Sachar laments dragging of Jinnah in BJP-Congress spat

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) Justice(retd) Rajinder Singh Sachar today expressed strong regrets over dragging of the name of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the political spat between the BJP and Congress.

"I do strongly regret that the name of Mr Jinnah, whom Gandhiji used to call Quaid-e-azam and who is father of Pakistan nation, like Gandhiji of Indian nation, should have been brought in this cheap wrangle (between the BJP and Congress)," the former president of People's Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL) said in statement.

Mr Sachar said the Congress should be mature enough to understand that when both countries are on road to closer friendship and mutual understanding, to dig out the wounds of Partition is not only diplomatically immature but politically unwise.

He asked why Congress should object to BJP praising Jinnah whom he described " as one of the tallest leaders of India and is father of our friendly neighbour nation Pakistan".

At BJP's Prime Minister-in-waiting L K Advani's book release function here, the party had reportedly blamed the Congress for Jinnah's actions, leading to the Partition of the Indian sub-continent, while Congress retaliated dubbing their rivals as "Bharatiya Jinnah Party".

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