This Article is From Aug 11, 2009

Jinnah trouble: First Advani, now Jaswant

New Delhi:

Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh is walking into trouble over Jinnah. In a new biography of the man demonised in India for the 1947 partition, Jaswant packages Jinnah as an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity.

In Jaswant's book, Jawaharlal Nehru is

  • "One of the principal architects, in reality the draftsman of India's partition"

But perhaps the most telling line comes in the end

  • "Jinnah did not win Pakistan as the Congress leaders Nehru and Patel -- finally conceded Pakistan to Jinnah, with the British acting as a helpful midwife"

Quips Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari: "The BJP wants to turn secular by proxy, by proving Jinnah was secular."

But Jaswant's book will upset the saffron parivar more. For Jinnah, the RSS follows zero tolerance. And Jaswant presents the man as a nationalist by saying: 

  • Till 1945 Jinnah was seeking a solution to the problems between Hindus and Muslims # Not as a communal problem but as the problem of a nation

Says Jaswant Singh: "Yes the book talks about the journey of a man who was symbol of Hindu Muslim unity. And then he went on to become the creator of Pakistan

Will the book push the BJP towards turmoil? Disturb the BJP-RSS equations, or heighten the war between the Congress and the BJP. We can guaruntee one thing. Jaswant Singh's book on Partition and Jinnah will not be viewed with an discerning eye -- but political minds. It will generate a lot of political heat.

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