By IANS,
Shimla : A day after being expelled from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaswant Singh expressed shock at the Gujarat Government banning his book on Mohammed Ali Jinnah and likened this to the ban on “The Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie.
Just before he left for New Delhi, Jaswant Singh expressed surprise over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to ban his book in the state. “The other example of this is ‘Satanic Verses’ by Salman Rushdie (which was banned). The day we start banning books, we ban thinking.”
Rushdie’s book was banned in several countries, including India, in the wake of protests by Muslims.
Jaswant Singh, a former minister of defence, finance and external affairs, was expelled from the BJP Wednesday for his book, “Jinnah — India, Partition, Independence,” where he suggested that Pakistan’s founder Jinnah had been unfairly demonised in India. The book was also mildly critical of the role played during India’s partition by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the country’s first home minister.
The Gujarat government Wednesday banned the book stating that no views against Sardar Patel could be tolerated in his home state.
Jaswant Singh said he had researched the book, that was released Monday, for five years and did not regret one bit his decision to write it.
“This (Thursday) morning he left for Delhi by road. He checked in this hotel Tuesday noon,” an official at the Oberoi Group’s Hotel Cecil told IANS.
Jaswant Singh, who had come here for the three-day chintan baithak (brainstorming meeting) of the BJP that began Wednesday, was told not to attend the session where the decision to expel him was taken.
While all BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, were at the state guest house Peterhoff, the venue for the meeting, Jaswant Singh cocooned himself in his hotel and did not meet any of them.
“We had made arrangements for Jaswant Singh’s stay at the state guest house. At the last minute, we came to know that he had booked his room somewhere outside,” said a senior party leader.
Jaswant Singh will remain an MP from Darjeeling, a seat he won with the support of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which is spearheading a movement for a separate state in the hill districts of West Bengal.