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BJP expels Jaswant
Praising Jinnah costs him dear
Faraz Ahmad writes from Shimla

BJP senior leader Jaswant Singh who had stirred up a hornet’s nest by showering praises on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in his book was today expelled from the primary membership of the party.

In his book “Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence” — released two days ago in Delhi — Jaswant Singh, a former Union minister who has held key cabinet berths, had mentioned that “Jinnah was a great man but he had been demonised in India”. And that “Nehru and Sardar Patel were equally responsible for India’s partition”.

In Shimla to attend the three-day ‘Chintan Baithak’ that commenced today, Jaswant Singh claimed that BJP president Rajnath Singh first told him in the morning not to come for the meet as “tempers were running high over his book”.

Alongside, party general secretary Vijay Goel was despatched to Cecil (hotel), where Jaswant was staying, for conveying the message to the latter. A little later, mediapersons were summoned to the ‘baithak’ venue, so far out of bounds for the media, and BJP president Rajnath Singh along with general secretary Ananth Kumar came out to make a brief statement: “I had already issued a statement in Delhi that the BJP does not agree with Jaswant Singh’s surmise in his book. The BJP parliamentary board has taken note of the book and decided to expel him (Jaswant Singh) from the primary membership of the party.”

Interestingly, while arrangements were made for almost all the 25 ‘baithak’ invitees to put up at Hotel Peterhoff, Jaswant was made to stay at Cecil. Sources said perhaps the blueprint for the drama had been prepared much in advance.

Sushma Swaraj, a loyalist of LK Advani, had warned in advance of a discussion on Jaswant’s “act of sacrilege”. Today, two other prominent leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar joined her in baying for Jaswant’s blood.

The expulsion, however, came as a shock for Jaswant Singh who wondered why he was asked to come to Shimla at all and instead not conveyed the party’s displeasure in Delhi itself.

Recalling his 30-year service to the BJP and the country’s politics, he said: “This is sad and regrettable for me. Instead of phoning and informing me, it would had been better if Rajnathji had personally told me to step down.”

He said he respected the BJP decision and felt the party had every right to take any decision. But, he regretted, no forewarning in the form of a show cause notice or an explanation came before the expulsion.

Jaswant, known in BJP circles for his proximity to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, did bring in latter’s name but very discreetly, implying that things would not have been the same under his leadership.

As for the book, he said he had no regrets in writing it: “I have committed no sin… It’s a sad day for India and any political organisation when a person has to be penalised for writing a book, for reading and researching… There is selectivity in tolerating dissent in the party, some people feel there is selectivity in the party.”

Cong makes light of expulsion
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 19
The Congress today tried to make light of BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s expulsion from his party in the wake of his controversial book on Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. “We rejected contents of the book and the BJP has rejected the author himself,” AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said when asked whether the Congress would compliment the BJP for showing the door to Jaswant Singh for his doctrine that Jinnah was greater leader than Jawaharlal Nehru and Valabhbhai Patel.

The Congress had earlier attacked Jaswant Singh for eulogising the Pakistan’s founder and terming Nehru as partly responsible for the Partition. Accusing the BJP leadership of a “warped” sense of history, the Congress on Monday asked why both LK Advani and Jaswant Singh had paid handsome tributes to Jinnah while ignoring the contributions of a nationalist like Maulana Azad.