New Delhi, Aug 18 - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday disassociated itself from senior party leader Jaswant Singh's praise for Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, saying it 'does not represent the views of the party'.

A day after Jaswant Singh's book 'Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence' was launched at a function in the capital, BJP president Rajnath Singh said the views expressed by the former external affairs minister were not that of the party.

'The book authored by Shri Jaswant Singh does not represent the views of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In fact the party completely dissociates itself from the contents of the book,' Rajnath Singh said in a statement issued here.

Eulogising Jinnah in his book, Jaswant Singh has said that the founder of Pakistan was 'demonised' by India, while it was actually Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, whose belief in a centralised polity had led to the partition of the country in 1947.

Contradicting Jaswant Singh's view, the BJP president said: 'Jinnah had an important role to play in the division of India, which led to a lot of dislocation and destabilisation of millions of people. This is too well-known.

'We cannot wish away this painful part of our history.'

He also contradicted Jaswant Singh's view that Sardar Patel along with Nehru had 'conceded' Pakistan to Jinnah.