Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh, who recently courted controversies due to his book ‘Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence’, in which he has eulogized Mohd Ali Jinnah, has been expelled from the BJP.

The jury is clearly out. By doing so, the saffron party has killed two birds with a single stone. The party wanted to drive home the message to the party rank file that it will no longer tolerate any kind of dissent in the party and also the party is still driven by the Hindutva message. Anybody who dares to talk against Hindutva has no place in the party.

I think the party has taken a calculated risk by expelling such a big leader from the party as the party has been witnessing a series of dissensions ever since the poor showing in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Anther point to be noted is the emergence of RSS in deciding the future course of action in BJP. For quite some time, the RSS has been keeping a distance form BJP day-to-day affairs. But not that the BJP is facing internal bickering of alarming proportions, I think the RSS has taken command over the BJP.

The decision to expel Jaswant Singh, a Lok Sabha member and a former Union Minister, was taken at the Parliamentary Board of the party which is meeting in Shimla.

Earlier, BJP President Rajnath Singh had issued a statement totally distancing the party from Jaswant Singh’s book “Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence”. That was a clear indication of what was in store for Jaswant Singh.

Jaswant Singh has been having an uneasy relationship with the party leadership ever since the Lok Sabha elections on which he had circulated a note demanding thorough discussion on the debacle.