Jaswant praises Advani, stands by book on Jinnah

A day after he was re-admitted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaswant Singh praised senior BJP leaders.


Express June 25, 2010

A day after he was re-admitted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaswant Singh praised senior BJP leaders but defended the book on Jinnah that landed him in trouble in the first place.

On Thursday, ten months after he was expelled from the BJP for complimenting Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his book ‘Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence,’ Singh was welcomed back to the party with applause at BJP’s headquarters.

In an interview with NDTV, Singh said that he did not feel ‘vindicated’ by his return to the BJP, but rather his feelings of hurt and humiliation had been mollified.

“As I said in the press conference, my sense of hurt and humiliation has been more than mollified by the graciousness and generosity of what Advaniji did in inviting me to speak to him, to meet him, and to wonder whether we could treat it as a closed chapter,” Singh said. “It is now really a closed chapter,” he added.

Asked whether he still stood by his book on Jinnah, Singh replied that he could never disown the book as he was the author.

“Jinnah as an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity is not my comment, but was a comment made by a great Indian, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and repeated by the late Sarojini Naidu,” Singh said. “This is the reality, these are historical facts. They simply don’t go away if we refuse to agree with them, you needn’t agree with them, but that is the reality.”

Singh also commented on the BJP and Indian politics in general and when questioned about ‘extreme’ elements denting the BJP’s image, he replied: “Either of the extremes, left or right extremes, is anathema, I believe, to India’s core. I also believe that India is fundamentally secular only because of what it is today and it must remain so.”

BJP leaders appeared ready to forgive and forget on Thursday, as they welcomed Jaswant’s return.
“It’s a day of great happiness for all of us,” said party president Nitin Gadkari. “I look forward to his [Singh’s] attendance at every party meeting,” he added. “With happiness, there is a sense of relief,” added Advani.

Other parties, however, were not very pleased at the turn of events. On Friday Congress party asked the BJP whether it endorsed Singh’s views on Pakistan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

“Though it is their internal matter, I want to ask the BJP whether they endorse the eulogising of Jinnah in his [Singh’s] book, since they have re-inducted him,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.[Additional input from agencies]

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2010.

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