Jaswant Singh Book on Jinnah

[dhu]

<b>Cong threatens protests against attack on Nehru (TOI)</b>

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: Jolted by relentless sniping by the BJP-RSS combine at Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress on Wednesday threatened a countrywide movement against attempts to debunk the first PM and “put history in the correct perspective”. Worried over the fallout of the ‘demolish Nehru’ campaign beginning with ousted BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book, the party said it was planning protests around the country to defend Nehru.

“We have no choice but to hit the road to protect the legacy of the independence movement,” party spokesman Manish Tiwari said.

The sudden rise in the Congress decibel level was prompted by former RSS chief K S Sudarshan’s statement calling Jinnah secular.

“Over the past 10 days the successors of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassins have been trying to distort history,” Tiwari said. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Jinnah and RSS two sides of the same coin: Cong</b> (TOI)

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday advertised its discomfort over the reopening of the debate on Partition, even as it came down hard on former RSS chief K S Sudarshan for describing Pakistan founder M A Jinnah as a “nationalist”.

With expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah leading to a re-examination of Partition history, including the role of Congress stalwarts such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel in the events leading up to the division of united India, Congress iterated that “if someone was responsible for Partition of the country, it was Jinnah and British colonialism.”

<b>Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari criticised BJP for “trying to become secular by proxy by terming Jinnah as secular.” </b>The party sought to paint BJP-RSS and Jinnah as “communal,” describing them as “two sides of the same coin”.

Congress’ main plank of secularism derives its identity from attacking BJP for being anti-Muslim and by the legacy of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and several other prominent Congress leaders whose role in the freedom movement it highlights from time to time. The crisis within BJP, which has deepened with the publication of Jaswant Singh’s book, is not all good news for Congress either.

Party leaders suggested that the withering of BJP would give fresh impetus to the rise of regional players.<b> Also “secularisation of the BJP” does not really suit Congress, as its claim to be the custodian of secularism would seem hollow without a worthy opponent.</b>

Mr Tewari told reporters that over the last 10 days,<b> those responsible for the killing of Mahatma Gandhi and their ideological followers were once again trying to teach a distorted version of history. </b>“This has not happened for the first time. In the last 62 years, they have tried to twist history time and again. <b>They are the people who had no role in the freedom struggle,” the spokesperson said.</b>

The Congress leader said Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad, Kidwai etc had prevented the Balkanisation of India. Asked about Jinnah’s speech to Pakistan constituent assembly on August 11, 1947, calling for a secular Pakistan, Mr Tewari said it was “hypocrisy”. “It was absolute hypocrisy...It came a year after the Direct Action Plan in which thousands of innocents were killed in Calcutta and Bengal,” he said.

Congress’ impatience with the revisiting, of what a Congress leader described as the “settled” and “canonised” version of history, was also apparent when Mr Tewari, while replying to a question on the drought from the media, prefaced his reply by noting that<b> “modern India” was not preoccupied with “history.”</b>
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To be charitable, Jaswant may be trying to change the meaning of "secular', almost like saying that Nazis are Christian. Shourie refuted Jaswant Singh's claims about Jinnah recently, I cannot find the article.