The BJP fears that party leader Jaswant Singh’s new book on Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah will once again open an old wound in the party and lead to needless controversies at a time when it ought to be cornering the ruling Congress on the rising prices of essentials.
“Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence” - While BJP’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj indicated that Mr. Singh’s views would “certainly” be the subject of a detailed discussion at the party’s brainstorming session in Shimla later this week, other BJP leaders preferred to maintain silence. However, they did point out that there was no change in the party’s views on Jinnah that were recorded in a resolution in June 2005 in the midst of the controversy created by L.K. Advani’s ‘Jinnah is secular’ formulation during a visit to Pakistan, and for which Mr. Advani was virtually eased out as party president by the end of that year. Party leaders are wary of saying what Mr. Singh’s fate will now be, for the book is believed to have once again presented Jinnah as not entirely responsible for Partition.
But the Congress lashed out at the BJP leader saying Mr. Singh was too much of a BJP insider for the party to distance itself from his views. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi accused the BJP of failing to distinguish between Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi. “The BJP is overwhelmed by love for Jinnah but never ever mentions Maulana Azad. When Jinnah was talking of Partition, Azad was involved in binding the country together as Congress president,” Mr. Singhvi said. Ironically, the BJP was displaying its patriotism by denigrating Jawaharlal Nehru and eulogising Jinnah. He added that Pakistan’s “brand of secularism” appealed to the BJP possibly because it was “close to hardline Hindutva.”
Whatever the content of the book may be, it is Jaswant's personal views. I am sure BJP believes in freedom of expression. Each individual can express his opinion freely, at the same time not offending any community. On that count, Jaswant has done nothing wrong. Further, he may be a senior member of BJP. But it does not mean his personal opinion always does (and should) reflect that of the party he belongs to. While it is his personal opinion, it is needless for BJP to state that it is distancing itself from the opinion and information given in that book “Jinnah accepted a moth-eaten Pakistan, but Nehru refused to accept a moth-eaten India.” Mr. Verghese said the Muslim League wanted to be the sole representative of Muslims and that was rejected by the Congress as a non-secular approach even as he charged that Jinnah unleashed communal violence on the country in 1946.The June 2005 BJP resolution stated: “Whatever may have been Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan, the State he founded was theocratic and non-secular; the very idea of Hindus and Muslims being two separate nations is repugnant to the BJP. The BJP has always condemned the division of India along communal lines and continues to steadfastly reject the two-nation theory championed by Jinnah and endorsed by the British …”
Mr. Singh himself is a very senior leader, and a Author should not be heard, he should be read, and invited the audience to read his book.
Comments