• Home
• /
• World

BJP has lost its vision, says Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh has filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Barmer in Rajasthan after being denied the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha ticket.

Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Sunday accused the party of having “lost sight of its vision and frittered away its virtue for temporary political gain”.

Reacting to his expulsion, Jaswant Singh said he was “deeply saddened” over his sacking and said today’s BJP was not the party its leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani had aspired it to be. “I am saddened to find that the BJP of today is not the party that Vajpayee, Advani and B.S. Shekhawat had envisioned and aspired it to be,” he said in a statement.

“A party that cannot afford its most loyal adherents even the very basic courtesies, puts the petty whims of individuals before the greater good of the people, has certainly lost sight of its vision and frittered away its virtue for temporary political gain,” he said.

“Towards what end, only time can tell,” the former external affairs minister added.

Jaswant Singh has filed his nomination as an independent candidate from Barmer in Rajasthan after being denied the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha ticket. The BJP has since expelled him.

He said in a statement that it was wrong to have given the Barmer ticket to a Congress leader who joined the BJP recently and to cite caste equations to say that Jaswant Singh may not win from Barmer. “It is destructive to promote such divisions in society, particularly in a border region which has otherwise lived in communal harmony for centuries,” he said.

But if the BJP did want someone else to contest from Barmer, why was not a candidate picked from within the BJP, he asked.

Jaswant Singh said that as the BJP decision to field a Congress defector “lacks transparency, honesty and courtesy of appropriate communication, I am obliged to question the decision”.

Jaswant Singh said what was at stake in the BJP “are some vital principles of conduct in public life ... truth and commitment, probity and accountability and a true and visible balance between values, means and ends.

“The election in Barmer-Jaisalmer constituency very sadly exemplifies how these values are being perverted, indeed almost destroyed,” he said.

In a sharp attack on Modi and BJP campaign centric around him, Jaswant Singh on Sunday deprecated “veneration” of an individual and said world was full of graveyards of those who are considered indispensable to their nation.

Singh further added that no political party should become handmaiden of an individual.

He also hit hard at BJP president Rajnath Singh saying that he had cautioned the party about his (Rajnath Singh’s) presidency and that the party would be victim of his decision.

In an interview to PTI, Jaswant Singh said, “I don’t think veneration of an individual is a proper attitude for a political party. There was a very great leader of France who said that graveyards of world are full of those who are considered indispensable to their nations.

“We must learn the essence of this. Individuals are transitory. The nation and political organisations that aspire to or endeavour to serve the country must not become handmaiden of individuals.”

The former union minister was reacting to BJP coining the “Namo” chant and glorification of individuals over party.

On a question whether it was a good thing to announce prime minister in advance, he said good or bad it has happened. “Samay bataega aur Bharat bhugtega,” he said.

Jaswant Singh said he was deeply “wounded” by decision of BJP to not let him contest from Barmer despite his plea that he wanted to serve his motherland in what could be his last term in the Lok Sabha.

The new avatar of BJP in which senior leaders are being sidelined is making the party “destructably (sic) aggressive” instead of getting progressive, Singh said on Sunday.

Announcing his suspension on Saturday, the party had said: “As per section 25(9) of the party’s constitution, any leader contesting against the party’s official candidate is liable for immediate expulsion. Accordingly, as per BJP president’s directions, Jaswant Singh, MP... has been expelled from the party for six years with immediate effect.”

Slamming the party’s decision against fielding him from Barmer, Singh said that its move to give the ticket to Sonaram had added to his dismay. “The seat was not decided on 19th (March). I asked Rajnath ji what is the matter and he said he would let me know by (the next day). On 20th of March, on telephone when I asked him again, he said ‘no, you are not the candidate from Barmer’. It was very wounding.”