He’s still got a mission to accomplish

Ram Jethmalani is an angry man. The 94-year-old says he has one mission to which he’s dedicating “whatever time I have left — to get rid of Mr Modi”.


Jethmalani, who spent more than 75 years at the bar, was one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strongest supporters four years ago. “I thought he was different. I was wrong. Hard as it is to accept that, I have,” he says.

Jethmalani, who has served as law minister and urban development minister, says he’s lucky to have been at the bar for so long. “I was one of the busiest lawyers in the country,” he says. “It is my profession that kept me going. I always wanted to do something good. I think I have,” he says.

Jethmalani stopped appearing in court from September 2017, though he says senior lawyers come to his office every day to convince him to don the robes again. “At the age of 94, I cannot possibly deal with litigation in court on behalf of paying clients, and my political views and mission require more time now,” he says.

Questions on his plans to accomplish this mission are met with a mischievous cackle: “You want me to tell you my whole strategy? What kind of a lawyer would I be if I did?”

He doesn’t rule returning out to the bar: “If there is a huge public interest litigation, I will be back in court,” he says. “I am a rebel. That’s why I fought so long.”

Jethmalani is up early every day and finishes a light breakfast by 8am before getting into the office behind his house to read, do research, and meet visitors. When

Parliament

is in session, he heads to the House. Lunch is at 11.30am, and he has a drink before dinner at 7.30pm.

He’s careful about his diet and exercise. “I get on the treadmill and walk till I burn a minimum of 105 calories a day,” he says. He loves badminton and played every evening till a few months ago. His friends come daily and he watches them play at the court in his

Lutyens Delhi

bungalow. “Today, they made me promise that I’d play with them next Friday, let’s see,” he says.