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Senior Indian politician expelled | Senior Indian politician expelled |
(20 minutes later) | |
A senior leader of India's Hindu nationalist main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been expelled from the party. | A senior leader of India's Hindu nationalist main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been expelled from the party. |
Jaswant Singh's expulsion was announced by the party during a meeting. | Jaswant Singh's expulsion was announced by the party during a meeting. |
This comes a day after the BJP "disassociated" itself from a new book on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, written by Mr Singh. | This comes a day after the BJP "disassociated" itself from a new book on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, written by Mr Singh. |
Mr Singh had praised Mr Jinnah in the book and said the latter has been "demonised in India". | Mr Singh had praised Mr Jinnah in the book and said the latter has been "demonised in India". |
Mr Jinnah is a controversial figure in India and considered the architect of the partition. | |
Jaswant Singh, a 71-year-old party veteran who has served as finance and external affairs minister in BJP cabinets, has not yet commented on his expulsion. | |
"I had issued a statement yesterday that the party fully dissociates itself from the contents of the book. Today, I put up the matter before the party's parliamentary board which decided to end his [Mr Jaswant Singh] primary membership," party President Rajnath Singh told reporters. | |
"So he has been expelled. From now inwards he will not be a member of any body of the party or be an office bearer," he said. | |
Confusion | Confusion |
While disowning Mr Singh's book on Tuesday, Rajnath Singh said that Mr Jinnah had played an important role in the "division of India which led to a lot of dislocation and destabilisation of millions of people". | |
Jaswant Singh has said that his book is a "purely academic exercise, which should be read and understood". | |
Why the Hindu right love Jinnah | |
Though the book on Mr Jinnah may have been the immediate provocation, a section of the party leadership has been unhappy with Mr Singh's recent utterances about the BJP, the BBC's Soutik Biswas in Delhi says. | |
The former foreign minister said in a TV interview that the BJP "cannot be a party of yesterday" and that there was a need for greater "clarity" of its ideology. | |
Despite attempts to play it down, the BJP is haunted by its Hindu nationalist past. | |
Our correspondent says questions will now be asked to why senior party leader LK Advani was not similarly punished after he openly described Mr Jinnah as "secular" after a visit to Pakistan in 2005. | |
Mr Singh's expulsion was announced as the BJP begun a three-day meeting to review the state of the party. | |
The party has been plagued by in-fighting and a crisis of leadership after it lost the 2009 general elections. | |
It is still India's second largest party - it has 116 seats to Congress's 206 in the parliament. | |
The review meeting is an annual affair, but recent developments make this year's event much more important. | |
Two party lawmakers from the northern state of Rajasthan were suspended on Tuesday for openly supporting former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia in defiance of the party's high command. | Two party lawmakers from the northern state of Rajasthan were suspended on Tuesday for openly supporting former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia in defiance of the party's high command. |
It wanted her to go as leader of the party's Rajasthan state unit after its indifferent performance in the elections. | It wanted her to go as leader of the party's Rajasthan state unit after its indifferent performance in the elections. |
A senior leader of the party's ideological fountainhead, the RSS, has said it preferred a younger leadership to take charge of the party - Mr Advani is 81. | A senior leader of the party's ideological fountainhead, the RSS, has said it preferred a younger leadership to take charge of the party - Mr Advani is 81. |