Jinnah controversy boils over, Jaswant pays the price with expulsion from BJP

Singh, who had served BJP for over three decades, was unceremoniously expelled from the party's primary membership for lauding Jinnah in his new book 'Jinnah India-Partition Independence.'

The decision to expel the senior party leader was taken by BJP's top brass in its Chintan Baithak (brainstorming session) in Shimla on Wednesday.

Singh, who along with party colleague Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, had been critical of the party leadership after the 2009 parliamentary poll defeat, was not invited to attend the meeting. Interestingly, Shourie and Sinha were not invited for the Shimla meeting either.

Singh's book has been courting controversy since the past one week as it not only praised Jinnah but also demonized India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, charging them for being responsible for the partition of India.

Interestingly, Singh's view that Nehru was responsible for the partition of India is not new. In fact, Abul Kalam Azad in his book "India wins freedom" can be seen arguing that partition of India could have been avoided if Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had shown some flexibility over the Cabinet Mission plan.