Now, BJP hit by 'Sudarshan chakra'

BHOPAL: Even before the dust could settle on the storm created by expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh's praise of Pakistan founder, Mohammed Ali
Jinnah, former chief of RSS K S Sudarshan raised another on Tuesday when he said in Indore that Jinnah was ``a true (Indian) nationalist'' and secular in his outlook until he was painted in a corner by Congress leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru.

Sudarshan praised Jinnah's secular outlook by recalling that ``when Mahatma Gandhi supported the Khilafat movement in 1919, Jinnah opposed it. He had argued that Indian Muslims had no connection with the Khalifa of Turkey. But nobody heeded Jinnah. After this, Jinnah left for England and returned only in 1927.''

He went on to say that it was not Jinnah, but Gandhi's soft corner for Nehru, that resulted in the 1947 partition of the country. He also said that Gandhi had repeatedly offended Jinnah. ``One day, when Jinnah went to meet the Mahatma, he was made to wait for an hour. Jinnah was a man of self-respect. Meanwhile, the British had poisoned his ears. Later, Gandhi tried convincing Jinnah but it was too late. Had Gandhi wanted, there wouldn't have been partition. But he was inflexible because Nehru was his weakness,'' Sudarshan said.

``Jinnah had worked with Lokamanya Tilak. He was a man committed to the nation,'' said Sudarshan.

The RSS had roundly slammed L K Advani for praising Jinnah during a visit to Pakistan in 2005, prompting the BJP leader to offer to quit as party president. Sudarshan was then the RSS sarsanghachalak.

Sudarshan himself was ``urged'' to make way for a younger Mohan Bhagwat to take over from him as the RSS boss earlier this year