On Wednesday 10 March 2010 Jaswant Singh, Former Cabinet Minister for Finance, External Affairs & Defence, India will speak on “Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence” from 4-5pm.
Jaswant Singh is a former Cabinet Minister for Finance, External Affairs & Defence in India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government (1999-2004). He also served as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India. A former cavalry officer, Jaswant Singh is currently a Member of the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) representing the hill region of Darjeeling in West Bengal. He is a specialist on security issues and author of several books on national security, international relations and Indian history.
Last August, Jaswant Singh’s political biography of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, titled “Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence”, led to a national controversy. He was criticized for praising Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and blaming Indian leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru for the partition of India. Jaswant Singh was subsequently expelled from the BJP and his book was banned by the BJP-run state government of Gujarat for questioning the role of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
This discussion will be chaired by Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the IISS. It will take place on the Fourth Floor at Arundel House, 13–15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP Kelly Signorelli-Chaplin at: currentevents@iiss.org.
