Jaswant Sing’s Expulsion : A wrong Reading of History
Inernational news agencies have reported from NEW DELHI that the BJP expelled the former foreign minister Jaswant Singh from the party following his recent book praising Pakistani leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah, DawnNews reported.The BJP president Rajnath Singh told reporters in Shimla that his party’s parliamentary board decided to expel Singh from the primary membership of the party.‘Yesterday, I issued a statement about the BJP dissociating itself from Jaswant Singh’s views. The party discussed the matter at the chintan baithak and it was decided to expel him,’ AFP quoted Rajnath as saying.Singh’s recent book ‘Jinnah — India, Partition, Independence,’ reflects the politician’s personal admiration for the founder of Pakistan, and has stoked a storm of controversy. Conservative members of the right-wing BJP have slammed the publication, and had mounted a campaign to ostracize Singh, trashing the BJP with epithets such as the ‘Bhartiya Jinnah Party.’He has been blamed for telling that Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was not only responsible for partition of India, Pandit Neheru and Mr Patel were also responsible for this.He also said that Mr Jinnah a modern and secular man.
We are surprised at this development and shows the arrogance of BJP.It has expelled a senior leader of the party for a small reason.WhatJaswant Singh has said is nothing new. Mr Neheru and Mr Patel have been blamed by so many other writers including Maulana Abul Kalam Azad .Muhammad Ali Jinnah , of course , is the founder of Pakistan and he did give the two nation theory .He did say that Muslims are a nation in every possible sense and he drew this concept from the concept that all Muslims constitute an Ummah as said by the Prophet in the agreement of Madina.As such Mr Jinnah felt that where ever Muslims are a majority they have a right to form a state. However he agreed with the Cabinet Mission Plan of the British government in 1946 of one India with all political, civil , cultural and religious guarantees for the Muslims .This was also in line with Madina document where the Prophet established a joint state with Jews with all rights to each community of the State of Madinah. We think Mr Singh is a victim of injustice.People differ on historical interpretation and there is nothing wrong in it.
Mr Jinnah was not, however , a secular man, as has said by Mr Singh. How can a man who created a state on the basis of Islam and who highlighted the two nation theory on the basis of religion can be said to be a secular person? Only one speech by him in Auguast 47 in the Parliament can not be interpreted out of context of the then violence going on at that time in India and Pakistan. No other statement of Mr. Jinnah justifies this assessment.
__._,_.___