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Rediff.com  » News » 'I was shocked to read Jaswant's book'

'I was shocked to read Jaswant's book'

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
Last updated on: August 22, 2009 12:36 IST
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Member of Rajya Sabha from Bharatiya Janata Party, on returning after attending they party's three-day long Chintan Baithak in Shimla, S S Ahluwalia told rediff.com that he was shocked to read former Union minister and recently expelled leader Jaswant Singh's controversial book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the way "he degraded the iron man of India Sardar Vallabh bhai  Patel."

" My information is based on stories told to me by our parents. We were told how Sardar Patel single-handedly bound the country into one thread and how he traveled despite illness to ensure that people like the Nizam of Hyderabad were brought to live with Indian Union," Ahluwalia recalled.

But Jaswant Singh's book shattered his ideals. "When I read the book I could not believe myself that the man, who was icon of every Indian and who became a symbol of patriotism, was a traitor (according to the book) who was responsible for the partition of India. This was not acceptable to any one of us," Ahuwalia said.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj also admitted that "the party would have to make a new beginning and the senior leaders would have to resolve their differences through dialogue than using knives against one another."

Meanwhile, the party leadership is hoping to end the defiance of former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who wants that she should be accommodated suitably in accordance with her stature, and her man should be made  the leader of opposition in the Rajasthan assembly.

She would meet Senior leader Advani and party president Rajnath Singh during the course of the day to sort out the matter.

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Onkar Singh in New Delhi