Jaswant Speaks Out

The unthinkable has happened. Someone from India’s ultra right political party — the BJP — writes a book in praise of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and is sacked. No surprises for the later part. The controversy over the book written by Jaswant Singh, Jinnah: India–Partition–Independence, in which he has painted Quaid-i-Azam in a positive light, does not seem to be dying down.

Perhaps Singh had not expected such an outrage from his party member as, according to Singh, BJP members knew he was writing a book on Jinnah. What happened took Jaswant by surprise because he had “thought this book would set Pakistan on fire” but was “troubling India”. Singh has struck back by taking the Indian state of Gujarat to task for banning the book.

Signs are that more BJP-led state governments will follow suit and proscribe his book. Understandably, Singh is “greatly saddened by it”. Singh is right in saying that “banning books in India is shutting the door to thinking”. Singh is still unable to understand “which particular part aggrieved the party”.

According to the BJP government in Gujarat, besides other things, the book carries “defamatory references” to Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first home minister, and a political icon in Gujarat. Sushma Swaraj, BJP spokesperson, defended Singh's ouster from the party, saying that he degraded the great efforts of Sardar Patel.

Jaswant Singh reacted a day after he was sacked from the BJP, saying it was Patel who had first banned the RSS in the aftermath of the Mahatma’s assassination. No wonder, the book has catapulted Jaswant into the top league of Indian writers as bookshops across the country have sold hundreds in the last few days.

Interestingly, it is not for the first time that a BJP member has praised Jinnah. L.K. Advani had also praised Jinnah on a visit to Pakistan in 2005. He was also forced out as party chief. BJP leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, L.K Advani, has termed the expulsion of Jaswant Singh as painful but necessary.

One positive indicator is that critics across the Indo-Pak border have criticised BJP’s harsh decision against Jaswant Singh. In the words of an Indian critic, “the book is a serious academic exercise, one long overdue. It is complicated, full of internal tensions. A serious political party should have space for that.” The BJP’s narrow-mindedness shows that a section of India is still not able to accept a reality that is Pakistan. Setting a historical record straight is not something that should draw a disproportionate response from a political party.

In a way, the book and the controversy it has generated comes as a blessing in disguise. Critics in both the countries have exposed the absence of open debate on critical issues. In Pakistan, the PML-N has appreciated Jaswant Singh, saying the BJP’s decision blows the lid off India’s openness to debate and freedom of expression. The controversy provides an opportunity for the people of the subcontinent to see historical incidents objectively.

Right from the creation of the two countries on the map of the world, people on both sides of the border were not given their right to see history without a tinge of bias. It is about time that people on both sides of the border get rid of the wrong notions about historical events and personalities. If the two countries are to make progress for the good of their masses they will have to come out of the web of bias and look forward towards a promising future.