New Delhi, Aug 19 - Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh's expulsion from the party Wednesday is an 'overreaction', according to some in the BJP, and a signal against indiscipline, according to others. The ally Shiv Sena has, however, demanded the party should treat L.K. Advani too in the same manner.

'It is (an) extreme overreaction, the whole thing has been graceless. There were lots of people not happy with him,' says political analayst and columnist Swapan Dasgupta, who is known for his right-of-the-centre views.

Dasgupta said Jaswant Singh's expulsion was triggered 'not by the book' - 'Jinnah: India - Partition - Independence' - but by an 'interview, in which he said Muslims feel alienated' and criticised the party.

'To use an academic discussion of a man (Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah) who died 61 years ago for his expulsion is a bit too much,' Dasgupta said.

Singh was expelled from the primary membership of the party two days after the release of his controversial book on Jinnah.

He has argued that Jinnah was 'demonised' by India while it was actually India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's belief in a centralised polity that led to the Partition.

Speaking to the CNN-IBN channel, Singh, a former external affairs minister, said: 'Nehru believed in a highly centralised polity.