Yashwant Sinha | |
|---|---|
 Sinha as External Affairs Minister | |
| President of Atal Vichar Manch | |
| Assumed office 2024 | |
| Vice President ofAll India Trinamool Congress | |
| In office 15 March 2021 – 2022 | |
| President | Mamata Banerjee |
| Union Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 1 July 2002 – 22 May 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
| Succeeded by | Natwar Singh |
| Union Minister of Finance | |
| In office 5 December 1998 – 1 July 2002 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | P. Chidambaram |
| Succeeded by | Jaswant Singh |
| In office 10 November 1990 – 5 June 1991 | |
| Prime Minister | Chandra Shekhar |
| Preceded by | Madhu Dandavate |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 22 May 2009 – 16 May 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta |
| Succeeded by | Jayant Sinha |
| Constituency | Hazaribagh, Jharkhand |
| In office 13 March 1998 – 22 May 2004 | |
| Preceded by | M. L. Vishwakarma |
| Succeeded by | Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta |
| Constituency | Hazaribagh, Jharkhand |
| Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 2004–2009 | |
| Constituency | Jharkhand |
| In office 1988–1994 | |
| Constituency | Bihar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-11-06)6 November 1937 (age 87)[1] Patna,Bihar Province,British India (present-dayBihar, India)[1] |
| Political party | Atal Vichar Manch (2022–) |
| Other political affiliations | Janata Dal (1988–1991) Bharatiya Janata Party (1992–2018) Bhartiya Sab Log Party (2020–2021) Trinamool Congress (2021–2022) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Residence | 6, Kushak Road, New Delhi |
| Occupation |
|
| Awards | Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (2015) |
Yashwant Sinha (Hindustani pronunciation:[jəʃˈʋən̪t̪sɪnˈɦɑː], born 6 November 1937) is an Indian politician and retiredIndian Administrative Service officer. He served as theMinister of Finance from 1990 until 1991 under Prime MinisterChandra Shekhar and again from March 1998 to July 2002 under Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee. He also served as theMinister of External Affairs from July 2002 until May 2004.[2] He was a senior leader of theBJP before he left the party on 21 April 2018.[3] In 2022, he was the Presidential candidate of India for the opposition.[4]
Sinha was born in aKayastha family inPatna, Bihar.[5] He graduated fromUniversity of Patna in BA Hons(History). He received his master's degree inpolitical science in 1958.[1] Subsequently, he taught the subject at theUniversity of Patna until 1962.
After securing All India rank 12th in theUPSC Civil Services Examination.[6]
Sinha joined theIndian Administrative Service in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure. He served asSub-Divisional Magistrate andDistrict Magistrate for 4 years. He was Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of theBihar Government for 2 years after which he worked in theMinistry of Commerce as Deputy Secretary to theGovernment of India.[7]
From 1971 to 1973, he wasFirst Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy,Bonn,West Germany. Subsequently, he worked as Consul General of India inFrankfurt from 1973 to 1974.[8] After working for over seven years in this field, he acquired experience in matters relating to foreign trade andIndia's relations with theEuropean Economic Community. Thereafter, he worked in the Department of Industrial Infrastructure, Government of Bihar State and in the Ministry of Industry, Government of India dealing with foreign industrial collaborations, technology imports, intellectual property rights, and industrial approvals.[9]
He later wasJoint Secretary to Government of India in theMinistry of Surface Transport from 1980 to 1984, his main responsibilities were road transport, ports, and shipping. He resigned from service in 1984.[10]
Sinha resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and joined active politics as a member of theJanata Party. He was appointed All-India General secretary of the party in 1986 and was elected Member of theRajya Sabha (Upper House of theIndian Parliament) in 1988.[11]
When theJanata Dal was formed in 1989, he was appointed General Secretary of the party. He worked as Minister of Finance from November 1990 to June 1991 inChandra Shekhar's Cabinet.[12]
He became the National Spokesperson of theBJP in June 1996. He was elected to Lok Sabha as a BJP candidate fromHazaribagh in 1998, 1999, and 2009. He was appointed Finance Minister in March 1998. He was appointed Minister for External Affairs on 1 July 2002. In the2004 Indian general election, he was defeated byBhubneshwar Prasad Mehta ofCPI. He re-entered the Parliament as a member ofRajya Sabha same year. On 13 June 2009, he resigned as vice-president of BJP.[13] In 2018, he quit the BJP citing the "party's condition" and that "democracy in India is in great danger".[3]
In his autobiographyDrohkaal ka Pathik, released in November 2013, former MPPappu Yadav alleged that three MPs of his Indian Federal Democratic Party got money from the then finance minister Sinha, to join the NDA in 2001.[14]
Also there were allegations against Yashwant Sinha, that he was involved in the UTI scam.[15][16][17][18][19]
On 4 April 2017, Sinha was detained inHazaribagh district along with BJP MLAManish Jaiswal and 150 others after trying to hold a religious procession. On police stopping them, his supporters protested and allegedly threw stones at the police.[20]
On 13 March 2021, he joinedTMC to fight againstBJP just before the2021 West Bengal Assembly Election. On 15 March 2021 he was appointed vice president of theMamata Banerjee-led party. He was selected unanimously as thePresident Candidate of the Opposition for2022 Presidential Election, making him the FirstTMC leader to be nominated for thePresident.
Sinha was thefinance minister until 1 July 2002, when he exchanged jobs with foreign ministerJaswant Singh. Sinha, during his tenure, was forced to roll back some of his government's major policy initiatives for which he was much criticised.[21] Still, Sinha is widely credited with pushing through several major reform measures that put the Indian economy on a firm growth trajectory. Among them are lowering of real interest rates, introducing tax deduction for mortgage interest, freeing up the telecommunications sector, helping fund theNational Highways Authority, and deregulating the petroleum industry. Sinha is also known for being the first Finance Minister to break the 53-year tradition of presenting theIndian budget at 5 pm local time, a practice held over from British Rule days that sought to present the Indian budget at a time convenient to the British Parliament (1130am GMT) rather than India's Parliament.
Sinha has written a comprehensive account of his years as Finance Minister titledConfessions of a Swadeshi Reformer.[22]
Yashwant Sinha has been accused by opponents, and by other political observers of trying to promote nepotism by nominating his sonJayant Sinha as a successor to contest from Hazaribagh overlooking the interests of many other loyal party workers, though he tried to justify the nomination of his son as a party decision.[23]
In 2015, he was awardedOfficier de la Légion d’Honneur, the highest civilian distinction ofFrance.[24] It was bestowed upon him in recognition of his work as Union Minister of Finance, Minister of External Foreign Affairs and for his invaluable contribution to international issues.[25][26]
Sinha was born in a Bihari kayastha family and has a wide range of interests including reading, gardening and meeting people. He has widely travelled and has led a number of political and social delegations. He played a leading role in many negotiations on behalf of India. Sinha's wife is Nilima Sinha, one of India's leading children's writers and President, Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children.[27] They have a daughter, Sharmila, and two sons:Jayant Sinha andSumant Sinha. Sinha blogs under the titleMusings of a Swadeshi Reformer.[28] He has co-authored the bookIndia Unmade withAditya Sinha.[29]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BJP | Yashwant Sinha | 2,19,810 | 31.81 | ||
| INC | Saurabh Narain Singh | 1,79,646 | 26.00 | ||
| AJSU | Chandra Prakash Choudhary | 86,880 | 12.57 | ||
| JMM | Shivlal Mahto | 53,902 | 7.80 | ||
| CPI | Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta | 53,785 | 7.78 | ||
| JVM(P) | Braj Kishore Jaiswal | 43,745 | 6.33 | ||
| Majority | 40,164 | 5.81 | |||
| Turnout | 6,90,943 | 53.08 | |||
| Registered electors | |||||
| BJPgain fromCPI | Swing | ||||
| Candidate | Coalition | Individual votes | Electoral College votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Droupadi Murmu | National Democratic Alliance | 2,824 | 676,803 | 64.03 | |
| Yashwant Sinha | United Opposition | 2,180 | 380,177 | 35.97 | |
| Valid votes | 4,701 | 1,056,980 | 98.89 | ||
| Blank and invalid votes | 53 | 15,397 | 1.11 | ||
| Total | 4,754 | 1,072,377 | 100 | ||
| Registered voters / Turnout | 4,809 | 1,086,431 | 98.86 | ||
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance November 1990 – June 1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance March 1998 – July 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for External Affairs July 2002 – May 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Unknown | Order of Precedence of India as Joint Secretary to Government of India 1980–1984 | Succeeded by Unknown |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
