'Jethmalani a delightful and likeable maverick' : Dr Singh

New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) Showering praises on noted criminal lawyer and former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he was a 'delightful and likeable maverick'.

Releasing an autobiography of Mr Jethmalani titled "Conscience of a Maverick", Dr Singh said mavericks were deviants and they could be irritating as they disturbed the norm. However there are some who endeared themselves even with their critics and Ram was one such person, he said.

The PM said he always admired Mr Ram's courage of conviction as a fellow parliamentarian. He was truly his own man and it was not easy to be so when conformity yielded many rewards. He had maintained individualism and yet endeared himself with so many. It speaks volumes of his qualities of head and heart, Dr Singh remarked.

Mr Jethmalani was a criminal legal luminary, an active parliamentarian and public spirited nationalist and often a defender of lost causes. He was a powerful speaker and forces you to listen to him with his power of reasoning and rhetoric, Dr Singh observed.

Paying tributes to Mr Jethmalani the PM said the Rajya Sabha had been elevated by the interventions of independent minded individuals who bring them years of experience and erudition. "I hope, we will continue to hear Mr Jethmalani's voice in R S for many more years", he said.

In an apparent disapproval of Mr Jethmalani taking unpopular cases in pursuit of his legal profession, Dr Singh said the criminal legal luminaries were not always popular because they at times took up causes of people the society disapproved, he said without referring to the lawyer defending a range of criminals ranging from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Manu Sharma, the killer of Jessica Lal very recently.

"I think we can condone some of the briefs he (Mr Ram) has dentified himself in the court because, as a public personality of our times, he has stood for values all of us cherish", the PM said.

UNI