The Old Warhorse

Jaswant Singh has defied the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and filed his nomination from Barmer, Rajasthan as an independent candidate after BJP declined him a Lok Sabha ticket. 

He has openly accused BJP leaders of backstabbing and humiliating him, which reminds of a similar stinging criticism he heaped after the BJP expelled him on August 19, 2009 for his book “Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence” in which he praised Mohammad Ali Jinnah as secular and blamed Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel for India’s partition. In media interviews after his expulsion, he dubbed the BJP as narrow-minded and to have limited thought. 

After about 10 months i.e. in June 2010, he was readmitted to the BJP after the party top brass decided to bury the differences. A poem titled “The Old Warhorse”, composed on June 24, 2010 on his expulsion and subsequent re-admission had remained hidden somewhere, which I am posting now. Only time will tell if there will be another homecoming for Jaswant Singh after the 2014 general elections...

The Old Warhorse

Ten months ago the old warhorse was expelled from the party he had served for ages

For praising a person whom Indian history does not consider in the league of sages

No one knows why he chose a personality so controversial as the subject of his book

And coming from a sitting member of parliament, it was very difficult to overlook

Stung by the expulsion, he dubbed the party ‘narrow minded and having limited thought’

But 43 weeks in wilderness taught him what 43 years in mainstream politics could not

He then sent feelers to his friends in the party, paving the way for his welcome very hearty

And on receiving the invitation, he promptly hailed it as a Broadminded & Judicious Party!

(June 24, 2010)