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Friday, August 21, 2009 23:25 IST

The expulsion of Jaswant Singh from the BJP raises some serious questions that need to be addressed. The first is the expulsion itself. For a party that should be gathering its flock after its defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP appears to be in a self-destructive mode. It is fighting a bruising battle from within and there is every reason to believe that the BJP may end up as another small party with pockets of influences, not very different from what the Communist Party of India (Marxists) is today.

When senior leaders sought a discussion on the party's debacle, they were silenced. Then the party asked Vasundhara Raje to quit as leader of the opposition in the Rajasthan assembly, on the grounds that she had to take responsibility for the BJP's defeat in that state. That principle is fine, but should it not apply on the likes of LK Advani and Rajnath Singh, the men at the helm and who thus bear the maximum responsibility for the party's descent into irrelevance.

Second, if Jaswant is to be held guilty of praising Jinnah, then Advani too must be held equally guilty of saluting Jinnah during a visit to Pakistan in 2005. So how is it that one person (Jaswant) is expelled while the other (Advani) after stepping down as party president, is projected as the BJP's candidate for the post of prime minister? The vast difference would be funny were it not so tragic.

The third issue is Jaswant's fundamental right, as articulated in Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, to the Freedom of Expression. The BJP considers itself the champion of nationalism and a believer in the Constitution, then why is it denying its own member his fundamental rights.

Linked to this is the question of inner party democracy. Tragically for our political parties, democracy has simply come to mean voting on election day to choose the next leader. It is not a philosophy they believe in or even care about. No party allows democracy within its ranks, and those who choose to be different are invariably expelled. Thus while one condemns the BJP for expelling Jaswant, the fact is that if a Congress party member were to write a book saying that maybe Nathuram Godse wasn't all that bad or that Rajiv Gandhi faltered badly in theShah Bano case; or if a communist were to write a book not condemning Hedgewar, chances are they will be expelled. It is time our political parties embraced democracy.

Beyond these three issues is the larger question of judging our leaders and shedding light on our history. Our understanding of history will change as time goes by and distance lends perspective. Banning a book or expelling an author only displays a Talibanic streak that is hardly compatible with a nation that wants to be considered a knowledge superpower. For instance, will the Labour Party expel Gordon Brown, who has said he wants to write a book on Gandhi? The Mahatma was, after all, responsible for ending the British Empire in India.

What Jaswant has done is to raise questions about Jinnah's role and ask what led this man to partition India. It is a question others have asked and will ask. There are millions of Indians, including nationalist Hindus, who hold Nehru and Gandhi responsible for partition. Jinnah had famously defended Lokmanya Tilak in 1916, a fact that still resonates within Maharashtra. He played a prominent role in the Hindu-Muslim unity pact. So what led him to demand Pakistan? Alternatively, Gandhi and Nehru (and Patel) were committed to a united India. So why did they cave in and agree to Jinnah's demand after years of refusing to heed him? These questions remain and will need answers.

Jaswant Singh is no doubt upset at the horrendous treatment meted out to him but in this battle, he is on the side of truth. All that one can say to him is to soldier on - in the finest traditions of the Indian Armed Forces - of the thinking politician, alas, a disappearing tribe. He has merely lost his membership of the party; the BJP has lost its mind.

5 comments

I too am grim about the expulsion of Shourie, Uma, Jaswant, Govindacharya, and many others, but it was such a hard time that in my opinion "no major loss" had happened. but the thing is, if a post is not vacant the new talent will not get attracted, Kangresiye are the result. BJP is and will remain the hope for "HINDUSTAN". let the dogs (communists) bark. the elephant of the BJP will keep walking.

Advani is a self-made man who has built the BJP into a national party and developed it into an alternate pole to the Congress in national politics. He also brought to power the first-ever, stable pan-Indian coalition, the NDA, in 1998. In terms of integrity, Advani has an unblemished record in public life. Rest its your own assumptions. Media wants to use the best of all to degrade BJP better for handling economy, terrorism.

Advani is a liar and whoever said Rajnath Singh has got brains. Good for nothing fellows full of double standards. Will the country be safe in these idiots' hands? If both of them have any sense of shame they should resign as opposition leader and president of the party.

Basically, BJP is paying the price of lots of confusion its main leaders — through their conduct — have created over ideological and leadership issues. Since the time BJP realized that they needed an all-inclusive approach in their election campaigns to win votes and power, they started confusing themselves over ideological issues. Now, the shocking expulsion of a senior leader like Jaswant Singh is just a desperate attempt by BJP leadership to score points against opponents within BJP and to send a signal across the party that breaking discipline in the party would result only in disciplinary action. However, BJP has lost the plot. BJP has able, intelligent and visionary leaders; however, the party needs a paradigm shift in its overall approach towards the people of India; no matter how much political damage it will have to suffer. India wants BJP and it does not want BJP as just another Congress.

BJP has lost its reason. The only persons of stature and wisdom like Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie, they are expelling. All for the fact that they dared to talk back to Rajnath Singh. Maybe Congress and other parties should give a donation for doing to the BJP what they could not do.