Adding to the row on a remark by Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday said there would have been no Partition had Mohammad Ali Jinnah been made the first prime minister.
“Had Jinnah been made the first prime minister, the partition of the country would not have happened,” Akhilesh Yadav’s poll ally Om Prakash Rajbhar said in Varanasi.
Equating Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatama Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru while lavishing praise on Sardar Vallabhai Patel on his 146th birth anniversary on October 31, Akhilesh Yadav had recently triggered criticism from BJP leaders, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped (India) get freedom and never backed away from any struggle,” he had said while addressing a public meeting in Hardoi.
Akhilesh Yadav had also referred to the ban imposed on the RSS by Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the then home minister, following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, saying only he could do it.
Reacting to Akhilesh Yadav’s statement on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi had said Jinnah was considered a villain in the country and those who are trying to use his name will not get any benefit.
On BJP leaders’ criticism of Yadav’s remark on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Om Prakash Rajbhar suggested that former Prime former Deputy PM LK Advani too had similar views about Jinnah.
“Read Advani ji’s views, read Atal ji’s views, read the views of country’s other well-wishers on the prospect of Jinnah having been made the PM. Why did they praise him?”
