7.2 /10 1 Votes
Country India Publication date 2009 ISBN 978-81-291-1653-6 Genre Biography | 3.6/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 658 Originally published 2009 Page count 658 Publisher Rupa & Co. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Jaswant Singh books, Muhammad Ali Jinnah books, Biographies | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence is a book written by Jaswant Singh, a former Finance Minister of India and an External Affairs Minister, on Pakistan's founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the politics associated with the partition of British India. It is currently the latest book written by an Indian politician on the life of Jinnah. The book was released on 17 August 2009 and soon became the subject of controversy, subsequently leading to Singh's expulsion from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). It contains controversial opinions of Singh, claiming that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's centralised policy was responsible for partition, and that Jinnah was portrayed as a demon by India for the partition. The book launch ceremony was held at Teen Murti Bhavan in the presence of only a couple of BJP members.
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Response
Singh was expelled by the BJP following a party meeting chaired by L.K. Advani on 19 August 2009 stating that they will not "compromise on matters of ideology or disciple". The government of the Indian state Gujarat banned the book for allegedly having defamatory references towards India's first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel. However, Gujarat lifted the ban on 4 September 2009 after a court struck it down. The Indian newspaper The Hindu claimed "Mark Tully, Meghnad Desai, Ram Jethmalani, Natwar Singh and Hameed Haroon said a new appraisal of Jinnah’s role was needed and Mr. Singh had done a commendable job." Jinnah was indeed a true leader with better personality and vision rather than its counterpart Gandhi whose appearance as a leader was a question mark itself for the Hindus as he was involved in relationship with a German spy in his self-imposed exile days
Other publications on Jinnah
Interestingly, the first book about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah titled Muhammad Jinnah: An Ambassador of Unity was also written by an Indian politician: Sarojini Naidu. It was published by University of Michigan Library on 1 January 1918, when India was still undivided and ruled by the British Empire.