Coming to the defence of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party veteran Jaswant Singh, former party leader K N Govindacharya said on Monday that the party top brass should have read the book and summoned Singh for an explanation instead of "summarily and shabbily" dismissing him.
"The manner in which Jaswant Singh was expelled does not behove of a political party... though no member is indispensable, the destiny of a party worker cannot be decided over a cup of tea," Govindacharya, once a BJP ideologue, told media-persons. He said the BJP should have asked its intellectual cell to study the book, set aside a week for this purpose, summoned Jaswant Singh for an explanation and only then removed him.
Govindacharya termed it as as "summarily and shabbily" done expulsion and a "knee-jerk action taken in a hurry". The former aide of senior BJP leader L K Advani said it was the democratic right of an individual to write a book. Taking a dig at Advani, he said it was not clear whether Jaswant was expelled over his comments praising Pakistan founder M A Jinnah or for his views against Sardar Patel. "The barrel of the gun was turned towards Patel as it was felt that targeting him (Jaswant) on Jinnah may affect others," he said.
When asked whether he agreed with Jaswant Singh's views on Jinnah, Govindacharya said, "I believe the whole Jinnah debate is out of track. He was neither secular nor religious but an atheist. He used to consume beef and pork and used to drink alcohol which is against Islam." "Jinnah exploited religion for his politics.... He is responsible for partition as he knowingly did this," he added.
Govindacharya held Jinnah responsible "for the killing of lakhs of people during partition riots". On "lack of free thinking" within the BJP, Govindacharya said when Arun Shourie wanted to become an 'independent' member of the Rajya Sabha so that he could write columns unhindered, the BJP offered him support and promised that he could write independently despite being in the party. However, now the party seems to have forgotten this promise, he said.
