MY FIRST MEETING with Arun Jaitley was in the late 1980s. My father, A.R. Kohli, was adviser to Laldenga, the former chief minister of Mizoram, who wished to file an election petition against the Congress, which won the 1989 assembly elections in Mizoram. We met Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani a day earlier, and they suggested that Laldenga seek Jaitley’s help. On their advice, Laldenga, my dad and I reached Jaitley’s office, who by then had already been briefed by Advani.
Jaitley heard us intently and immediately instructed the drafting of the petition. What struck me about Jaitley was his grasping power of issues, intelligence and immense clarity of thought. I was barely 18 and the teenager in me identified him as a role model. This later influenced my opting for law after college, the first in my family to do so.
Despite lack of regular contact, my association with Jaitley continued sporadically and grew thereafter. As the information and broadcasting minister in the Vajpayee government, he took on the challenge of the satellite television news shows by completely transforming Doordarshan News and its presentation. I had been selected as one of the two English anchors for the prime time news on Doordarshan and I believe that Jaitley was instrumental in my selection.
In 2003, I joined Venkaiah Naidu’s team in the ministry of rural development and when he became party president, I was appointed co-convenor of the newly formed BJP media cell. Thereafter, interacting with Jaitley became almost a daily affair. He was already acknowledged as a master strategist on political messaging and dealing with the media, and he regularly guided us with tips and advice on the media. As my interactions grew, his clarity and conviction, his incisive mind and his ability to speak clearly on the most complex of issues, were inspiring. Never was a word out of place when he spoke.
His “one-liners” often set the tone and agenda of the party. Political arguments founded on sound logic could rarely be refuted. Despite his stature, he treated each one of us in the media team warmly and with affection. Whenever required, he would go out of his way to offer valuable counsel even on personal matters.
In 2009, Jaitley asked me to start appearing for the party on television. To my pleasant surprise, despite his gruelling schedule, he monitored my performance. One night, as I was walking out of the studio after the prime time debate on a prominent channel, he called me. “Nalin,” he said, “You speak well, but slow down the pace. You will be more effective.” Such advice and gestures were not uncommon from him, and many would vouch for this.
Jaitley also took interest in my professional growth and advised towards active practice in law. He kept track of my progress.
It is difficult for many of us to accept that he is no more. His legacy, undoubtedly, will live on. He touched so many lives, in such profound ways, that Pericles’s words hold true for him—“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others”.
Kohli practises law at the Supreme Court and is the national spokesperson for the BJP.