Shimla, Aug 20 (Inditop.com) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday said the decision to expel senior leader Jaswant Singh was taken by the parliamentary board in view of the contents of his book which were contrary to the core ideology and beliefs of the party.
“The issue is not your right to author a book, the issue is the content of the book. No political party gives you the right to write against ideology of the party or to air your views publicly,” BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters here.
He was referring to Jaswant Singh’s book, “Jinnah — India, Partition, Independence”, in which he suggested that Pakistan’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah had been unfairly demonised in India. The book was also mildly critical of the role played during India’s partition by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the country’s first home minister. Singh was expelled for this book Wednesday, two days after its release.
Jaitley said: “Jinnah was the principal architect of partition and this is the party’s belief. So, the content of the book is against the party’s ideology. Blaming Sardar Patel for partition is also against the party’s belief. He played a crucial role in uniting the country.”
Jaitley, the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, said Jaswant Singh’s views on Muslims that they felt themselves aliens in the country were also contradictory to the core ideology and belief of the party.
Asked if disciplinary action could be taken against a party leader without issuing him a ‘show cause’ notice, Jaitley said: “The parliamentary board (the party’s highest decision making body) has a right to do it.”
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