Ambedkar may refer to

Events[link]

• Ambedkar Jayanti, a public holiday in several states of India

People[link]

• Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, Indian jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and a revivalist for Buddhism in India.
• Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, grandson of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and a political figure.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939 in Chennai, India sometimes spelt Subramaniam Swamy) is an Indian politician, academician and an economist.^[1] He is the President of the Janata Party of India. He also presently serves as chairman^[2] of the SCMS Board of Governors of the SCMS Group of Educational Institutions in Kerala.

Swamy has previously served as member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of India. He has written extensively on foreign affairs dealing largely with India-China, India-Pakistan and Indo-Israel relation and is also a published author.

In November 1978, Swamy was member of the Group of Eminent persons called to Geneva to prepare a report of the United Nations (UNCTAD) on Economic Co-operation between Developing countries (ECDC).Swamy simplified trade procedures and formulated a new export strategy which became the forerunner of trade reform adopted subsequently. In 1994, Swamy was appointed as Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade by then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. This was perhaps for the first time that an Opposition Party member was given a Cabinet rank post by the ruling party.

He is also known for his anti corruption activism.

Early life and education[link]

Subramanian Swamy was born in Mylapore, Chennai, India. His father Sitaram Subramanian^[3] is from Madurai, Tamil Nadu who was an Indian Statistical Service officer^[4] and retired as Director of the Central Statistical Institute.^[5][6] His mother Padmavati Subramanian^[4] belongs to Kerala Iyer family from Trichur, Kerala.

He attended Hindu College, University of Delhi, from where he earned his Bachelor Honours degree in Mathematics.^[5] He studied for his Masters degree in Statistics at the Indian Statistical Institute.^[5] He then went to study at Harvard University on a full Rockefeller scholarship.^[5] He received a Ph.D. in Economics in 1965. His thesis adviser was Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets.^[7]

For some time, while completing his dissertation in 1963, he worked at the United Nations Secretariat in New York as an Assistant Economics Affairs Officer. He subsequently worked as a resident tutor at Lowell House at Harvard university.

Academic career[link]

Professorships[link]

In 1964, Swamy joined the faculty of economics at Harvard and since then has taught in the Department of Economics.^[8] He began as an assistant professor in July 1966^[5][9] and in 1969 became an associate professor.^[10] When he was Associate Professor at Harvard University, he was invited by Noble Laureate Amartya Sen^[3] for reader’s chair on Chinese studies at Delhi School of Economics.^[4] He accepted the offer and came back. However, when he arrived for the position at DSE, his appointment was cancelled due to his views on the nuclear capabilities for India and market friendly attitude.^[3] Thereafter, he moved to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and alongside to his teaching duties, he took special interest in talking to the hostel students. From 1969 to 1991, he was a Professor^[9] of mathematical economics at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.^[11] He was removed from the position by its board of Governors in the early 1970s but was legally reinstated in the late 1990s by the Supreme Court of India. He continued in the position until 1991 when he resigned to become a cabinet minister. He served on the Board of Governors of the IIT, Delhi (1977–80), and on the Council of IITs (1980–82).

He taught economics courses in summer session at Harvard ^[12] until 2011. In December 2011, the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences removed his course from the Harvard Summer School course offerings in response to a controversial article he wrote, effectively ceasing his employment at Harvard.^[13]

Political career[link]

Early politics[link]

Swamy's career started with his involvement in Jayaprakash Narayan's Sarvodaya movement, which was an apolitical movement but which formed the foundation of the creation of Janta Party later.^[14]. The real turn in his political career came after his sacking from IIT. Liberal economic policies put forward by him didn't go well with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who discredited him as 'Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas'. As a result he was expelled from Indian Institute of Technology. This marked the beginning of his active political career. Staunch opponent of Indira Gandhi and right wing political party Jansangh sent him to Rajya Sabha - the upper house of Indian Parliament.^[3]

He was elected Member of Parliament 5 times between 1974 and 1999. He has twice represented the city of Mumbai North East during 1977 and 1980, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the Parliament.^[3]

During the period of emergency, he fled to America, seeking save haven with a Indian businessman in Michigan who had become the spokesperson of opposition in the US. In 1976 when emergency was still in force and an arrest warrant issued in his name, he came to parliament to attend the session and managed to escape India after attending the session. This act made him a hero in the eyes of opposition parties.

He was one of the founding members of the Janata Party and has been its president since 1990.^[3]

Minister of Commerce and Law of India[link]

Economic Reforms in India[link]

During 1990 and 1991 Swamy was a member of the Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Law of India. During this period he created the blueprint^[15][16] for economic reforms in India under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar which was later carried out in 1991 by Manmohan Singh^[5], then Finance Minister under leadership of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.^[16] The current Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh recently stated that Dr. Swamy was the first to envisage and articulate the need for reforms in India.^[2][17]

Between 1994 and 1996, he held the position of "Chairman of the Commission on Labour Standards and International Trade" (equivalent to the rank of a cabinet minister) under the P. V. Narasimha Rao government.^[3] Dr. Swamy has been subject to several defamation cases. He is known to argue these cases himself without the agency of lawyers. In October 2004, he along with other members of the erstwhile Janata Party established the Rashtriya Swabhiman Manch to oppose the policies of the ruling UPA.

Issues held and contributions[link]

Foreign policy and affairs[link]

China and India[link]

He is known for his efforts in normalizing relations between China and India. In 1981, Indira Gandhi sought his help and upon which he persuaded Deng Xiaoping^[18] to open the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet to the Hindu pilgrims from India.^[19] He became the first Indian on the reopening to visit Kailash and Mansarovar in 1981. In 1990–1991, he was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet and was in charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Law and Justice.

Israel[link]

In his speeches and articles, Dr Swamy has expressed his admiration for Israel, and has credited its retaliatory capacity for its ability to survive in a hostile Arab environment. He made pioneering efforts at establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1982, Dr. Swamy became the first Indian political leader to make publicized trip to Israel, where he met with some important Israeli leaders such as Yitzhak Rabin and then Prime Minister Menachem Begin. His efforts at normalizing relations with Israel have borne fruit now with India's decision in 1992 to open Embassies in the respective countries.^[20]

Revealing 2G spectrum scam[link]

In November 2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote the first of five letters to PM Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regards to the 2G spectrum scam.^[21] However, Singh took no action^[22], leading Swamy to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on the matter.^[23] He further called on the Indian government to re-auction the 2G spectrum without the involvement of Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.^[24]

Swamy has raised allegations that Sonia Gandhi's two sisters Anushka and Nadia have received sixty percent of the kickbacks in the 2G spectrum scam, amounting to Rs.18,000 crores each.^[25] On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page long petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Gandhi. In the petition, he claimed to have strong evidence of corrupt acts committed by Gandhi as early as 1972; he also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship.^[26] At a lecture on corruption given on 29 May 2011, he again repeated his allegation against Sonia Gandhi, saying she has Rs.1 lakh crore stashed abroad.^[27] Most of Swamy's letters to the prime minister regarding this matter are backed up with full proof, which makes him defensive about his allegations.^[28]

Swamy filed various documents in the court to prosecute Minister of Home Affairs P.Chidambaram by including a January 15, 2008 letter written by Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swamy also placed on record the certified copy of the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram, Raja and the Prime Minister during the tenure of Raja as the MOC&IT. ^[29]After supreme court verdict cancelling all 122 licences awarded during A Raja tenure, Cho Ramaswamy described Subramanian swamy as not only man of the match but man of the series.^[30]

Supreme court petition in 2G scam[link]

On January 31, 2012, the Supreme Court of India accepted Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G case, saying that all public authorities should give a sanction within 3 months against any public official if a request is made for prosecution. The Supreme Court said that Subramanian Swamy had the locus to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A Raja in the 2G scam. Sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame, the apex court said. Justice A K Ganguly said that the sanction would be deemed to be granted if competent authority failed to take a decision within four months. Swamy's arguments were that he wrote to the PMO on November 29, 2008 but it was only on March 19, 2010 the PMO replied that the plea made by Swamy was "premature" as investigation was being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Raja was arrested by the CBI in the case and got bail on 15th May 2012 after spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jail.^[31]

Views on Kashmir[link]

In September 2008, Dr. Swamy stridently retorted against the contentions of some Indian columnists who voiced their opinions in favour of "peacefully" surrendering Kashmir to Pakistan. He said,

"I would say that the silent suffering majority of India wants none of this. The ‘Kashmir issue,’ in fact, can no more be solved by dialogue either with the Pakistanis or the Hurriyat, leave alone the constitutional impossibility of allowing it to secede. [...]Kashmir, in fact, is now our defining identity. It is a touchstone for our resolve to preserve our national integrity. The population of that State may be majority Muslim but the land and its history is predominantly Hindu. For our commitment to the survival of the ancient civilisation of India and the composite culture that secularists talk of, we have not only to win that coming inevitable war but also resolve never to part with Kashmir. [...]

I will not blame the jihadis for the coming war. They are, after all, programmed that way by their understanding of Islamist theology. I will blame ourselves for not understanding their understanding of the fundamentals of Islam. [...]

Pakistanis often cite the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir to argue for a plebiscite. This obfuscates the fact of accession of the State to India. The legality of the Instrument of Accession signed in favour of India by the then Maharaja of J&K, Hari Singh, on October 26, 1947 has to prevail anyway. "^[32]

Controversial Article and Its Impacts[link]

Article about 2011 Mumbai bombings[link]

In response to the 2011 Mumbai bombings, he wrote an editorial in Daily News and Analysis (DNA) Some of Swamy’s Controversial suggestions in the article.

• The Hindu is the target and that Muslims of India are being programmed by a slow reactive process to become radical and thus slide into suicide against Hindus.
• Remove Article 370, and re-settle ex-servicemen in the Valley. Create Panun Kashmir for Hindu Pandit community. Look or create opportunity to take over PoK. If Pakistan continues to back terrorists, assist the Baluchis and Sindhis to struggle for independence.
• Remove the masjid in Kashi Vishwanath temple complex, and 300 others in other sites as a tit-for-tat.
• Make Sanskrit learning compulsory and singing of Vande Mataram mandatory, and declare India as Hindu Rashtra in which only those non-Hindus can vote if they proudly acknowledge that their ancestors are Hindus. Rename India as Hindustan as a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors are Hindus.

• Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion.

Propagate the development of a Hindu mindset ^[33][34]. Swamy had written a similar column in The New Indian Express after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Negative reactions[link]

His column provoked a variety of reactions. His house was attacked by people alleged to be Congress party workers.^[35] Minorities Council of Maharashtra Vice Chairman Abraham Mathai and National Commission for Minorities chairman Wajahat Habibullah accused him of violating Indian Penal Code Section 153A.^[36][37] New Delhi law student Shehzad Poonawala attempted to lodge an FIR against him at Defence Colony police station, but was disallowed by the officer on duty.^[37] DNA published two hostile response columns by Rakesh Sharma and Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr. calling him a "Hindu Taliban", "maverick", and "Zionist" in response to his views.^[38][39]

Controversy at Harvard[link]

Some students at his alma mater Harvard University, where he also teaches economics in the summer school, accused him of stoking communalism and circulated a petition calling on the university to fire him and publicly repudiate his remarks. Two PhD students, Umang Kumar and Sanjay Pinto, started an online petition asking for the removal of courses taught by Dr Swamy, which received more than 450 signatures from students and faculty.^[40][41] Adam Kissel, on behalf of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, wrote in a letter to Harvard that a disciplinary investigation against him would be inappropriate for an academic institution dedicated to intellectual freedom, represented a threat to free speech, and could lead to self-censorship by other faculty members.^[42]

In response to the petition, Donald H. Pfister, dean of Harvard Summer School, stated that the school would "give this matter our serious attention", and decided to stand by its instructor.^[35] On Tuesday, 6 December 2011, the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to exclude Subramanian Swamy's summer school courses from its catalog.^[43][44][45] The Op-Ed was considered more to be a case of hate speech rather than free speech. 'I was persuaded... that the views expressed in Dr Swamy's op-ed piece amounted to incitement of violence instead of protected political speech,' Philosophy Department Chair Sean D Kelly wrote in an e-mail to the Crimson.^[46] Comparative Religion Professor Diana Eck said, "Swamy's op-ed [piece] clearly crosses the line by demonising an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places".^[47] Swamy described the move as "nothing serious", saying "non-economists at Harvard don't like my views on how to protect India".^[48]

Views on Tamil Nadu Politics[link]

He is well known for his critical views against the Government of Tamil Nadu and against the "Aryan versus Dravidian" brand of divisive politics of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy.

He was staunch opponent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.^[49][50]

He obtained Supreme Court Stay against the implementation of Sethu Samuthiram Shipping Channel project (SSSCP). He believes that it would hurt the sentiments of people who believe that this shallow land connecting between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was built by Lord Rama. He strongly opposes the implementation of SSSCP citing that implementing this scheme may affect the sentiments of Hinduism. He wrote letters to Prime Minister of India in June 2009 asking him to stop the project.^[51]. He has also strongly urged the Supreme Court of India to declare this Rama-Sethu as a National heritage & historical monument.

Family and Personal life[link]

Dr.Swamy married Dr. Roxna Swamy (a Parsi) in June 1966 whom he met at Harvard. Then she had obtained Ph.D in Maths ^[52] who is presently an advocate at the Supreme Court of India. They have two daughters, Dr. Gitanjali Swamy who is married to Sanjay Sarma, a professor at MIT and Suhasini Haider, a senior editor at CNN-IBN is married to Nadeem Haidar who is a son of Salman Haider, former foreign secretary and external affairs minister.^[53] His brother-in-law is Jewish, his son-in-law Muslim, his sister-in-law Christian, and his wife Parsi.^[40]

Honours, awards and international recognition[link]

Books, Research Papers and Journals[link]

Subramanian Swamy is a published author of several books, research papers and journals. A complete list of papers, books and journals is included below to which he is the author.

Books[link]

• Economic Growth in China and India, 1952–70 (Publisher: University of Chicago Press; ISBN 978-0-226-78315-4)
• Indian economic planning;: An alternative approach (Publisher: Barnes & Noble; ISBN 978-0-389-04202-0)
• Building a New India: An Agenda for National Renaissance (Publisher: South Asia Books; ISBN 978-81-85674-21-6)
• India's Labour Standards and the WTO Framework (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 978-81-220-0585-1)
• India's economic performance and reforms: A perspective for the new millennium (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 978-81-220-0594-3)
• Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: Unanswered Questions and Unasked Queries (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 978-81-220-0591-2)
• India's China perspective (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 978-81-220-0606-3)
• Financial Architecture and Economic Development in China and India (Publisher: Konark Publishers; ISBN 978-81-220-0718-3)
• Trade and Industry in Japan: A Guide to Indian Entrepreneurs and Businessmen (Publisher: Prentice-Hall of India; ISBN 978-81-203-0785-8)
• Sri Lanka in Crisis: India's Options (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1260-1)
• Kailas and Manasarovar after 22 years in Shiva's domain (Publisher: Allied Publishers)
• Hindus Under Siege (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1207-6)
• Rama Setu: Symbol of National Unity (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1418-6)
• Terrorism in India: A Strategy of Deterrence for India's National Security (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1344-8)
• Corruption and Corporate Governance in India: Satyam, Spectrum & Sundaram (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1486-5)
• 2G Spectrum Scam (Publisher: Har Anand Publications; ISBN 978-81-241-1638-8)
• Electronic voting machines: unconstitutional and tamperable (Publisher: Vision Books; ISBN 978-81-7094-798-1)

Article, Research Papers and Journals[link]

Article[link]

• Can India make it? India's path to sustained growth (Publisher: Harvard Asia Pacific review, Volumes 6-8 by Harvard University. Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, 2002)
• The response to economic challenge: A comparative economic history of China and India, 1870-1952 (Publisher: The Quarterly journal of economics, Volume 93 by Harvard University by the MIT Press, 1979)

Research Papers[link]

• Economic growth and income distribution in a developing nation (Publisher: Harvard University, 1965)
• Nuclear policy for India (Publisher: Bharatiya Jana Sangh Publication, 1968)
• Plan for full employment (Publisher: Bharatiya Jana Sangh, 1970)
• Theoretical aspects of index numbers (Publisher: Harvard Institute of Economic Research, 1985)
• Land reforms: an economist's approach (Publisher: Deendayal Research Institute)

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	India portal

• Official Twitter Account @Swamy39
• Bio-Data at Janata Party website
• Official Biographical Sketch of Member of 12th Lok Sabha: Swamy

Others[link]

• Subramanian Swamy collected laws and court judgements at Indian Kanoon
• Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at India Today
• Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at Tehelka
• Subramanian Swamy collected news and commentary at The Hindu

Ram Jethmalani
Ram Jethmalani
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
Member of Parliament for Rajasthan
Minister of Law and Justice
In office June 1999 – July 2000
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Thambi Durai
Succeeded by	Arun Jaitley
Minister of Urban Development
In office 19 March 1998 – 14 June 1999
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs
In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Personal details
Born	(1923-09-14) 14 September 1923 (age 88) Shikharpur, British India
Political party	Bhartiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)	Ratna R.
Residence	Hyderabad
Alma mater	S.C. Shahani Law College, Karachi
Profession	Lawyer
Signature
Website	http://164.100.47.5:8080/members/website/Mainweb.asp?mpcode=29

Ram Jethmalani (Hindi: राम जेठ्मलानी, Sindhi: رام جيٺملاڻي), born 14 September 1923, in Shikharpur in Sindh, British India, (now in Pakistan) is an Indian lawyer and politician. He has served in various posts such as Union Law Minister and Chairman of Bar Associations. He has represented a sweep of cases from the high-profile to the controversial for which he has often faced severe criticism. He is the highest paid Indian lawyer.^[1] The family inherits its surname Jethmalani from Shri Jethmal who was a personality in Shikarpur, Pakistan and later a minister in Afghanistan.

Ram Jethmalani is known as a legal personality. Jethmalani is considered a maverick and has many distinctions to his credit. He completed his law at an early age of 18 and started professing law there until the partition of India after which when left his hometown and shifted to Bombay as a refugee. He came to India with his family and began his life fresh. He married Ratna Jethmalani, his first wife, in 1947, and Durga, his second wife. He has 2 sons and 2 daughters, two of whom, Mahesh Jethmalani and Rani Jethmalani are also well known lawyers.

He was elected a member of parliament in 6th and 7th Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket from Mumbai. He has served as Law Minister of India and also as Minister of Urban Development during the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee against whom he later on contested election in General Elections 0f 2004 from Lucknow constituency. However in 2010 he came back to Bharatiya Janta Party and was elected to Rajya Sabha on its ticket from Rajasthan. He has also been criticised as being opportunistic because of this.^[2]

He is a well known face amongst the legal community in India. Even though he is primarily known as only a criminal lawyer, he has appeared in many high profile cases. On 7 May 2010 he was elected to be the president of Supreme Court Bar Association.^[3][4]

Life History[link]

Ram Jethmalani got a double promotion in school and completed matriculation at the age of 13. He secured an LLB degree at the mere age of 17. At that time the minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21 but special resolution allowed him to become a lawyer at 18.

Ram Jethmalani was married at an age of little above 18, to Durga. Ratna Shehani, a lawyer by profession was his second wife who he had married secretly on the eve of partition. Polygamy was then allowed in Pakistan. His family included two wives and four children — three from Durga (Rani, Shobha, Mahesh) and one from Ratna (Janak).^[5]

As a Lawyer[link]

Ram Jethmalani started his career as a professor in Pakistan before partition.^[6] He started his own law firm in Karachi with his friend A.K. Brohi who was senior to him by six years.^[7] In February 1948, when the riots broke out in Karachi, he fled to India on the advice of his friend Bodhi who later turned to be the Law Minister of Pakistan

Ram Jethmalani first came to spot light with his appearance in the famous K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra case in 1959 with Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, later to become Chief Justice of India. His later defence of a string of smugglers in the late 1960s established Jethmalani’s image as a ‘smuggler’s lawyer’. Even back then, he would point out that he was only doing his duty as a lawyer.^[8]

In 1953 he became a part-time professor at the Government Law College, Mumbai for both graduate and post graduate studies. He also taught Comparative law at International Law at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.^[9] He has also been the Chairman of Bar Council of India for four tenures both before and after the emergency. He was also a member of International Bar Association 1996.

Political career[link]

In 1971, Ram Jethmalani contested as an independent candidate from Ulhasnagar supported both by the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Jan Sangh but he lost the elections.^[10] During the Emergency period of 1975-1977, he was the chairman of the Bar Association of India. He heavily criticized the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. An arrest warrant was issued against him from Kerala. It was stayed by the Bombay High Court when over 300 lawyers led by Nani Palkhivala appeared for him. However the stay was nullified by the famous Habeas Corpus judgment (Additional District Magistrate of Jabalpur v. Shiv Kant Shukla) and Ram Jethmalani exiled himself in the Canada carrying on his campaign against the Emergency. He returned 10 months later after Emergency was lifted. While in Canada, his candidature was filed from Bombay North-West constituency. He won the election and retained the seat in 1980 General Elections, but lost to Sunil Dutt of the Indian National Congress in 1985. In the 1977 general elections after the Emergency, he ousted the serving Law Minister H.R. Gokhale from Bombay in the Lok Sabha Elections and hence started his political career as a Parliamentarian.^[11] However he was not made law minister himself as Morarji Desai disapproved of his lifestyle.^[12]

He became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1988. He became The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs in 1996 in the Government of India led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the second tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was given the portfolio of Union Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998. But on 13 October 1999 he was again sworn in as the Union Minister for Law, Justice & Company Affairs. However he was asked to resign by the Prime Minister following differences with the then Chief Justice of India Adarsh Sein Anand and Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee. It is believed that Jethmalani never enjoyed the confidence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was inducted into the Cabinet on Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani's insistence.^[13]

He had also announced his candidature for President of India stating "I owe it to the nation to offer my services'" and launched his own political fronts, the Bharat Mukti Morcha, launched as a ‘mass movement’ in 1987 and in 1995 he launched his own political party called Pavitra Hindustan Kazhagam, with a motto to achieve “Transparency in functioning of Indian Democracy.”^[14]

In the General Elections of 2004, he contested against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the Lucknow constituency as an independent candidate. Indian National Congress and Samajwadi Party did not field their candidates in this election. However he lost. Later on, in 2010, he was given a Rajya Sabha ticket by Bharatiya Janta Party from Rajasthan and he was selected.^[15] Ram Jethmalani is a person who is known to speak his mind. Recently at a reception hoisted by the Pakistan High Commission for the Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar who was on a visit to India on 28 July 2011, the former Law Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador called China an enemy of both India and Pakistan and warned the Indians and Pakistanis to beware^[16] of the Chinese.

In December 2009 the Committee on Judicial Accountability stated that it considered that recommendations for judicial appointments should only be made after a public debate, including review by members of the bar of the affected high courts. This statement was made in relation to controversy about the appointments of justices C. K. Prasad and P. D. Dinakaran. The statement was signed by Ram Jethmalani, Shanti Bhushan, Fali Sam Nariman, Anil B. Divan, Kamini Jaiswal and Prashant Bhushan.^[17]

Controversies[link]

Ram Jethmalani has often been surrounded by controversies.

Defence of High profile cases[link]

He has a number of high profile defense cases to his credit as a lawyer (citation). , people involved in market scams (Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh), and a host of gangsters and smugglers including the British citizen Daisy Angus who was acquitted of hashish smuggling after serving 5 years in jail. He has also defended death sentence of Afzal Guru a Pakistani terrorist convicted for 2001 Indian Parliament attack. He also defended L.K Advani in Hawala Scam. Recently he was in the news for taking up the defense of Manu Sharma, prime accused in the Jessica Lall murder case, however, he failed to get Manu Sharma acquitted. He is now going to be defending Lalit Modi - former IPL Chairman and Commissioner.^{[18][19][20][21]}

• Defence of Rajeev Gandhi's killers in Madras High Court in year 2011.
• Defence of Indira Gandhi's killers
• Harshad Mehta's defence in stock market scam
• Ketan Parekh's defence in stock market scam
• Underworld don Haji Mastan
• Defended death sentence of Afzal Guru
• L K Advani's defence in Hawala Scam
• Manu Sharma's defence in Jessica Lall murder case
• Amit Shah's (Gujarat's former Minister of State for Home) defence in Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
• Amit Jogi's defence (son of Ajit Jogi) in the case of Ramavatar Jaggi murder case.
• Kanimozhi's defence in Spectrum 2G case
• Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy's special leave petition on stay for CBI probe on money laundering in his companies.
• Yeddyurappa's case on illegal mining scam^[22]
• AG Perarivalan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and Sriharan alias Murugan - convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
• Ramdev's defence on use of force on the followers of Baba Ramdev at Ramlila gounds on June 4, 2011^[23]

However Ram Jethmalani is of the opinion that he is someone who thinks independently, who has not mortgaged his soul or intelligence to anybody. He says "I decide according to my conscience who to defend. A lawyer who refuses to defend a person on the grounds that people believe him to be guilty is himself guilty of professional misconduct."

After he joined Bharatiya Janta Party in 2010, when he was asked why he had defended Afzal Guru against his death sentence when his party was in support of it, he replied that he had meant that such indoctrinated elements (like Afzal) shouldn’t be allowed to die easily, but they should made to rot in jails^[24]

Controversy during his Ministerial term[link]

• There was a clash between him and then Attorney General of India, Soli Sorabjee. Jethmalani felt Soli Sorabjee was exceeding his brief and flaunting his political clout. There were exchanges of rude letters and a series of accusations on both sides. This finally cost him his ministerial berth.^[25]
• Chief Justice A.S. Anand took exception to not being consulted on the appointment of MRTP commission head. Jethmalani felt the judiciary was poaching on the executive's turf. The exchange of letters turned acrimonious and culminated in Anand making a formal complaint to Vajpayee.^[26]
• Jethmalani antagonised the legal fraternity with his brash handling of the lawyer's strike this year. He was even expelled from the Bar Association.
• As Union Minister of Urban Affairs and Employment in 1998-99, Jethmalani's decision in the MS Shoes case landed him in controversy. Following a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry, the Government concluded he was guilty of an administrative error but not criminal conspiracy.
• The Supreme Court of India made adverse comments on the Government's doublespeak on the Srikrishna Commission report. This was interpreted as evidence of the judiciary's exasperation with the law minister.

Awards and Achievements[link]

• International Jurist Award^[27]
• World Peace Through Law Award
• In 1977 he received Human Rights Award instituted by World Peace Through Law for his fight against authoritarianism at Philippines.^[28]

Books[link]

• Biography: Ram Jethmalani : The Authorized Biography by Nalini Gera
• In April 2007 at the time Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released one of his books titled Conscience of a Maverick.^[29]
• Big Egos, Small Men, Har Anand Publications.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ramjethmalani.com
• Members BioProfile
• Rajya Sabha Member

See also[link]

• K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra