Saffrn Brigade--Modi supported by Bobby Jindal in America
- Indian Hnduvata- Hindu extremism in India and beyond
The BJP has not recovered from the the drubbing it got from the last elections. The finger pointing has continued. Several BJP figures have been drummed out of the party which is under the pall of the extremist RSS which was banned in 1948 and then again resurrected itself in the past two decades. Sudheendra Kulkarni, a close aide of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, decided to quit the party over ‘ideological differences’. Many think that the fight for the soul of the party continues. While Vajpayee and Jaswant SIngh represented the moderate wing of the party, L.K. Advani represents the hard core Hindu mahasabah who want to impose Ram Raj on the country. Rajasthan BJP legislature wing leader Vasundhara Raje is possibly on her way out also.
Sticking to his contention in his new book that Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a “great man” who has been “demonised” in India, Jaswant Singh has said his expulsion from BJP showed that the party was “narrow-minded”. The former BJP leader also said he would have felt better if the party had not used the word “expel” and informed him in person. Hindustan Times.
Singh (L) said he was "saddened immensely" that his ouster was triggered by the fact that he had written a book
Kulkarni, an IIT graduate and a columnist, was national secretary of BJP when Advani was the party president. However, he resigned in 2005 in the wake the controversial statement made by Advani in Pakistan, where he described Mohammad Ali Jinnah as “secular”. That speech of Advani was reportedly written by Kulkarni.
But Kulkarni continued to serve the party through his close association with Advani.
He had served as director and later as an Officer on Special Duty in the PMO under Vajpayee.
During the recent Lok Sabha elections, Kulkarni was active in the election campaign management and was even seen defending the party on news channels and through his columns.
However, he embarrassed the BJP soon after the poll results when he wrote a piece in a magazine where he took a very critical view of the party’s election campaign strategy. He even stated that Advani had failed to assert himself during crucial times in the course of the campaign.
The party had distanced itself from his views when senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj described Kulkarni as an “independent journalist” who was free to air his opinion.
She had said the views expressed by him in the article were not that of the party. Since then, Kulkarni has been virtually inactive within the BJP. Times of India. Sudheendra Kulkarni quits BJP. AGENCIES 23 August 2009, 10:05am IST
Pakistan are bewlidered and cannot comprehend the reason behind the expulsion of a political leader. The world knows that the BJP is a communal organization. What fascinates Islamabad is the fact that several “moderate” members seem to be cropping up out of the party, whose Saffron agenda does not include the minorities.
PAINFUL EXIT: Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh addresses a press conference in Shimla on Wednesday.
A lone peacock struts outside expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s house. Inside, sits a man, who might be either a brave realist or a fake patriot depending on one’s view of his five-day-old book ‘Jinnah, India-Partition, Independence’. Late on Friday, as Singh received news that Party chief L K Advani had publicly described his summary expulsion as “painful but necessary” and criticized him for going “against the basic ideology of the party,” he spoke to Rashmee Roshan Lall with candour — and an obviously heavy heart. Excerpts from the interview:
What is at the root of your fascination with Jinnah?
He was one of the participants in the Partition process. In 1916, he was termed as an ‘ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity’ by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. He was the only person who would be a member of both Congress and the Muslim League. And just 24 years later, he was (on his way to becoming) Quaid e-Azam of Pakistan. I had to know why this transition. I was very young when Partition happened. I had to learn for myself why Partition.
Some might say you see echoes of yourself in Jinnah, an avowedly secular man of patrician, even aloof bearing and practicing a politics that has to be described as communal?
Jaswanth Singh eulogized Mohammad Ali Jinnah in his current book. The Bharati media weaned on the milk of "Jinnnah hatred" don't have a clue about one of the greatest political leaders of South Asia
Secular should not be equated with immoral. Politics should be imbued with the deepest of spiritual values otherwise it’s dry rot that will affect the country. This diverse country needs to be governed in an inclusive and accommodating manner.
You may believe that, just like Jinnah, but you didn’t. Both of you are seen to practice communal politics? Do you see echoes of yourself in Jinnah?
I accept that because in politics unfortunately perception is important. Echoes of myself in Jinnah? That would be arrogant and impertinent of me. After all, this was a man of whom Gandhi said to Mountbatten that ‘he is a great Indian’.
But do you see parallels between yourself and Jinnah, the disconnect between a private belief in secularism and public communal practice?
What parallels can I draw with a person who was born in the 19th century and by the middle of the 20th century was gone? But, I did not agree with Advaniji on several issues including the Ayodhya programme and the alliance with the Shiv Sena. I did disagree.
But you stayed on in the BJP, a party seen by much of India and the world as exclusivist and right-wing?
That is perhaps weakness.
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To return to the book, what do you think of your former party chief L K Advani’s statement backing your expulsion?
This is ill-informed. How is it against the Party? What have I said against Sardar Patel? There is absolutely no denigration of him in the book. What I have stated is the facts of history.
When there were suggestions the book be banned in Karnataka, did you fear it might be banned across India because Sardar Patel is a national leader, not just one who belongs to Gujarat?
It would be a great pity. I hope sense prevails. I don’t want to go to court. I can’t afford court proceedings.
When did it occur to you that the record needed to be set straight?
Some asked with concern why are you doing this. But I was with Mr Vajpayee as his minister of external affairs. We had gone to the Minar-e-Pakistan in 1999. And I wondered that we really didn’t have any political personality in India or Pakistan who has written on Jinnah. Till 2004, we were in office and there was no time except for reflection. .
When did it occur to you that you needed to set the record straight?
I don’t know if I’m the right person for the job. But if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.
Didn’t you realize that you were playing with fire? You knew the sort of response such views evoke within your former party?
Playing with fire is a concentrated statement. There were sensitivities in this regard or prejudices in the party to which I belonged, as had been demonstrated earlier. But I wouldn’t be deterred from doing what I thought needed to be done.
Did you honestly think you would be sacked?
No, I did not. That was the furthest thought from my mind.
Do you think it would have been wiser to defer the book, at least till after the chintan baithak?
No. No way. There was no holding it back.
What do you say to the school of thought that describes your expulsion as proof the shadow of the RSS will once more loom over the BJP like a cloud, or even a pall?
That is up to them, the BJP. But it would be a step backwards if that were to happen. ‘Echoes of myself in Jinnah? That would be arrogant’. RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL, TNN 23 August 2009, 09:08am
