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LUCKNOW: BJP leadership in Uttar Pradesh has taken unkindly to the parallels drawn between Sardar VallabhBhai Patel — his contribution to India’s freedom struggle led saffron party to set up statue in his home state Gujarat— and Mohammad Ali Jinnah by Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav during an address in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi.
“One man (Jinnah) was responsible for breaking India into halves, while other man (Sardar) was responsible for unifying India. Akhilesh Yadav should rename his party to Namazwadi (that conducts prayers in Islam) party for his allegiance to the man behind the creation of Pakistan,” said UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Poll Planks: Day After Shah’s Swipe On No-Honour For Krishna, Ram & Buddha, SP Inducts Muslim Faces From BSP
His remarks came a day after Akhilesh equated Patel’s contribution with Jinnah by suggesting that carried same academic credentials as both graduated from the same institution and led the “same freedom struggle”.
“Sardar Patelji, the nation’s father Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah became barristers after studying at the same institute. They studied at the same place. They became barristers, got us Independence. They did not step back from any kind of struggle,” Akhilesh had said while marking the second phase of Samajwadi Vijay Rath yatra.
Akhilesh’s remark has invoked sharp criticism from a number of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal said Akhilesh was only further fomenting the anti-Hindu temperament as his father had sought action against Ram devotees in 1990. ALSO READ: From Mughal Rule To 2017, UP Wasn’t Told It’s Land Of Baba Vishwanath, Ram & Krishna: Shah Tells Parivar Meet On 2022 Polls
“My appeal to Akhilesh ji is that he must study history. Jinnah has been accused of carnage of Hindus during the Partition. He must not forget that a day before Patel’s birthday, his father on October 30 in 1990 had ordered firing on Ram Sevaks who were on their way to wrest control of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple,” said Lal.
India celebrated Patel’s 145th birth anniversary that is also marked as National Unity Day.
BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav’s father, will also regret after hearing what his son has said.
“The country considers Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the villain of the Partition. Calling Jinnah the hero of freedom is the politics of Muslim appeasement,” he said.
On Friday, union home minister and former BJP national president Amit Shah had launched a blistering attack against Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party saying the rules of the previous regimes in the state were similar to the rule of the Mughals as the people of the state were not aware that Uttar Pradesh was the land of Rama, Krishna, Shiva and Buddha.
“Ever since Mughal rule, this state was never made to realise that it belongs to Baba Vishwanath, Lord Rama, Lord Krishna and Lord Buddha. The focus of previous governments was somewhere else and their spending elsewhere. Both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party finished the identity of UP to suit their vote bank somewhere else,” Shah said
