BJP maintaining double standards for Advani and Jaswant: Cong

Accusing the BJP of maintaining double standards towards its own leaders, the Congress on Friday said that it had adopted different yardsticks for LK Advani and Jaswant Singh, both of whom had drawn flak for their comments on Pakistan founder MA Jinnah.

Accusing the BJP of maintaining double standards towards its own leaders, the Congress on Friday said that it had adopted different yardsticks for LK Advani and Jaswant Singh, both of whom had drawn flak for their comments on Pakistan founder MA Jinnah.

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“It is clear that they have double standards for LK Advani, Jaswant Singh and for Arun Shourie,” party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters in New Delhi.

While categorically rejecting Jaswant’s views on Jinnah and Sardar Patel as expressed in his controversial book, the Congress, however, parried questions on whether it supports a ban on the book, saying it is a call for the state goverments to take.

“We categorically reject whatever has been written by Jaswant Singh. We know BJP leaders have a history of making wrong statements,” Natarajan said.

The Congress leader also said that the book has been banned as a result of “factionalism and groupism” within BJP, rather than due to its content. She cited the case of Karnataka, which has not banned the book unlike Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government.