Jaswant’s Expulsion from BJP Triggers Debate in Pak
The expulsion of senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh from the party for his book that eulogizes Mohammad Ali Jinnah, is no longer an issue confined to India; it has triggered a diversified debate in Pakistan, too.
Instantly after Jaswant Singh’s sacking from the party, many Pakistani TV channels rushed to get opinion of experts and political analysts on the issue. And the incidence has been largely analyzed as BJP remaining a hardliner Hindu party and lacking tolerance.
“When the BJP is in government, it is far more Pakistan friendly. But once, in opposition, its attitude becomes totally different”, said Nusrat Javed, a well known TV anchor.
Reacting to Jaswant’s sacking, Mushahid Hussain Syed, secretary general of Pakistani Muslim League, Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) said that BJP was critical of LK Advani, too, when he visited Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore when he came to Pakistan.
“The reaction which BJP has shown by sacking Jaswant Singh from the party membership has proved how it thinks”, he said.
It may be mentioned that some Pakistani historians also share Singh’s view about partition that holds Nehru responsible for it. To justify this view, they quote Abul Kalam Azad’s book “India Wins Freedom”, in which he argued that partition could have been avoided if Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel had shown some flexibility over the Cabinet Mission plan.
Amir Mateen, political analyst, is also critical of BJP’s extreme step and said, “The book endorses BJP’s viewpoint of “greater India”. I don’t understand why there is so much of resentment among BJP ranks over the book written by Jaswant Singh.”
