At a time when its image has taken a beating after the D.P. Yadav episode, the BJP today brought Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul, apparently to add to its standing in the run-up to the polls. Invited by the BJP’s cultural cell for a closed-door interaction with its members, Naipaul and wife Nadira today made a trip to the party’s 11, Ashok Road, headquarters here. Naipaul’s views have for sometime been quite close to the Sangh Parivar’s, and his appearance at the BJP office today did not come as a surprise to many. When reporters later asked Naipaul if he was being ‘‘appropriated’’ by the BJP, Nadira intervened to say: ‘‘We don’t mind being appropriated. Everyone should appropriate my husband. We are in public domain. We are here as independent observers. What is wrong with an interaction with the BJP? If the liberals do their homework properly, they are free to appropriate him. Tomorrow, if the Congress invites him, I will be happy to go there.’’ When a reporter asked the Nobel laureate if foreign origin was an issue for occupying high offices, his response was: ‘‘It is worth considering this idea. I think Americans have their views’’. The allusion was obviously to the US law barring foreign-born citizens from running for the President’s post. Asked if India is shining, Naipaul responded with a ‘‘yes’’. Sources disclosed that during the closed-door session, Naipaul, after a brief introduction, invited questions from the small gathering. When a columnist sought his views on the re-writing of history books, Naipaul, according to the sources, said: ‘‘History is generally written by victors, not the vanquished. It should be written by independent thinkers’’. When another participant at the meeting asked him about his views on the Babri Masjid demolition, he said: ‘‘I have answered this question several times. I did justify it’’. Ayodhya, he feels, ‘‘is a sort of passion. Any passion is to be encouraged. Passion leads to creativity’’. To a question on post-Ayodhya India, the Nobel laureate parried a straight reply. According to sources, he said, ‘‘It is a short period. I am a slow thinker’’. Among those present at the meeting was Rajya Sabha member L.M. Singhvi. The session was presided over by senior BJP leader J.P. Mathur. The Naipauls were welcomed by Mathur and Law Minister Arun Jaitley who presented bouquets and ‘angvastrams’ to the couple.
