Click to play videoThe BJP, wrestling with unprecedented internal dissent, on Wednesday expelled senior leader Jaswant Singh from the party over alleged ideological transgressions related to his remarks on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Three years ago Advani visited Pakistan and paid a price for praising Jinnah. Now, Jaswant Singh lost his place in the BJP for writing a book on Jinnah.
For the BJP, Jinnah is not a historical figure; he is about politics, a core hate figure.
But in his book Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence, Jaswant Singh has lauded Jinnah as a "great man". He has said Jinnah was "demonised" in India, while it was actually India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel whose belief in a centralised polity had led to the Partition.
CNN-IBN show Face The Nation debated: BJP sacks Jaswant: Is it wrong for Indians to demonise Jinnah?
On the panel of experts to debate the issue were Convener of the BJP Media Cell Nalin Kohli, senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta and historian Mridula Mukherjee.
Jaswant, the fall guy?
Instead of expelling Jaswant, should the BJP have debated that to be a patriot, especially after the Advani episode, you don’t have to hate Jinnah?
“I know that the BJP does not believe in internal democracy. The BJP like the al-Qaeda believes in fatwas except that they give it a Hindi name for it. Jaswant should not be surprised for the way he has been dealt with,” Jethmalani said.
Many say that it was an act that bordered on fascism. The book is a searing denunciation of the Congress, it was an opportunity for the BJP to lay Partition at the Congress’ door. Instead Jaswant was expelled.
To which Kohli said, “There are few things in the book which the party found objectionable. The book does not portray Sardar Patel in a favourable light and the party’s view on Jinnah has been consistent for the last 50 years. In fact as close as 2005 there is a resolution of the party’s office bearers that clearly reiterates BJP’s stand on the issue.”
So is it brave or irresponsible for a BJP leader to write a book like this?
Joining the debate, Dasgupta said, “Jaswant Singh has always been a bit of an unorthodox BJP man. He has certain quirky views. But there is something profoundly disturbing about the right of a political party to lay down a view on history. Now there are large sections of the book which I disagree with.”
But BJP defends that this is not history but politics as the Maharashtra Assembly elections are coming up.
To which Dasgupta said, “But the point is that this constitutes an academic exercise. What happened 61 years ago has tangential bearings on today’s politics. It is not the book which has been attacked but it is a collateral attack. Jaswant Singh was not a target. It was a general attempt to lay down a prescriptive formula whereby you will not speak out of turn. To lay down that line someone had to go and it was Jaswant Singh.”
But some of the panelists agreed that the process was a complete mismatch. On the one hand Advani once said that Jinnah is secular and he was made the leader of the Opposition while if Jaswant said Jinnah is ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity then he is expelled.
Jinnah has been mostly demonised. At the end of the day Jinnah was a man who was just competing for political space with Nehru.
“Jinnah left the Congress in 1920 when Gandhiji spoke about a mass movement. And he left not because he disagreed with nationalism or secularism but because he disagreed with mass politics. He was the good old liberal politician,” explained Mukherjee.
Then why is it necessary for India to hate Jinnah?
“In the 17 years after that Jinnah changed. There was the Khilafat movement in between which swept the Muslims,” Mukherjee added.
But Jinnah opposed the alliance with the Khilafat movement because for him it was an orthodox and backward-looking movement.
“That is what he thought. But the Congress including Gandhiji didn’t think so. They thought the movement represented the anti-British sentiments of the Muslim masses. What is important is to recognise that from 1937 onwards what Jinnah did, whether he believed or not is his personal problem, was very clearly a communal politics,” Mukherjee said.
Was Jaswant Singh irresponsible?
Jethmalani said that it is not irresponsible for anyone to exercise his Constitutional right of freedom of thought and speech.
“It was undemocratic behaviour to expel Jaswant. Jinnah was a secularist. It was he who advised Gandhiji to not get involved in the religious issues of Khilafat movement. Jinnah was right and Gandhi was wrong,” Jethmalani added.
Disagreeing Kohli said, “We cannot look at history selectively by picking up a few pages from here and there. We have to see it in totality. For any of us to make a comment on something historical based on any interpretation is a dangerous trend.”
But most panelists indicated that it was not about history or freedom of expression but about politics. It is about competitive politics, elections are coming up so Jaswant Singh should have known better.
“By joining a political party you don’t forfeit the freedom of thought and expression,” Jethmalani said.
However, Mukherjee said, “There is a large amount of naiveté being displayed by a lot of people who are looking surprised that the BJP acted this way. I am not surprised at all. Muslim League was a completely authoritarian party and so is the BJP in many respects. The BJP does not have a nationalist past.”
Agitated by Mukherjee’s argument, Dasgupta retorted, “This is precisely the perverse sort of logic of the Congress people. You cannot advocate to yourself a monopoly of nationalism.”
If the BJP had a secured nationalist tradition then it would not mind whether its leaders are writing books on Jinnah or not. The fact that they are so threatened by a book on Jinnah shows that it is very insecure about its own core belief.
Concluding the debate Kohli said, “It was an unfortunate thing but it is a decision that is based on a certain premise. Secondly, over a week or so you must have seen his statements. Then how can that be removed? Everything is in a context.”
Results of the Web/SMS poll:
Yes – 74 per cent
No – 26 per cent
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