New Delhi: One more item has been added to the agenda for the BJP's Shimla session, aimed at how to revive the party's fortune and strength.
The new worry comes from Jaswant Singh's book, Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence glorifies Mohammed Ali Jinnah and blames Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel for partition.
The BJP's response? Party president Rajnath Singh has issued this formal statement as a direct snub: "Jinnah's role in the division of India...and destabilisation of millions of people is well-known...Sardar Patel played a historic role in the unification of India."
The author, meanwhile, says his book is not an attempt to either glorify or malign anyone.
Rajnath Singh's tough stance is based partly on appeasing the BJP's partner, the RSS, which has zero tolerance for this gentler version of Jinnah. "There's no way we can absolve Jinnah. We totally disagree with that", comments Ram Madhav, RSS Spokesperson.
But in a trend that's no longer new, the BJP is divided on this controversy. "What Jaswant Singh has written in his book is not factually incorrect," says party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.
The BJP's most recent public battle has been between Rajnath Singh and former Rajasthan chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, who has so far defied Rajnath Singh's orders to resign as leader of the party in her state.
Jaswant Singh's Jinnah creates another battleground for a party president confronting dissent all around.