After Jinnah portrait, now BJP is after Jinnah House which reminds them of partition of India

NEW DELHI – BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha recently wrote to VinaySahasrabuddhe, President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relationsdemanding to acquire the controversial Jinnah House property and convert itinto a cultural centre.

BJP MLA Lodha said that Barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah had used the house todivide India into three parts — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Earliercalled East Pakistan). “Jinnah House falls in my Malabar Hill constituency.Sour memories of partition are attached with the Jinnah House which wasused to hatch the conspiracy of dividing India into three parts,” saidLodha. The copy of the letter is with DNA.

Lodha, in his letter, has also stated that as per the amendment in theEnemy Property Act in 2017, people who left India, leaving property behindcannot have it transferred in the name of their heirs in India. “But itwill be owned by the Indian government. The central government isauctioning such acquired 9,280 enemy properties. The government shoulddeclare Jinnah House as the ‘South Asia Centre for Art and Culture’,”states Lodha.

Lodha further said that the government should immediately initiate theprocess of acquiring this controversial House.

NCP vice president Nawab Malik supported Lodha’s demand on Thursday. “TheBJP government is in power in the state and at the center so they shouldnot waste more time over arguments and letter writing. Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis should start the process. I will felicitate the CM if hedoes this. However, the BJP is more interested in raking issues and notresolving them,” said Malik.

However, sources in the government said that it is very difficult toacquire and get the ownership of the Jinnah House.

“The reason this is a private property is that Jinnah’s heirs still stay inIndia so they have full claim over the property. And the Enemy Property Actcame in 1953 and the country was divided much before that so Jinnah’sheir’s do have a right to the house. Therefore, in court the, governmenthas not yet won the case,” said senior government official requestinganonymity.