NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW/ ALIGARH
A portrait of founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Students’ Union Office of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has created serious dispute within ruling BJP in the state. While some leaders are questioning the validity of Jinnah Portrait at an Indian Institution, other in party has praised Jinnah as ‘Mahapursh’, (great Leader).
BJP MP from Etah Harnath Singh has demanded ouster of UP Minister Swami Prasad Maurya from cabinet for praising Pakistan’s founding father.
Earlier Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Swami Prasad Maurya slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Aligarh MP, Satish Gautam, for questioning the Aligarh Muslim University for displaying a photograph of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the institute.
“If people raise fingers on ‘mahapurush’ (great men) who have contributed in nation-building, then it’s a matter of shame. Even Jinnah contributed towards nation-building before Partition,” Maurya had said.
Maurya stated that before Pakistan’s formation, Jinnah contributed a great deal for India as well, and that it is a shame for anyone to point fingers at great leaders who have contributed towards the formation of the country.
Taking to Twitter, party colleague and Etah lawmaker Harnath Singh demanded an apology from Maurya, a minister in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet.
देश के तीन टुकड़े करने बाले जघन्य अपराधी मु0 अली जिन्ना को को महापुरुष कहने बाले सरकार के मंत्री #स्वामी_प्रसाद_मोर्य या तो अपना बयान बापिस लें माफी मांगे अन्यथा तत्काल पार्टी से बाहर निकालें@AmitShah@narendramodi@myogiadityanath @DrMNPandeyMP @sunilbansalbjppic.twitter.com/ONNpCjzO3o
— Harnath singh Yadav (@HarnathY) May 2, 2018
Speaking to the media later, Singh said, “The elements at Aligarh Muslim University who have put up the portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah should be crushed.
“I think he is not interested in the BJP anymore. I would like to remind him of the time he ran from pillar to post for a BJP ticket to fight Assembly elections. After being elected as an MLA and then becoming a minister, such kind of statements cannot be justified at any cost,” Singh said.
“Those who are involved in putting up Jinnah’s portrait should be arrested immediately and sent to jail. Also, such people should be charged with sedition,” he added.
AMU spokesperson Shafey Kidwai defended the portrait, that has apparently been hanging there for decades, saying that Jinnah was a founder member of the University Court and granted life membership of the student union.
Traditionally, photographs of all life members are placed on the walls of the student union, he said.
“Jinnah was also accorded life membership of the AMUSU in 1938. He was the founder member of the University Court in 1920 and also a donor,” Kidwai said, adding that he was granted membership before the demand of Pakistan had been raised by the Muslim League,” he said.
He also said that no national leader had raised any objection to the photo even after Independence. These included Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, C Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihar Vajpayee.
Kidwai said that the AMU student union has had a long tradition of granting life membership to prominent people in political, social and educational fields. “Their photographs were a part of the rich heritage of undivided India and no one ever thought of raising this issue before.”
The first recorded life membership by the student union was the one granted to Mahatma Gandhi on October 29, 1920, he added. “This was followed by a long list of luminaries including Rajagopalachari, Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, C. V. Raman and British writer E. M. Forster.”