Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley died in Delhi's AIIMS after battling an illness
Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had a long and illustrious political career - rising up the ranks from a student activist to become a Cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the first Narendra Modi governments.
His prolonged illness may kept him out of the new government but his regular tweets and blog posts showed how much he missed politics.
His last tweet came on August 7 when he paid his tributes for Tulsidas Jayanti before tweeting how heartbroken he was at the death of his cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj, who died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) following a cardiac arrest on August 6.
But it was his series of tweets on August 6 on the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy that prove how much he missed being at the centre of change.
In a thread of 10 tweets, Arun Jaitley had congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for watering down Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Home Minister Shri Amit Shah achieved the Impossible with the new Kashmir policy. In my blog today, I have analysed the impact of this decision, and history of failed attempts on resolving the J&K issue," the ailing former Finance Minister had said.
Elaborating on the significance of the move, Arun Jaitley said, "The J&K history of the past seven decades shows that the journey of this separate Status has been towards separatism and not integration. It created a separatist psyche. Pakistan was more than enthusiastic in trying to exploit the situation."
Arun Jaitley then delved into the history of terrorism in Kashmir, saying, "By 1989-90, the situation of J&K had gone out of control and separatism with terrorism picked up. Kashmiri pundits, an essential part of Kashmiriat, suffered such atrocities which only the Nazis had inflicted in the past. The ethnic cleansing took place and they had to move out."
Arun Jaitley continued, "The historic blunders of special status had cost the country politically and financially. Today, when history is being re-written, it proves that Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee's vision on Kashmir was the correct one and Panditji's dream solution has proved to be a failure."
He then stressed on how Kashmir was changing, saying, "The last ten months have not seen any protest. Not even in Srinagar. Law and order enforcement, making life safe for lakhs of Kashmiris and pressuring handful of separatists and terrorists has been at its best. The next logical step obviously is total integration of the State."
"The decision to reverse the situation created by Panditji needed clarity, vision and determination. It also needed political courage. The Prime Minister has created history through his absolute clarity and determination," the ailing politician said, taking a dig at the Congress.
His attacks on the grand old party continued, "India's most beautiful State has not had investments from even the hotel chains. Consequently, there are no new jobs, no revenue for the State. These constitutional provisions are not cast in stone. They had to be removed/diluted through the due process of law that is done now.
"The level of support has compelled several opposition parties to support this move. They sensed the ground reality and do not want to face the wrath of the people. Regrettably, the Congress Party legacy, which first created the problem and then added to it, fails to see reason."
He ended the Twitter thread saying, "Congress Party, as a 'headless chicken,' is further consolidating its alienation from the people of India. The New India has changed. Only the Congress does not realise this. The Congress leadership is determined to succeed in its race to the bottom."
Arun Jaitley, who joined Twitter in November 2013 and had 15.3 million followers on the day of his death, used the social media platform to not only connect with the masses but also respond to some of the most burning issues the country faced in the last six years.
The former union minister garnered more than 3,000 followers in just hours of signing up on Twitter on November 27, 2013.
His first tweet came on December 5: "It gives me great pleasure to join this vibrant forum for sharing my views and interacting with you all".
Once the greetings were done, Arun Jaitely next tweet was against then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
"Nawaz Sharif is talking of a 4th war over Kashmir. So far Pakistan wanted terror & talks to coexist. Now will War & Talks coexist?"
In the next six years, the former Finance Minister tweeted on a variety of subjects that were close to the hearts of millions of people.