Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swaroop Shukla on Saturday, reacting to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s remark earlier comparing Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, and Patel to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, suggested that the SP leader should get a narcotic test done for glorifying Jinnah.
During a public meeting in Hardoi on October 31, Yadav put together names of Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters with Jinnah’s.
“SP chief Akhilesh Yadav making a statement on Muhammad Ali Jinnah is not a common incident… Jinnah is responsible for the division of the country. Jinnah is a villain, who no Indian would like to see or listen to. Akhilesh Yadav must clarify as to under which pressure, greed, is he glorifying Jinnah?” Shukla told reporters on Saturday.
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“I want that Akhilesh Yadav to himself come forward, and get his narco test done,” Shukla said. He further said that those heaping praises on Jinnah, should go to Pakistan. “Those raising ‘zindabad’ slogans in praise of Jinnah, having thoughts and feelings of Jinnah in their mind, have no place in India. They themselves should go to Pakistan,” Shukla, a BJP leader, said on Saturday. His statement in response to Yadav’s remarks on October 31.
The sensational claim by Shukla triggered outrage among SP workers as they staged a protest at the District Collectorate building, demanding the registration of a case against the minister. SP district unit chief Raj Mangal Yadav said that the minister will not be allowed to enter Ballia if the administration doesn’t take action against him.
The BJP is yet to react to the statement made by the UP minister.
(With PTI inputs)
