One of the founding fathers of the Hindu nationalist movement, Jaswant Singh has been shown the door out of the party which he had built with his own hands.
He has been 'expelled' by people who are far below him in intellect, vision and commitment to the party and the nation.As they say-' Jealousy is the only tribute mediocrity can pay to genius'.
During Aurangzeb's rule in Delhi, the state of Jodhpur underwent a lot of turmoil, and Aurangzeb thought it was the right time to annex and merge Jodhpur into the mughal kingdom.It was the sheer valour and intellect of Veer Durga Das Rathore that protected the state from Aurangzeb. The most awe inspiring aspect of this story is the selfless service of Veer Durga Das for the sake of the loyalty to motherland and the royal family of Jodhpur.
Unlike other small minded rajputs who colluded with mughals to conspire and eliminate their own kith and kin, Durga Das had the vision and the courage to resist Aurangzeb for no selfish gains. He installed Ajit singh ,the son of Jaswant singh to the throne of Jodhpur and protected him all his life.
But, sadly, as has been the history of Rajputs and other Hindu kings of our motherland, with time, yes men and selfish 'well wishers' of Ajit singh instigated him against Veer Durga Das . Such was the commitment of Veer Durga das to the cause of loyalty ,that insipte of being capable of eliminating Ajit Singh and himself becoming the king of Jodhpur, he chose to live upto his honor and left his janmabhoomi and karmabhoomi to lead a life of anonymity.
Veer Durga Das died a lonely man on the banks of Kshipra river in Ujjain.But he lives on forever in our hearts. There is a saying about him in the rural folk of Marwar-Mayee ehra poot jan jehara DURGADAS, baandh mundaso rakhiyo bin thambe aakash. (O Mother, give birth to a son like Durga Das, who stopped the flooding dam of the moghul army single handedly).
History never forgets or forbids her true sons and soldiers.Ajit Singh was and never will be given even a footnote in the history of Rajasthan , but Veer Durga Das has been immortalised in our heart and minds till there is a single self respecting Indian living on this earth.
One can't help noticing the glaring metaphorical similarity between Jaswant Singh and Veer Durga Das.
During the transition of the erstwhile Jansangh to Bhartiya Janata Party, he was one of the first intellectuals to join and subsequently help the growth of the party. The luminous others being, Smt.Vijaya Raje Scindhia, Sh.L.K.Adwani, Sh A.B. Vajpaye, and Sh.Sikandar Bakht. It was the immense ground work and foresight of these stalwarts that saw BJP leap from a mere two MPs in 1984 to triple digit in 1991.
With his grace and wisdom, it would have been pretty easy for him to join the Congress and catapult to immediate fame at least in the state of Rajasthan. Instead, he chose to remain committed to his beliefs and ideology of soft hindutva centric nationalism, and resisted the congress,tooth and nail.
He was one of the main constituents of the think tank of the BJP and it's subsequent rise to power in New Delhi as the axis of the NDA. It was upto Jaswant Singh to placate mercurial allies like Mrs.Jayalalitha and retain her with the NDA during the entire 5 year rule of NDA. A job he lived upto with utmost sincerity.
But the most signifant contribution of Jaswant singh was during his tenure as the foreign minister.Not only the party, but the entire nation will always be indebted to him for his remarkable service to our motherland. After Pokhran 2 , USA had gone mad with India and Mr. Bill Clinton publicly snubbed India and her leaders. It was left to him to explain India's viewpoint to the world.A job he did with utmost dedication and clinical precision.
Post independence, Indian diplomacy has been largely about sheepish submissions and a lot of loud but futile chest beating around empty and meaningless issues of Panchseela and non alignment in the international fora, courtsey the hollow and irrelevant policies of the erstwhile Congress leaders.It was the single handed commitment of Jaswant Singh to give a razor sharp finesse to Indian diplomatic manouvering. It was he who criss-crossed the globe on innumerous overt and covert visits to the US and European countries to make the western leadership see light on the necessity of India acquiring the status of a nuclear weapons state.
It was a very daunting task , considering the likes of a tough Bill Clinton, the matter of fact Mrs. Madeline Albright, and all the tough upper lipped US establishment. One can't forget how Jaswant Singh constantly engaged the US under secretary, Mr. Strobe Talbott , which went a long way in clearing away the haze surrounding Pokhran 2 and subsequent Indo-Pak relations.
This nation will never be able to thank him enuff for the great service he has done to the nation by changing the working style of a very babu minded indian diplomacy and for the frist time in Indian history, entirely new perspective he was able to give to the whole defence and geo political scenario of the subcontinent to the western world.A perspective based entirely on the supreme premise of safe gaurding national interests, with a measured aloofness from lecturing vague idiocies to the rest of the world.
It was the ground work initiated by Jaswant Singh that led to the ultimate signing of the nuclear deal between India and the US, though , in our glorious Indian tradition, a grateful reference to him has been entirely ommitted by the narcisstic Congress.
His stint as the Finance minister was also remarkable and he gave innovative ideas to the financial world and , thru his policies India was able to sustain a growth rate howering around 8-9 % .It was with his consent and support that white elephants like Balco were sold and turned into profit making units.
Now, coming to the point of his expulsion from the BJP. The proceedings in the BJP are the direct consequences of a very static philosophy and a tired leadership. The party and it's followers seem to be stuck in a time warp, hence the complete disconnect from it's core constituency and also the general masses.
Anyone with the slightest of knowledge of Indian history will understand that the real villian of partition was not Jinnah alone, but the British along with Mr. Nehru and Mr.Gandhi.Jinnah was a secular, intellectual and a patriot of undivided India, albiet , a lil over ambitious.It wud have served our country immensely to have him as the first Prime minister of this country.Considering the prevelant socio political scenario of the preindependence era, what could have gone against Mr.Jinnah for being the P.M. of India, except his religion of birth? The bogey of a civil war raised by Mr.Nehru led to a situation where Mr. Jinnah had to step back from the contest of the Prime ministership of this nation. In his frustration, for being out manouvred by the 'secualr leaders' of the congress, Jinnah fell back on Muslim League and gifted us with Pakistan.
This is the 21st century. The era of rapid mass communication. A small incident on the Valentine's day,in a Mangalore cafe got so much publicity that it shook the whole establishment. The Middle class watched that incident repeatedly on the T.V. and the BJP lost the general elections. The BJP has expelled one of it's tallest leaders for expressing vews on a subject.The middle class is watching again.All the hope and talk of BJP's resurgence shud be laid to rest if this is how you treat your own leaders,who have a viewpoint different then yours.The hallmark of a civilisation is individual consciousness , and liberty to pursue and blossom that consciousness. The BJP has attempted to strangulate a voice.This is nothing but blind mimicry of the Congress culture. The congress doesn't tolerate anything against the family, and the BJP doesn't tolerate anything against it's 'philosophy' .Sad congruence of values, indeed!
Since Jaswant Singh had sent a copy of the book to Mr.Adwani himself , before it's release, it is obvious that per se Adwani has no objection to this book of Jaswant.(Adwani himself had commented on the secular outlook of Jinnah in Karachi and had to resign from the presidentship of the party). Though Adwani does seem helpless to have stopped Jaswant's expulsion from the party.
We hindus are cursed to have such a myopic leadership. The expulsion of Jaswant Singh can not damage him. He is already beyond the insults of such trivial nature. He has proved his loyalty , intellect, and valour like a true warrior of the motherland and the party in thier times of need. He is the one to have stood test of time and test of public scrutiny.
Those in the BJP who are gloating over his expulsion and those who have silently witnessed it ,will have to answer the people of this country , as to what wrong did Jaswant Singh commit by holding a viewpoint. We are all free souls in a free country.As long as it does not infringe on someone else's freedom and it is not against law, we can hold whatever opinion we want.
Jaswant singh will ride into the sunset a lonely man, but the tragedy will not be his, the tragedy will be of the Hindu cause and nationalism. If this is the way we treat our loyal warriors, then the whole cause of hindu nationalsim is doomed. Jaswant Singh was one of the few intellectuals who could have articulated and presented the convoluted concept of Hindutva to the rest of the world. Expelling him from the BJP , will be one of the major nails in the coffin of the experiment of Hindutva.
Durga Das Rathore chose to quit his motherland when his loyalty was doubted. So will an honourable man like Jaswant Singh .The biggest loser in this game of conciet and deciet will be the BJP itself. Durga Das Rathore lives on forever in our memory . So will Jaswant Singh , for anyone who has the intelligence to understand his immense contribution to the nation and the party.
Both of them epitomise these lively words---
"Loyalty , above all else,except, honour."
Dr.Omendra Ratnu Director,
Ratnu E.N.T.Hospital, Jaipur.
