NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on Thursday rued the decline of humour and satire in Indian politics. He said that unlike the European democracy humour and satire have significantly gone down in the Indian democracy.
“There were times when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Piloo Mody and Madhu Dandwate were known for humour and satire. A lot of commenetaries used to be written on humourous statements given by such leaders. But now we hardly see any space for the lighter side in the politics,” said Jaitely during the launch of his book “Andhere se ujaale ke aur” by the BJP chief Amit Shah.
Jaitely said that there could be another phase in the Indian politics when humour and satire would again find space and acceptance. The Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Das Gupta during his brief speech said that Jaitely is known for one-liners, which he shares only in private with friends.
Shah lauded Jaitely, saying “he is a successful Finance Minister”. “The two of the greatest achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the from of the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the disclosure of Rs 65000 crores of the black money have come from the Finance Ministry. It has been all because of the works of Jaitely ji that these two achievements could be possible,” said Shah.
The book is a compilation of the blog and articles written by Jaitely from 2013 onwards on various issues, including politics and economy.