Zeenews Bureau
Indore: After Jaswant Singh’s open praise for Mohammad Ali Jinnah, former RSS chief K S Surdarshan too has lauded the Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam, calling him a one-time supporter of the idea of undivided India.
"Jinnah had many facets. If you read history then you will come to know that Jinnah was with Lok Manya Tilak and was totally dedicated to the nation. And when Gandhi 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," Sudarshan said.
He however refused to comment on Jaswant Singh`s expulsion from the BJP, describing it an “internal matter of the party”.
Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party for calling Jinnah “a great man” in his new book, ‘Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence’.
When pointed out that the Sangh took a tough stand during his leadership when LK Advani made “Jinnah is secular” comment, Sudarshan said the BJP leader gave clarifications on the matter later. Asked if he was satisfied with the clarification, he answered in the affirmative.
RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav has meanwhile sought to clarify Sudarshan’s remarks, saying the former Sangh chief did not mean to say that Jinnah wasn’t responsible for partition.
Commenting on Arun Shourie’s call for the RSS to intervene in BJP’s affairs, Madhav stated that the Sangh had nothing to do with the party and that it will handle its affairs on its own.
