The courteous scholar-politician who was often out of sync with his party

Jaswant Singh died after a cardiac arrest at the Army Hospital. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra/File)

Jaswant Singh, 82, was always somewhat of a misfit in the BJP, a party he helped found in 1980, and which he ably represented as a nine-time parliamentarian and Minister with key portfolios in the Vajpayee years between 1998 and 2004.

But the former Army Major with his liberalism, courteous old world military mannerisms, his interest in books and scholarship, and his outspokenness, was often out of sync with many in his party – the reason he was twice expelled from the BJP.

At the time of his death, Singh was no longer in the party, but…