After Jaswant Singh, former RSS chief heaps praise on Jinnah

New Delhi, Aug 25 (ANI): Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who was expelled from the BJP for his remarks on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, got support from unexpected quarters when former RSS chief S Surdarshan called the Muslim League leader a one time supporter of undivided India.

Singh was expelled from the BJP for calling Jinnah "a great man" in his new book, "Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence".

Following in the footsteps of party's senior leader L.K. Advani, Singh had called Jinnah, a great Indian, and admitted that he has been attracted by Jinnah's personality. Singh had blamed India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for the partition.

Surdarshan said on Monday that Pakistan founder Jinnah was committed to undivided India.

"Jinnah had many facets. If you look at history, he was once associated with Lokmanya Tilak and was totally committed to undivided India," Sudarshan said when asked if he considered the Muslim League leader secular.

"And when Gandhiji started the Khilafat movement, with the idea that currently we are opposing the British and if Muslims join in then their support will help gain independence. But at that time Jinnah opposed it saying that if the Caliph in Turkey has been dethroned, what has India got to do with it. That time nobody listened to him, which saddened him. So he quit the Congress and left for England and only returned in 1927.

"After returning in 1927, Britishers brainwashed Jinnah and prompted him to put forth the demand for a separate state of Pakistan for Muslims," Sudarshan added.

Sudarshan said that everybody knows history, and added had Gandhiji been adamant, like when he was on giving crores of rupees to Pakistan, then the partition would not have taken place. "But he did not do it because Nehru was his weakness."

Commenting on Singh's expulsion from BJP, he said: "It is an internal matter of the party."

Meanwhile, RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav has sought to clarify Sudarshan's remarks, saying the former Sangh chief did not mean to say that Jinnah wasn't responsible for partition.

Earlier, Sudheendra Kulkarni, who quit the BJP over ideological differences with its present leadership, had equated one time mentor Advani with expelled party leader Jaswant Singh in so far as remarks on Jinnah are concerned.

Kulkarni described the expulsion of Jaswant Singh as unfortunate, and as a graceless and baseless action. (ANI)