Jaswant terms Jinnah ‘a great Indian’ [Archive]

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black mamba

08-17-2009, 12:29 AM

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=23915

Monday, August 17, 2009

Holds Nehru responsible for partition

NEW DELHI: Jaswant Singh, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former Indian minister, has described the personality of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a “great character and determination”.

“He created something out of nothing and single-handedly stood against the might of the Congress party and against the British, who didn’t really like him,” Jaswant Singh said.

In an interview with the CNN-IBN’s programme “Devil’s Advocate”, Jaswant Singh spoke on his forthcoming biography of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Jaswant Singh said he was “attracted by (and) drawn to” Jinnah’s personality.

“He was a ‘great Indian’ who India has ‘demonised’,” he said and added that Jawaharlal Nehru’s belief in a centralised polity was responsible for partition. He admitted that the Indian Muslims were treated ‘as aliens’.

Jaswant Singh said: “I was attracted by the personality, which has resulted in a book. If I was not drawn to the personality, I wouldn’t have written the book. It’s an intricate, complex personality of great character, determination.”

When asked if he was a great man, Jaswant Singh said: “Oh yes, because he created something out of nothing and single-handedly stood against the might of the Congress party and against the British, who didn’t really like him. Gandhi himself called Jinnah a great Indian. Why don’t we recognise that? Why don’t we see (and try to understand) why he called him that?”

When asked whether he was a nationalist, Jaswant Singh said, “Oh yes. He fought the British for an independent India, but also fought resolutely and relentlessly for the interest of the Muslims of India — the acme of his nationalistic achievement was the 1916 Lucknow Pact of Hindu-Muslim unity.”

Jaswant Singh said there was a lot in Jinnah’s character that he personally admired stressing, in particular, the fact that Jinnah was a self-made man, who had carved a position for himself in a metropolitan city like Bombay without seeking help or support from anyone else.

“I admire certain aspects of his personality, his determination and the will to rise. He was a self-made man. Mahatma Gandhi was the son of a Diwan. All these (people) ‘Nehru and others’ were born to wealth and position. Jinnah created for himself a position. He carved in Bombay, a metropolitan city, and a position for himself. He was so poor he had to walk to work, he told one of his biographers there was always room at the top, but there’s no lift. And he never sought a lift,” Jaswant Singh said.

Asked if he agreed with the view held by many in India that Jinnah hated Hindus, Jaswant Singh said: “Wrong. Totally wrong. That certainly he was not — his principal disagreement was with the Congress party. He had no problems whatsoever with Hindus.”

Jaswant Singh said India had misunderstood Jinnah. “I think we have misunderstood him,” he said. “In the 20th century, the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country,” he said. When asked on the partition of India in 1947, Jaswant Singh said that if the Congress could have accepted a decentralised federal country, then in that event, a united India ‘was ours to attain’. The problem, he added, was Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘highly centralised polity’.

khalsa1699

08-17-2009, 01:47 AM

after 63 years you can write what you like, the reality is that India and Pakistan are two realities of the independence and im glad both countries parted ways and went about in their own paths!

JBH22

08-17-2009, 04:16 AM

after 63 years you can write what you like, the reality is that India and Pakistan are two realities of the independence and im glad both countries parted ways and went about in their own paths!

couldn't agree more..
we now see 63years later how great "jinnah" created a great PAkistan

pg_ord

08-17-2009, 04:39 AM

wait, what? I thought BJP== Hindu Taliban. p-)

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-17-2009, 04:46 AM

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-17-2009, 04:47 AM

wait, what? I thought BJP== Hindu Taliban. p-)

Pleae get ur facts right first, BJP has some hardliners yes but there are other Hindu groups who are maligning BJP's image, BJP is as secular as that shyt Congress

pg_ord

08-17-2009, 04:53 AM

Pleae get ur facts right first, BJP has some hardliners yes but there are other Hindu groups who are maligning BJP's image, BJP is as secular as that shyt Congress
ya dont get sarcasm do ya?p-)

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-17-2009, 04:58 AM

ya dont get sarcasm do ya?p-)

Sorry my bad >.<

VAMAN

08-17-2009, 07:53 AM

wait, what? I thought BJP== Hindu Taliban. p-)
BJP == a political party. BJP is nationalist but surely not Taliban.

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 08:42 AM

After Advani, this is another useless person in a party which has been discarded by people of India. All its leaders are hungry for some space in media fearing any future in party which talks a little constructive and uses its sister organizations to tarnish India for the benefit of Pakistan. This is just a marketing gimmick.

hulaku

08-17-2009, 08:56 AM

After Advani, this is another useless person in a party which has been discarded by people of India.

159 seats in the Genaeral Elections 25% of Total Votes. Discarded?

Surely not

uses its sister organizations to tarnish India for the benefit of Pakistan.

:cantbeli:

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 09:37 AM

159 seats in the Genaeral Elections 25% of Total Votes. Discarded? Surely not I was not talking about Nitish Kumar's political strength. I was talking about BJP. It has only 119 seats on its own. Though, for its supporters it is a great achievement. Don't worry, by next time it will come to a point of its no return.

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-17-2009, 09:43 AM

I was not talking about Nitish Kumar's political strength. I was talking about BJP. It has only 119 seats on its own. Though, for its supporters it is a great achievement. Don't worry, by next time it will come to a point of its no return.

Next time BJP will dethrone that thingy called Congress

hulaku

08-17-2009, 09:49 AM

hulaku

08-17-2009, 09:50 AM

Next time BJP will dethrone that thingy called Congress

Nope our Communist comrades led by Karat will come to powerp-)

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 09:54 AM

Lala I really enjoy your posts. Thanks for the complement....I know it is difficult to realize the truth...

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 09:57 AM

Next time BJP will dethrone that thingy called Congress This country does not have monarchy so there is no need to dethrone anybody to get to power. BJP just need to display a pan-India approach to get peoples verdict in its favor.

hulaku

08-17-2009, 10:00 AM

This country does not have monarchy so there is no need to dethrone anybody to get to power.

We just have a Rajmata and a Yuvraj.:)

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 10:08 AM

We just have a Rajmata and a Yuvraj. For you, they are as you think. That's the beauty of democracy. For some they are political leaders and these "Some" are in majority "today." So no point in crying...your leaders' time may come if they can think as the majority thinks.

hulaku

08-17-2009, 10:13 AM

So no point in crying...your leaders' time may come if they can think as the majority thinks.

Insha Allah

One day the Communists will come to power.

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 10:17 AM

Insha Allah One day the Communists will come to power. Communists are non-believers, so this will not work....they should try something Mao Mao...

hulaku

08-17-2009, 10:18 AM

Communists are non-believers, so this will not work....they should try something Mao Mao...

I did not get your point here.

Lala_Peace

08-17-2009, 10:25 AM

I did not get your point here. You tried to Invoke Allha for the benefit of Communists...but Communist does not believe in any God. So .....instead they can pray to Maoism.

3rdMillhouse

08-17-2009, 10:39 AM

I am not happy at all, i want India and Pakistan to be one again, however if there is a war then i will die for India but if there is to be peace then india and pakistan should become one country again, lets have a new name for our country, not Pakistan nor India, a new name for a new beginning and a Federal government as Jinnah wanted but fvckin Nehru refused, its all because of this fvckin Congress that India is divided today.

Oh trust me, India's got enough problems of its own, what with the terrible misery that plagues a large chunk of you population, to worry about the kind of problems that would come about should you reunite with Pakistan. Think about tons of terrorist simpathizers, primitive muslims trying to enforce their "middle age" laws uppon the rest of the country, terrorist themselves.........

black mamba

08-18-2009, 07:50 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_1ofnBFos

VAMAN

08-18-2009, 08:23 AM

Nope our Communist comrades led by Karat will come to powerp-)
Communists have no chance. The recent general elections were a major blow to the Communists. They even lost most of their seats in communist dominated states like Bengal and Kerala. In other states they don't even exist.

pg_ord

08-18-2009, 11:01 AM

khalsa1699

08-18-2009, 03:33 PM

pg_ord

08-18-2009, 03:39 PM

Jaswant can now get asylum in Pakistan if he crosses over! HE SHOULD cross over!

he was the one who escorted the three terrorists in Kandhar hijack!

India and Pakistan are two different countries with thier own identities, culture, religion etc, they can never be one again!

i wonder where are RSS, VHP and monkey army, no protests against Jaswant?

hmmm after Vajpayee went to pakistan, advani praised jinnah in pakistan, now jaswant!

BJP= Bharatiya Jugaad Party!

Haha.... at least he was man enough to accompany them all the way taking responsibility .... what was the alternative?? raid like entebbe?? more casualties and you would have had the entire "secular" opposition having a field day for GoI "mishandling" the incident.... it is another matter than decade since then nothing has change in the GoI policy towards terrorism regardless of party in power.

black mamba

08-19-2009, 08:07 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_1ofnBFos

christopher on his favourite role

VAMAN

08-19-2009, 08:08 AM

Jaswant Singh wants to sell his new book on Jinnah so he wanted to create some controversy for people to take notice.

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-19-2009, 08:10 AM

Jaswant Singh has been expelled from the BJP, now are you guys happy? Sad day:(..fvck BJP

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-19-2009, 08:24 AM

Jaswant Singh wants to sell his new book on Jinnah so he wanted to create some controversy for people to take notice.

Dont mean to be rude but this is a CHEAP mentality.

hulaku

08-19-2009, 08:25 AM

Sad day:(..fvck BJP

And this is not cheap at all?

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-19-2009, 08:27 AM

And this is not cheap at all?

This is my frustration, i found no other way to best express it..

khalsa1699

08-19-2009, 03:35 PM

BJP (Bharatiya Joker's Party) just kicked out Jaswant singh from the party!

i guess if jinnah was so secular, why did advani moved to India, he should have stayed in Pakistan!

Jaswant's book on jinnah is an insult of those people who died during the partition!

Bharatiya Jinnah Party Zindabad!

VAMAN

08-19-2009, 04:01 PM

i guess if jinnah was so secular, why did advani moved to India, he should have stayed in Pakistan!
I am with Advani on this. Advani was right when he said Jinnah was secular. You should first read about life and times of Jinnah, before needlessly criticizing Advani.

black mamba

08-20-2009, 12:28 AM

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=23968

BJP expels Jaswant for praising Jinnah

Thursday, August 20, 2009
SHIMLA: India’s opposition Hindu nationalists expelled one of the most senior figures in their party on Wednesday amid a row over his book praising Pakistan’s founding father Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Jaswant Singh, a former foreign minister and member of parliament for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had questioned the demonisation of Jinnah, whom Hindu nationalists blame for the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

“We decided that he will no more be a member of any party forum,” BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters in the northern hill resort of Shimla, where the party was meeting for a brainstorming session.

Singh’s book, “Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence,” was published on Monday. In it, he calls the Pakistani leader as a “great personality”.

Jaswant Singh while reacting to the decision on his expulsion from the BJP said he had no regret on writing about Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and he stood by whatever he had written on painful period of history. Talking to mediamen in Shimla on Wednesday, Jaswant Singh said it was saddening and regrettable that he had been expelled from the party without reading the book and issuing of notice to him.

He said he had served the party for 30 years and he was declared Hanuman of the party. Declaring that he would not file appeal against the decision, he said it was unfortunate that the party had not followed procedures in his expulsion.

When asked if regretted on writing his book, the determined Jaswant Singh said “regret. Why should I regret five years of labour? I have written what is my reading of that painful period of history.” Singh said his political life would not be over because of this decision as he would continue to be a member of parliament. “I have committed no sin. None whatsoever against India,” he declared.

“You can dispute what I write, but the day you start questioning thought, start questioning reading, writing, publishing you are entering a very dark alley,” he warned. Singh was one of the founding members of the BJP and served as foreign, defence and finance minister between 1998 and 2004 when the Hindu nationalists held power nationally.

In 2005, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was forced to quit as party head after he sparked controversy by lauding Jinnah as a “great man” and a secular leader during a visit to Pakistan. In a television interview aired over the weekend, Singh said he had chosen the controversial leader as his subject because Jinnah had “an intricate, complex personality of great character, determination.”

Singh also rejected the popularly-held view that Jinnah was “a Hindu basher” and solely responsible for the “dismemberment” of undivided India. “I don’t think it was dismemberment. He wanted space for the Muslims,” he told the CNN-IBN channel. If the Congress Party, which led India to freedom in 1947, had agreed to fixed representation for Muslims in India’s parliament and provincial assemblies, “there would not have been a partition,” Singh said. “He in fact went to the extent of saying that let there be a Pakistan within India,” Singh, a former Indian army officer from western Rajasthan state, added.

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-20-2009, 12:39 AM

khalsa1699

08-20-2009, 02:41 PM

This happened last evening..anyways i have only one thing to say, i am NEVER voting for the BJP again, and i wish one day India and Pakistan will be reunited and be one and single country again, we will create history yet again...it will happen..

Sorry bubu, it aint gonna happen! India and pakistan are two different countries, with their own culture and tradition and religion!

on the contrary, Jaswant is welcome to join Jinnah's land of pure, free passage courtsey indian govt!

black mamba

08-20-2009, 04:36 PM

well, i guess jaswant learnt a very important lesson....there is no free speech in the world's largest democracy :)

pg_ord

08-20-2009, 04:58 PM

well, i guess jaswant learnt a very important lesson....there is no free speech in the world's largest democracy :)
Amazing conclusion !!!
huh?? :roll: its not like they issued a Fatwa for speaking out his mind .... he is not going to be beheaded... nor is the govt of the day going to imprison him. He is free to sell his book.

black mamba

08-20-2009, 05:15 PM

oh? and these beheadings etc happen where for speaking out their mind? please do not provide examples of the taliban. i want examples of govts doing it or people on the street for speaking out their mind

pg_ord

08-20-2009, 05:22 PM

Taliban == People on the streets.
heck even senator Joseph Leibermann was ejected from democratic party till recently..... its not like Jaswant Singh has been barred from public life forced to run away and seek shelter in another country.....he can even contest elections if he likes..... if people dont like him they wont vote for him end of story.

hanmya

08-20-2009, 05:23 PM

I am with Advani on this. Advani was right when he said Jinnah was secular. You should first read about life and times of Jinnah, before needlessly criticizing Advani.

Very true indeed! Unfortunately for Pakistan, things didnt quite turn out as Jinnah envisioned!

oh? and these beheadings etc happen where for speaking out their mind? please do not provide examples of the taliban. i want examples of govts doing it or people on the street for speaking out their mind

For that, peek outside the walls of your palatial bungalow in downtown Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad!

black mamba

08-21-2009, 02:38 AM

taliban = people on the street. so is that why people are supporting the army against them and why the taliban supporters' houses are being burned? hahahahahahaha!!! i am pretty surprised at the level of ignorance displayed.

i dont have a palatial bungalow. my dad used to earn Rs 14,000 per month and my mom Rs 12,000 per month. if one can live like a king in that much money, let me know.

BubuTheMonkeyPrincE

08-21-2009, 03:28 AM

i dont have a palatial bungalow. my dad used to earn Rs 14,000 per month and my mom Rs 12,000 per month. if one can live like a king in that much money, let me know.

No, you cant live like a king in that much money but as a middle class man you should know that it is still far up then any poor India-Pakistani earns, who dont even have food for 3 times a day. Be content..

Sorry bubu, it aint gonna happen! India and pakistan are two different countries, with their own culture and tradition and religion!

on the contrary, Jaswant is welcome to join Jinnah's land of pure, free passage courtsey indian govt!

It will happen Khalsa, it will happen one day, i am a believer, and i have full faith that evils of past will be overturned..

black mamba

08-21-2009, 03:38 AM

and what makes u think i am not content?

khalsa1699

08-21-2009, 08:10 AM

No, you cant live like a king in that much money but as a middle class man you should know that it is still far up then any poor India-Pakistani earns, who dont even have food for 3 times a day. Be content..

It will happen Khalsa, it will happen one day, i am a believer, and i have full faith that evils of past will be overturned..

how can it happen when jihadis based in pakistan want to convert whole of india into islam?

pakistan was formed on the religious divide and hate towards "hindu" india!

in pakistan, there is nothing but hate for india since 1947!