Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday, 4 May, said no one had a place in their heart for “nation’s enemy” Muhammed Ali Jinnah.
“No one has a place in their heart for nation's enemy, never had, and never will have,” Maurya told ANI.
Maurya was responding to BJP leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s statement referring Jinnah as a "mahapurush" (great man), who had worked for the betterment of India before partition.
No one should raise fingers at the ‘great men’ who have worked towards the betterment of the nation. Doing so is a horrible thing to do. Jinnah has contributed towards the development of India before partition.SP Maurya, BJP leader
SP Maurya reportedly praised him when asked about the row sparked by another BJP MP, Satish Gautam, objecting to Jinnah’s portrait being displayed at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The minister told reporters that he had not made any statement, even as Harnath Singh Yadav, a Rajya Sabha member from his own party, targeted him.
“Government minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who had called Muhammad Ali Jinnah – a heinous criminal who trifurcated the country –a great personality, should retract his statement, apologise or be immediately removed from the party,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.
A BJP ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party leader Om Prakash Rajbhar also took a jibe at Maurya, describing him as ‘Jinnah's relative.’
Twenty-eight AMU students and 13 police personnel were injured in a clash which erupted after the students, who were marching to the police station, clashed with Hindu groups protesting outside the university campus on Wednesday, 2 May.
The police reportedly lobbed teargas shells to disperse AMU students who were demanding the arrest of protesters who had earlier barged into the campus shouting slogans.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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