Days after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav glorified Muhammad Ali Jinnah by comparing him with Gandhi, Nehru and Patel, now his alliance partner has praised the father of Pakistan. Om Prakash Rajbhar, the chief of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, on Wednesday said that partition of India could have been prevented if Jinnah was allowed to become the first prime minister of the country.
While talking to reporters in Varansi, Om Prakash Rajbhar said, “Had Jinnah been made the first prime minister, the partition of the country would not have happened.”
Rajbhar also defended Akhilesh Yadav glorifying Jinnah in a rally a few days ago, saying that many other leaders have praised the founder of Pakistan. Reacting to questions from reporters over Yadav’s comments, he said, “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?”
He was apparently referring to LK Advani calling Jinnah secular, which was later supported by Atal Bihari Vajpayee
The SP alliance leader accused the journalists of speaking the language of BJP and speaking against Muslims for asking him questions on Jinnah. He asked why the reporters are asking questions on Jinnah instead of asking on price rise, hatred etc.
Rajbhar’s comments on Jinnah comes days after Akhilesh Yadav had created a controversy by glorifying Muhammad Ali Jinnah while addressing a party rally in Hardoi on October 31. On the pretext of remembering Sardar Patel, Akhilesh Yadav had said, ‘Sardar Patel used to know the land, Sardar Patel took decisions holding the land, he used to understand the land so he made his decisions and that is why he is known as the Iron man Of India. Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah, they all came out of the same institution. They all studied at the same institute, they became barristers and gave freedom.’
Samajwadi Party and its allies using the name of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at this time creates suspicion that they are doing this to target Muslim votes in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly elections.
BJP leaders had slammed Yadav for his comments over Jinnah. In the meanwhile, a case has been filed against Akhilesh Yadav for praising Jinnah on the orders of a court in Bareilly. The court issued the order to register a case against the SP chief on a complaint filed by advocate Virendra Gupta. Gupta had filed a complaint with police, but after the police refused to register the case, he had approached the court. Taking cognizance of the same, the ACJM court ordered the police to register a case against Akhilesh Yadav.