Rivals united in criticism

For the third time in 10 years, Jaswant Singh finds himself in the proverbial eye of the storm. This time he's created a furor with a new book, Jinnah: India - Partition Independence, that discusses the legacy of Pakistan's founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Singh, a former foreign minister of India and a prolific writer, challenges the widely held Indian belief that it was Jinnah's insistence on a separate Muslim homeland that forced a violent breakup of British India over 60 years ago. Instead, he argues that it was Jawaharlal Nehru's centralised polity that was responsible.

A founding member of India's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Singh's stance goes directly against that of the BJP, which has for decades painted Jinnah as India's greatest villain. Even across India's broader political spectrum and its mainstream population, people have always blamed Jinnah for partition - the violent, bloody vivisection through which Pakistanis gained a country, and Indians struggled to accept that they had lost a third of theirs.

Reactions from the BJP have verged on absolute intolerance of intellectual inquiry. Singh was unceremoniously expelled from the party's ranks and the BJP-ruled government in the state of Gujarat banned his book for allegedly 'defamatory references' to Vallabhbhai Patel, India's first home minister and a Gujarati political icon. Even the Congress Party has censured him for his views, for once united in opinion with its political rivals.

Ironically, Singh's ideological tussle with the BJP is somewhat similar to Jinnah's own battle with the Congress Party of yore. Both were active proponents of party ideology, and both disengaged after intellectual disagreements. The only difference is that while Singh has shifted from supporting a nationalist right-wing party to intellectual liberalism, Jinnah moved from pursuing secular, liberal policies to rallying the masses with communal appeals.

In Pakistan, where Singh said he expected harsh criticism, reactions seem to be mixed. Among Pakistanis, the book's controversial claims on Jinnah's political leanings are nothing new. This is a debate that has been raging for many years in Pakistan, as governments over the years have made selective use of Jinnah's ideals to suit their political needs.

Singh also seems to have caused India's leading political parties much grief. His comparisons of Jinnah's policies with those of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's charismatic first prime minister, have suddenly placed the Congress and the BJP on the same ideological plane.

The BJP is furious that one of its own could have the audacity to acquit Jinnah of 'treason', while the Congress is livid that the author has denigrated Nehru, that doyen of the Congress Party. And so Indians find themselves in the unusual position of seeing the two arch-rivals of Indian politics standing united in their criticism of Singh.

The real trouble is that the book upsets the clearly established communal bifurcations that the establishments of India and Pakistan have worked so hard to make de rigeur over the last several decades.

But how has all this state-sponsored propaganda and brainwashing worked?

While the Indian elite stands alone in self-congratulatory splendour, more than 80 per cent of the country remains marginalised. Just a few days ago, a government-sponsored study estimated that 40 per cent of India is still living in extreme poverty.

In this context, any fresh look at history that challenges old prejudices should be welcomed. Especially in the case of Jinnah, whose elevation to a special status in Pakistan has made it difficult for Pakistanis to evaluate his political and social ideas.

Now that Singh has told it like it is to the Indians, perhaps Pakistanis will find it easier to explore a more realistic Jinnah for their national reference and identity.

And that will be important.

Because it has repercussions not just for regional peace, but also for the most fundamental questions about Pakistan's own identity. Singh's book will hopefully remind Pakistanis that Jinnah was no enemy of India.

In expelling Singh for his views, the BJP is expelling both freedom and thought, confirming that its entire ideology thrives on resentment.

Rakesh Mani is a New York-based writer.