Debate on partition unnecessary, says Ravi

Union minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi today said expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh's argument in his book that Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel were also responsible for the partition of India "does not deserve a reply."

A debate on the partition of the sub-continent would serve no purpose at this juncture, he told reporters here.

"It (partition) is a closed chapter. It is quite unnecessary to remind the people of the country of what had happened," Ravi said commenting on Singh's controversial book  Jinnah: India-partition-Independence.

"...Jinnah did not win Pakistan, as the Congress leaders- Nehru and Patel finally conceded Pakistan to Jinnah, with the British acting as an ever helpful midwife," Singh says in his 669-page book.

The senior Congress leader said it had been an old BJP game "to rake up unpleasant chapters of history to create social tension and ill-will."

Asked if Singh's attempt could not be seen as a reappraisal of history, he said "there are many things people may not like to be reminded."

What was important was to preserve the system India had sustained ever since attaining freedom in which people of different communities are living together in harmony, he said.