When Arun Jaitley bought a house in Amritsar

Amritsar: For late Arun Jaitley, Amritsar had a special place in his heart, not just because his maternal uncles lived here. His father, too, had arrived in Amritsar from Lahore during the Partition in 1947. When he unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections against Captain Amarinder Singh, Jaitley had released his vision paper for Amritsar — he wanted to turn the holy city into a business hub.

Arun Jaitley’s father Maharaj Kishan Jaitley, along with 38 members of the family, including his six brothers, had migrated from Pakistan and arrived in Amritsar on August 14. All of them had stayed at their relative’s place in Chowk Phulla Wala. Though Jaitley was born in Delhi, he used to visit his maternal uncles often.

And when his opponents created a din during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, calling him an ‘outsider’, Jaitley had to take a big decision to quieten them: he purchased a 340 square yard, five-bedroom house in the Green Avenue locality of Amritsar.

But that, too, was greeted with much heckling. Captain Amarinder had demanded the Election Commission of India to disqualify Jaitley, pointing at the timing of the purchase of the house. Jaitley went on to contest irrespective of these allegations and ended up losing by a margin of nearly one lakh votes.

Jaitley and wife, Sangeeta Jaitley, had stayed only a couple of times in his Amritsar house. His nephew, Dr Kamal Sharma, had stayed for a while. But Jaitley sold his house last year.

Amritsar may have “rejected” him, but it was Jaitley, who in his capacity as the finance minister of India, had laid the foundation stone of his dream project Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar.

Punjab BJP chief Shwait Malik told TOI on Saturday “Amritsar always had a special place in the heart of Jaitley, he had his roots in the city. His maternal uncles lived here and he would often visit to meet them. He not only laid the foundation of IIM, Amritsar, but also began Amritsar Smart City project.”

Politician’s fav

For what its worth, Shiromani Akali Dal had put its might to ensure Jaitley’s victory. Former cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majitha during one of the election rallies, had distorted Guru Gobind Singh hymn “deh shiva var mohay” in favour of Jaitley — for which he was held declared tankhiya (guilty of religious misconduct) and had to undergo religious atonement.

Jaitly also had cordial relations with former BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and was like a father figure to him. In one of the conversations with TOI, Sidhu revealed that he was offered to contest Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra, Chandigarh and West Delhi by Arun Jaitley, which he refused. “When party high command asked Jaitley to contest from my seat, I was overjoyed, he is like my father, my mentor. I was lucky that he was contesting from my place. I didn’t take any offer since it doesn’t behove a son to bargain with father,” said Sidhu once.

Love for Amritsar street food

The love of former Union minister Arun Jaitley for Amritsar was matchless and he was also very fond of Amritsari street food and culture, recall locals.

Local BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina ,who was the covering candidate for him during the 2017 bypoll for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, said Jaitley acted as a bridge for the historic SAD-BJP alliance in Punjab. “He used to love Amritsari street food and culture and knew all the eating joints in the walled city areas. His love for the city was matchless as Amritsar was his ‘nanka’ (maternal parents' home),” the BJP leader said.

Local resident Gunbir Singh said Jaitley used to cherish the food at Kesar Da Dhaba, Kultcha Land and Giani Tea where he would chat with the residents at length in Punjabi. He visited the Khalsa College here several times and loved to interact with the students. (With inputs from agencies)