New Delhi: Former union minister Jaswant Singh on Thursday said he had supported LK Advani, who nearly resigned as BJP president in the wake of internal criticism for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan in 2005.
"I had stood up against the treatment that was meted out to Advaniji because I believed that he had not said anything that was contrary to facts," Singh told reporters on returning to Delhi from Shimla after his expulsion from the party.
"I had stood up for the right of Advaniji to say what he had said," he said.
Jaswant Singh, who has held Defence, Finance and External Affairs portfolios in BJP-led governments, was on Wednesday expelled from the party for his controversial book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence in which he has praised Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Singh in his book has said that Jinnah was "demonised" in India, while part of the blame for the country's partititon should also go to India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel.
Jaswant’s story:
- Jaswant Singh is a Member of Parliament from Darjeeling.
- He was an officer in the Indian Army in the 1960s, was later commissioned in the Central India House but resigned after sometime to join politics.
- He served as Finance Minister in the 13-day Vajpayee government in 1996 and then again in 2002.
- He held the External Affairs portfolio from 1998 to July 2002. He personally escorted Masood Azhar and other terrorists to Kandahar during the IC814 hijack.
- He was also Defence Minister when George Fernandes was forced to resign after the Tehelka exposure.
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