The RSS has given an indication that it no more attaches any significance to the much-hyped remarks by LK Advani on late Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan in 2005 that cost him the presidentship of BJP.
"It was all a misunderstanding," said Madandas Devi, Chief, All India Pracharak of the RSS at a function held here last night to release the Marathi translation of the BJP leader's autobiography "My Country, My Life."
The brief comment by Devi, who shared the dais with Advani as the chief guest, came in the course of his speech that showered praise on the BJP leader, tracing Advani's initiation as a "Swayamsevak" at the age of 14 in Sindh before the partition.
Advani described Devi as a "senior and widely respected leader of the RSS" whose faith in the ideology and ideals of the organisation is "unshakable".
"On August 5, 1947--just ten days before the partition---M S Golwalkar Guruji, Sarsanghachalak of RSS addressed what turned out to be the last but also the largest ever gathering of Hindus in the history of Karachi. Being the city secretary of RSS, I was in-charge of the pre-rally march of Swayamsevaks.
"It was the largest march in the history of RSS in Sindh with over 10,000 uniformed Swayamsevaks marching in unison," Advani recalled.
{{/usCountry}}"It was the largest march in the history of RSS in Sindh with over 10,000 uniformed Swayamsevaks marching in unison," Advani recalled.
{{/usCountry}}"What NDA government did, what I as the Home Minister did, and my pursuit of the goal of Indo-Pak normalisation when I visited Pakistan in 2005 -- all this and more is described in the book," Advani said.
Advani's remarks on late Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan had drawn flak from the RSS as they were construed as putting him in a positive light notwithstanding his role in the partition of India.
Sindhi spiritual guru Dada J P Vaswani, who described Advani as a "man of faith and courage", also attended the function.