Arun Jaitley (1952 – 2019) served as Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs, and Defence simultaneously in Modi's first cabinet.
Born into a Punjabi Brahmin family that migrated from Lahore during Partition.
As Delhi University Students Union President in 1974, he was detained for 19 months during the Emergency (1975-77) - quite the transformation from campus revolutionary to becoming one of India's most powerful finance ministers decades later.
He became a Senior Advocate at Delhi High Court in 1990.
His legal clients ranged across the political spectrum from Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal to Madhavrao Scindia of Congress to L.K. Advani of BJP - talk about being professionally diplomatic before entering politics full-time!
He represented both PepsiCo against Coca-Cola and later Coca-Cola in various court cases.
Despite being in BJP since 1980, he never contested any direct election until 2014, when he lost the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat to Amarinder Singh - sometimes being excellent at your job doesn't translate to winning popularity contests.
He oversaw the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax which brought the country under one GST regime - creating a tax system so comprehensive that even tax experts needed tutorials to understand it.
He oversaw demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes from November 2016, giving every Indian an unforgettable lesson in standing in bank queues and the relative value of cash.
He underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2014 when he weighed 117 kilograms, followed by a kidney transplant in 2018.
Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla stadium was renamed Arun Jaitley Stadium in his honor, as he was once DDCA president and BCCI vice-president.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2020.