, Estimates Committee
Jan. 1990-92    Member, Consultative Committee constituted under the Punjab
                       State Legislature (Delegation of Power) Act, 1987
Jan. 1990-96    Member, General Purposes Committee
1991                Re-elected to Lok Sabha (Tenth)
1991 onwards    Deputy Leader, B.J.P. in Parliament
Dec. 1991-92    Chairman, Standing Committee on Environment and Forests
1991-1994        Member, Business Advisory Committee
1993-96           Chairman, Standing Committee on Energy
1996                Elected to Lok Sabha (Eleventh) for the third time
May 16-            Union Minister of Finance, Government of India
June 1996

Books Published    :
       "Outline of India's Security concerns" 1995

Literary, Artistic and Scientific Accomplishments :
        Contributed articles in Indian and foreign journals current
        political developments; Languages known- Hindi, Gujarati, English and French

Special Interests :
       Defence, foreign policy, international relations, ecology,  environment and energy

Favourite Pastime and Recreation :
       Bibliophile,  antiquarian,  historiography;  music, horses
       and  travel

Sports and Clubs :
       Equestrian sports, chess, golf; Member (i) Indian Golf Union;  (ii) Indian Polo Association; 

       (iii)  Equestrian  Federation  of India, Delhi; (iv) Polo Club; and  (v)  Sardar Club,  Jodhpur

Countries Visited :
       Widely travelled

Other Information :
       Member (i) Defence Services Institute; (ii) Institute of Defence
       and Strategic Studies; (iii) International Institute of Strategic
       Studies, London;  (iv)  India  International  Centre,  New Delhi;
       (v) Inter-Parliamentary   Union,   (I.P.U.)   (vi)  Institute  of
       Commonwealth  Studies  (London);  and  (vii) Executive Committee,
       I.P.U.,   1996   onwards;   Alumni   of   Georgetown   University
      (Leadership programme)

Election Result :
  
Chittorgarh Lok Sabha constituency
Total electorate        12,36,357
Total votes polled     4,69,227
Votes polled in favour of the
first four leading candidates:
(1) Shri Jaswant Singh (B.J.P.)        2,40,840
(2) Shri Gulab Singh Shakawat (I.N.C.)    1,92,997
(3) Ms. Nirmala Kumari [A.I.I.C. (T)]       6,516
(4) Shri Narayan Lal Kumhar (Ind.)       4,443

Career
He is one of the few Indian politicians to have been the Minister for Defence, Finance and External Affairs. Minister of Finance of India (1996–1996), Minister for Defence of India (2000–2001), Minister of Finance of India (2002–2004), Minister for External Affairs of India (1998–2002) 

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.

Jaswant Singh has been criticized by Political parties frequently for escorting terrorist to Kandhar, Afghanistan who were released by Government of India in exchange of passengers from the hijacked Indian Airlines plane. However, a all party meeting was called by the Indian government during that time and the decision taken was mutual by bringing all political parties in confidence.

In 2009 general election, he becomes the candidate of BJP in Darjeeling parliamentary constituency under the state of west Bengal. He replaced the already declared candidate of BJP Mr Dawa Sherpa, an ex IPS officer.
His candidature was the outcome of long political discussion between BJP and Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha(GJMM), demanding separate statehood for the Hills and Foothills of Darjeeling, Dooars and Jalpaiguri districts in the name of Gorkhaland.

The GJMM, which has an absolute support base in the Darjeeling hills, earlier offered its support in the election to different political wings including Indian National Congress, BJP or NCP of Mr PA Sangma in Darjeeling. In return, they wanted inclusion of the demand of separate Gorkhaland statehood in the party’s Election Manifesto. They had also put an additional condition for BJP to replace their declared candidate Mr Dawa Sherpa.

After a lot of turmoil and discussiona, on 2nd April 2009, late evening, finally BJP declared its decision to go with GJMM. It was also accepted to give sympathetic consideration to The Gorkhaland Issue. Against this, GJMM offered their support to BJP in two additional adjoining PCs in foothills- Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri.

Taken from excerpts of an interview with Nadine Kreisberger

“I am an instrument, chiseled for different things”

What does Spirituality mean to you? Is it a yearning, a direction, a search? A distillation of who and what we are, of what and why this is all about, knowing it is not only about you or me? It certainly is apart from physicality. And it is very different from organized rituals or religion. It refers to the spirit. There is no shape or form to it. You cannot capture it. It is like a fragrance, a perfume. If you try to photograph it, you won’t be able to capture it. The moment you try, it will escape you. So I cannot answer what is spirituality. If I could define it in words, I would not have to do all this. All this would be a waste of time.

So all this is a search? Of course it is. This question has inspired the search of human beings ever since they started thinking. I cite Saint Augustine, who in his “Confessions” remarked: “I do not even know what I do not know”. And I am still searching.

This search has not led to answers yet? Search is like the horizon. And there is an Arabic saying, “once the house is built, the decline starts” — once the search is complete, life ends.

Is the search destined or rather about chance, “coincidences”? What is a coincidence? Co-incidence. Why should two incidents come together? We attempt to explain here what is beyond human intellect through the inadequate mechanism of human intellect. So you have to submit, you have to accept. How does one react to beauty for instance? You have to submit to beauty. You cannot conquer it. And if you have to experience it, you do not experience it through dictating. There is a very fine Sanskrit shlok, “in accordance to the inherent laws of Nature, things happen”. Those who are arrogant work on the assumption that they control it. It reminds me of a story about Ramana Maharshi, maybe the most profound practitioner of non-duality — there is no God outside of you, It is you! He was once asked if everything is in accordance to fate. ”Yes” he said. And he further added: ”Imagine you were sitting in a train’s carriage. Another passenger carrying a suitcase on his head enters the carriage. He sits down but does not put the suitcase down on the floor. What would you say?” “That he is a fool! said the questioner. An engine is pulling the train and its carriages, so why carry the suitcase?” ”So whoever is pulling the carriage of your life...”

You also quoted from the Quran: “in Him I have put my trust and to Him I turn penitently” Of course I have put my trust in Him. You are part of that “Him” as I am. Who, what is that Him? There are various names of It. There is a wonderful Sanskrit quote, “I am the universe, you are Me”. It is the concept of non-duality: there is no Him outside of me.

As a child you had belief, and later on came faith, how did that happen? I was born in very conservative, traditional circumstances. So I understood early the essence of belief. Then there were too numerous experiences. And faith gradually came. It is not that I had some sudden revelation. I have not been illuminated as some other people have. It is like water in a well — not an artesian well that suddenly erupts from the ground, but one in which the water slowly rises.

Did you ever have moments of doubt? Yes, but not of Him, of myself. Yet I am not keen on speaking in the first person, in an autobiographical way. It is a form of self-aggrandizement. I find it arrogant and distasteful, even though politicians must live in the world of self-projection, and everyone tells me I do not do enough of it. But I cannot do which I am not. I would become so dry as a human being.

How come you are in the world of politics, of all worlds? I won’t tell you it is “because I want to serve a great purpose”. Part of it is circumstantial, part of it is a search of one’s own self, and partly as an avenue of self-expression. I also write, I sketch a bit, I listen to music, I ride, I appreciate the fragrance of flowers, beauty and so on. Nothing is compartmentalized, it is all the flow of human personality into different channels.

So is there such a thing as a special purpose or mission to one’s life? Of course there is. I am an instrument, chiseled for many different things. But none of it happened in a calculated way. I have not led a calculating life. My instinct has led me much more than has dry dull reasoning. Because you have to jump in order to find. Reason is quite often an impediment to instinct. When I finished school, my father asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wished to go to university. But we had suddenly become very poor and he said he could not send me. So without telling anybody, I sought to be admitted if found fit in the military Academy. I just jumped into it. I did not serve though to be a pensioner. At some point, when in search of another avenue of self-expression, I resigned from the Army and joined politics.

Growing up in the desert, you imbibed such a sense of freedom — how could it combine with the restricting worlds of the Army and politics? By building a very strong cocoon of privacy.

What about your unbending spirit? It is about never giving up. In the Army for instance, I always did something slightly off the routine. As a cadet for instance, we were once in a general training camp in the jungle. Early morning, I tied a red scarf which is against the rules. As a punishment, the officer asked me to dig the latrine. Then, as we had to go up a hillside, he made me carry the heaviest weapon. He told me “you are not complaining”. I said “what is the good of complaining to you?” And I have found at times an unnatural resistance to pain.

If there was one question you could ask God, what would it be? It would not be a question. “I am You”, so whatever I do is what You are doing. There is nothing I can ask. Give me light, that is all I would say.

If you were to be reincarnated, what would you choose? I know there is reincarnation. And whatever my faith ordains shall be.

What is your idea of happiness? Is it just an absence of discontent? Is it a fulfillment, as simple as having a good meal? Happiness is such a weak word. “Anand” is much more powerful. It is about the cognition of Beauty.

At times of challenges where do you find the energy, the anchor? In myself.

You are that anchored? Because I am anchored in Him.

Criticism
Jaswant Singh has been criticized by Political parties frequently for escorting terrorist to Kandhar, Afghanistan who were released by Government of India in exchange of passengers from the hijacked Indian Airlines plane. However, a all party meeting was called by the Indian government during that time and the decision taken was mutual by bringing all political parties in confidence.

Controversies
In July 2006, Singh released a book titled - A Call to Honour: In Service of Emergent India. 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”.

BJP leader Jaswant Singh claims election payouts 'were charity, not bribes'

THE TIMES, April 2, 2009
One of the top leaders of India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been caught on camera doling out cash to voters, just over two weeks before the start of India’s month-long parliamentary elections.

Jaswant Singh, a former Defence, Finance and Foreign Minister in BJP governments, was shown on several television channels yesterday handing out banknotes during a campaign rally in his son’s constituency in the state of Rajasthan.

The scandal threw a fresh spotlight on the rot at the core of Indian politics, just a week after a survey showed that at least 63 candidates in the election have criminal backgrounds – including 11 charged with murder.

Also caught in the video footage was Kailash Meghwal, another former minister and current national vice-president of the BJP, which was ousted from power at the last election in 2004 by a coalition led by the Congress Party.

Congress leaders also accused the two men of giving one local woman 10,000 rupees (£136) – about one fifth of the average Indian’s annual income – and distributing food parcels in violation of the Election Commission’s code of conduct.

“It’s absolutely preposterous,” Manish Tiwari, a Congress spokesman, told The Times.

“He’s clearly trying to induce voters by giving them money. This is a very sad day for Indian democracy. It sets a very bad precedent if a senior leader starts resorting to such tactics.”

The Election Commission cannot disqualify candidates, but Mr Tiwari urged it to use its powers to ask local authorities to open a case against Mr Singh.

The Commission said that it would convene a full meeting today to examine footage of the alleged violation, before making its decision.

Mr Singh, whose autobiography is entitled A Call to Honour: In Service of Emergent India, admitted handing out banknotes, but said it was charity for the poor, rather than inducement to vote for his party.

“If Congress thinks helping the poor is a crime, I cannot help it, I’ll continue to help them,” Mr Singh, who leads the BJP in the upper house of parliament, told one television channel.

A close associate of his told The Times that the former minister had given small cash tips to musical performers at the rally and 10,000 rupees to a widow whose daughter was terminally ill.

“That’s just his style – he’s too traditional,” said the associate, who asked not to be idenitified because he is a civil servant.

The saga is likely to feed Indians’ growing sense of disillusion with their politicians ahead of an election that appears to have little to do with policy, and looks certain to deliver another unstable coalition government.

A recent poll found that 83 per cent of Indians felt their politicians were corrupt.

Last week, a campaign group called National Election Watch published data showing that of 278 candidates in the election for whom records were available, 63 had criminal backgrounds.

Of them, 11 have been charged with murder, two are accused of dacoity (banditry), and others are suspected of crimes ranging from fraud to kidnapping, the group said.

Activists say the criminalisation of Indian politics began in earnest in the late 1980s, when the dominance of Congress crumbled and small regional groups began to determine the composition of fragile coalition governments.

“The increase in competition led the politicians to look to any means possible to get votes – rigging, threats, muscle,” said Himanshu Jha, of the National Social Watch Coalition, a pressure group.

“The criminals recruited to carry out these tasks worked out that if they were going to participate in the political process they may as well get themselves elected.” Part of the problem is that individuals charged with even the most serous crimes are allowed to stand if they have been convicted but their cases are under appeal.

“The speed of the Indian judicial system means it can take 30 years to complete a case – easily long enough to live out a full political career,” Mr Jha said.

Of the 543 members of the current Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, 128 – or nearly a quarter -- have faced or are facing criminal charges.

A glimpse of a less crooked future was given last year when several political leaders, including LK Advani, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial nominee, pledged not to field candidates accused of serious crimes.

Mr Advani, who is 81, appears to have since reneged: of the 116 BJP candidates for whom records are obtainable, 28 have cases pending – including for murder.

In the lead up to the election, which begin on April 16 and will run for a month, the number of suspect candidates is only expected to rise as hundreds of other nominees are forced by law to detail their past brushes with the authorities.

“The question is who will pass the law, when the law makers are the law breakers?” said Anil Bairwal, of the Association for Democratic Reforms.

714 million registered voters
1,055 political parties
543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament
131 seats reserved for candidates of lower castes and tribes