Yashwant Sinha (, born 6 November 1937) is an Indian administrator and politician. He served as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1990 until 1991 under Prime Minister

Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

and again from March 1998 to July 2002 under Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

. He also served as the

Minister of External Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

from July 2002 until May 2004. He was a senior leader of the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

before he left the party on 21 April 2018. In March 2021, he joined the AITC; however he left in June 2022 as he was selected by the Combined Opposition Parties as their Presidential Candidate for the 2022 Presidential election. But lost the election against

Droupadi Murmu Droupadi Murmu (, born 20 June 1958) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 15th president of India since 25 July 2022. She is the first person belonging to the tribal community and also the second woman after Pratibha Patil to hol ...

NDA NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan * Nig ...

Early life

Sinha was born in a

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...

family in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, Bihar. He graduated from

University of Patna Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern er ...

in BA Hons(History).He received his master's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 1958. Subsequently, he taught the subject at the

until 1962.

Civil Service career

Sinha joined the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure. He served as Sub-Divisional Magistrate and

District Magistrate A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...

for 4 years. He was Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of the

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Government for 2 years after which he worked in the

Ministry of Commerce A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and M ...

as Deputy Secretary to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. From 1971 to 1973, he was First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy,

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Subsequently, he worked as Consul General of India in Frankfurt from 1973 to 1974. After working for over seven years in this field, he acquired experience in matters relating to foreign trade and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's relations with the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

. 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. He later was

Joint Secretary to Government of India Joint Secretary to Government of India (often abbreviated as JS, GoI or Union Joint Secretary or Joint Secretary to Union of India) is a post under the Central Staffing Scheme and the third highest non-political executive rank in Government of I ...

in the Ministry of Surface Transport from 1980 to 1984, his main responsibilities were road transport, ports, and shipping. He resigned from service in 1984.

Political career

Janata Dal

Sinha resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and joined active politics as a member of the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

. He was appointed All-India General secretary of the party in 1986 and was elected Member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(Upper House of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

) in 1988. When the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

was formed in 1989, he was appointed General Secretary of the party. He worked as Minister of Finance from November 1990 to June 1991 in

's Cabinet.

BJP

He became the National Spokesperson of the

in June 1996. He was elected to Lok Sabha as a BJP candidate from

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazaribagh ...

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 the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

elections of 2004, he was defeated by

Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta (born 2 August 1940) is an Indian politician, affiliated to the Communist Party of India. He represented the Hazaribagh constituency of Jharkhand in the 14th Lok Sabha. Biography Mehta was born in August 2, 1940 in a p ...

of CPI. He re-entered the Parliament in 2005. On 13 June 2009, he resigned from the post of vice-president of BJP. In 2018, he quit the BJP citing the "party's condition" and that "democracy in India is in great danger". In his autobiography ''Drohkaal ka Pathik'', released in November 2013, former MP

Pappu Yadav Rajesh Ranjan (born 24 December 1967), better known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician. He won elections to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India) in 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2014 from several constituencies in Bihar ...

alleged that three MPs of his Indian Federal Democratic Party got money from the then finance minister Sinha, to join the NDA in 2001. Also there were allegations against Yashwant Sinha, that he was involved in the UTI scam. On 4 April 2017, Sinha was detained in

Hazaribagh district Hazaribagh district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India and the district headquarter located in Hazaribagh town. It is currently a part of the Red Corridor. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters, the tow ...

along with BJP MLA

Manish Jaiswal Manish (''also'' Maneesh) (Devanagari: मनिष ''or'' मनीष) is a common Hindu masculine given name that literally means "The God of the Mind" or the one who has controlled and mastered one's mind (representing an intellectual, geni ...

and 150 others after trying to hold a religious procession. On police stopping them, his supporters protested and allegedly threw stones at the police.

TMC and 2022 presidential campaign

On 13 March 2021, he joined TMC to fight against

just before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Election. On 15 March 2021 he was appointed vice president of the

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 20 ...

-led party. He was selected unanimously as the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Candidate of the Opposition for 2022 Presidential Election, making him the First AITC leader to be nominated for the

Finance minister

Sinha was the

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

until 1 July 2002, when he exchanged jobs with foreign minister

Jaswant Singh Major Jaswant Singh (; 3 January 193827 September 2020) was an officer of the Indian Army and an Indian Cabinet Minister. He was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was one of India's longest serving parliamen ...

. Sinha, during his tenure, was forced to roll back some of his government's major policy initiatives for which he was much criticised. 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 the National 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 the Indian 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 titled ''Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer''. Yashwant Sinha has been accused by opponents, and by other political observers of trying to promote nepotism by nominating his son

Jayant Sinha Jayant Sinha (born 21 April 1963) is an Indian politician who is the Member of Indian Parliament and formerly the Minister of State for Finance and the Minister of State for Civil Aviation in the Government of India. Sinha is currently the Ch ...

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.

Honors

In 2015, he was awarded Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, the highest civilian distinction of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. 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.

Personal life

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. They have a daughter, Sharmila, and two sons:

and Sumant Sinha. Sinha blogs under the title ''Musings of a Swadeshi Reformer''. He has co-authored the book '' India Unmade'' with

Aditya Sinha Aditya Sinha is an Indian author and journalist. His last assignment was as the Editor-in-Chief of the Deccan Chronicle, based in Hyderabad, which also publishes the Asian Age in Delhi. He has been a journalist since 1987, occupying positions such ...

Electoral performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Yashwant 1937 births Living people Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Legion of Honour Indian civil servants Bihar cadre civil servants Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Jharkhand Politicians from Patna Rajya Sabha members from Bihar India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 2009–2014 Lok Sabha members from Jharkhand Finance Ministers of India Ministers for Corporate Affairs Ministers for External Affairs of India Leaders of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly Rajya Sabha members from Jharkhand Bihar MLAs 1995–2000 Politicians from Ranchi People from Patna Patna University alumni Patna University faculty People involved in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests Trinamool Congress politicians