Bhopal: Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah was committed to an undivided and unified India till the British "brainwashed" him into demanding a separate state for Muslims, former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K S Sudarshan has said.
After attending a function organised by Gau Sewa Bharati in Indore on Monday, Sudarshan was asked if he considered Jinnah secular. He said: "Jinnah had many qualities. He also remained associated with Lokmanya Tilak and was totally committed to an undivided and unified India".
"It was Britishers," said Sudarshan, "who after his return from England in 1927 brainwashed Jinnah and prompted him to demand a separate state for Muslims."
Sudarshan blamed Mahatma Gandhi for the partition of the country, saying: "Had Gandhi remained adamant, like when he was on giving huge funds to Pakistan at the time of its formation, the partition would not have taken place. He, however, did not do so mainly because Nehru was his weakness".
Sudarshan's comments assume significance in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sacking its senior leader Jaswant Singh for his book in which he has praised Jinnah and blamed the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and first home minister Sardar Patel.
The RSS is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.
But on Jaswant Singh's expulsion, Sudarshan only said: "It is an internal matter of the party."
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