Defending its decision to expel senior party leader Jaswant Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) today said he (Singh) had gone very far against the party’s core ideology.
“No political party can allow its frontline leader to question the core idea of the party and remain within the party, which is why the parliamentary board decided to expel Jaswant Singh from the party,” said Arun Jaitley, senior BJP leader here.
Asked why Singh wasn’t served a showcause notice to explain his position Jaitley said: “The parliamentary board is well within its rights to expel a member in certain circumstances.”
“The BJP in a resolution in 2005 had made it very clear that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was the principal architect of the partition, which was the grossest tragedy this country has faced,” he said.
“We are not against a party leader writing a book, but if the content of the book is directly contrary to the party’s beliefs, to express such views one must remain outside the party,” Jaitley said.
“To say that Jinnah was demonised by India and that Sardar Patel was instead responsible for the country’s partition and Muslims feel insecure in India — these views are all against the BJP’s ideology,” he added. Asked why disciplinary action had not been taken against the former party chief L K Advani for his controversial comments on Jinnah a few years ago, he said: “Advani’s comments on Jinnah were in a different context.”
Asked to comment on the banning of Singh’s book in Gujarat, Jaitley said: “Banning a book was the prerogative of any state government.”
Earlier in the day, Jaswant Singh criticised the banning of his book in Gujarat. “This reminds me of the banning of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. This action is against ‘thinking’ and saddens me deeply,” he said.
Asked to comment on the party’s brainstorming session here, Jaitley said: “The party delegates are analysing the reasons for the Lok Sabha poll defeat.”
