Controversy
A controversy erupted immediately after the release of his book, in which Singh insinuated that a mole had existed in the Prime Ministerial Office during the tenure of P. V. Narasimha Rao, who had leaked information to U.S. sources. Soon after, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged him to name the mole. In response, Singh sent a letter to him. The letter, Manmohan Singh said later, had no signature, and no name of any mole. Jaswant Singh then backed off, saying his views on the subject were based on a "hunch".
Controversy hovered around him again when on 17 August 2009 another book authored by him, entitled Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence, was released. In this he claimed that the centralised polity of Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for Partition. He was later expelled from the primary membership of BJP as a result of the ensuing controversy. In interviews with media he quoted BJP as narrow-minded and to have limited thought. His book was later banned in Gujarat. Singh said of the ban "The day we start banning books, we are banning thinking". In 2010, he was readmitted to BJP.
Jaswant Singh is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that offers, discreetly and confidentially, a range of experienced advisors to political leaders facing difficult situations. As of July 16 2012 he has been announced as the candidate for the vice presidency by the NDA.
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