The former union minister earned the ire of party leaders for his book 'Jinnah: India - Partition - Independence' that was released in New Delhi Monday. He said he had researched the book for five years and did not regret one bit his decision to write the book.

'When a political party stops thinking, stops debating, stops discussion, it is not a happy sign and reflects poorly on the country's polity.'

While all party leaders, including L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, were at the state guest house Peterhoff, Jaswant Singh cocooned himself in his hotel and did not meet any of the leaders.

He also did not attend a dinner Tuesday evening hosted by leader of the opposition L.K. Advani for BJP leaders, including chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states.

Lauding Jinnah as a 'great man' in his book, Jaswant Singh has said Jinnah was 'demonised' in India, while it was actually India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel whose belief in a centralised polity had led to the partition of the subcontinent.

Jaswant Singh has also strongly contested the popular Indian view that Jinnah was the villain of the 1947 partition or the man principally responsible for it.

'I think we have misunderstood him because we needed to create a demon... We needed a demon because in the 20th century the most telling event in the subcontinent was the partition of the country,' he said in an interview to a TV channel.

Many BJP supporters have not taken too kindly to the decision, which took even members of the party by surprise.

Reacting to the expulsion, columnist and BJP ideologue Swapan Dasgupta said: 'For the crime of writing a book or that matter taking a non conventional view (on Jinnah) you can't expel a person. What has happened is alarming.'

Arun Shourie, identified as one of three along with Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha who demanded soul-searching in the party after its poll defeat, said he would not like to comment on party matters.