MUMBAI – There seems to be no end to controversies concerning Mohammad AliJinnah After the uproar over his portrait in the AliGargh MuslimUniversity, now objections have been raised by another Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) leader to Jinnah House and Jinnah Hall in Mumbai.
Mumbai BJP MLA Prabhat Lodha has demanded that Jinnah House and Jinnah Hallshould be converted to cultural centres and that Jinnah’s name must beremoved from them. Jinnah House was home of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Mumbaiand the hall was named after the Muslim League leader.
This comes even as AMU students have been agitating for the past few days,demanding action against the right-wing protesters, who entered the campusand demanded the removal of Jinnah’s portrait from the student union’soffice. The row started after local BJP MP Satish Gautam wrote to AMU,raising objections to the portrait.
On Thursday, 28 students and 13 cops were injured in a clash which brokeout between AMU students and the police, forcing the administration to takeseveral preventive measures.
The Muslim Mahasangh in Rampur also later announced a reward of Rs 1 lakhfor burning the photo of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, which triggered a massiveuproar at the AMU.
Blaming Jinnah for having broken the country at the time of partition,Farhat – the national head of All-India Muslim Mahasangh – announced thatthe reward would be given to anyone who burns Jinnah’s photo which createdruckus at AMU.
However, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind on Saturday questioned the rationale behindthe demands to remove the portrait of Pakistan founder from the AMU history.
“What is the rationale behind such a demand after it has been there inpublic view for the past 80 years? Even if someone has such a demand, theycan move courts for the same… Why such a row over it?” its chief MaulanaSyed Jalaluddin Umari asked.
Umari said that it was a small issue that has been blown out of proportion.Siding with the AMU students, Umari said that it has always been a practicein AMU to display portraits of its lifetime members of the students’ unionin the campus.
Responding to it, BJP hit back saying those standing with Jinnah also stoodfor terrorist Afzal Guru. BJP spokesperson Sudanshu Trivedi said that thosewho are standing for Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah also stood forterrorists like Afzal Guru.
Speaking to ANI, Trivedi castigated sympathisers of Jinnah, who wasresponsible for country’s partition.
“People who are standing with Jinnah today, are the same people who stoodwith terrorist like Afzal Guru. It is unfortunate that certain people arestanding by the side of a person who was responsible for the division ofthis country,” Trivedi said.