Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Uttar Pradesh minister S.P. Maurya said on Tuesday that the contribution of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah before partition cannot be ignored.
Talking to media, Maurya said, "Jin maha-purushon ke yogdaan is rashtra ke nirmaan mein raha hai, yadi unn par koi ungli uthaata hai to ye ghatia baat hai. Desh ke batwaare se pehle Jinnah ka yogdaan bhi iss desh mein tha (It is bad that fingers are being raised on people who have contributed to nation's development. Before the partition, even Jinnah had contributed to the nation)."
Maurya's view is in stark contrast to his fellow party man and MP Satish Gautam, who had sought an explanation from Aligarh Muslim University's Vice-Chancellor over a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the Students' Union Office of the AMU.
"I have heard a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah is hung inside the campus. Kindly gather more details on this and give reasons behind it," the Aligarh MP wrote in a letter to AMU Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor.
"The whole world knows that Jinnah was the main force behind the partition of India. In this case, how logical is it to hang his portrait in the University?" the letter further reads.
Shafey Kidwai, PRO Aligarh, however, clarified that the administration had nothing to do with the portrait.
Kidwai told ANI, "In 1938, Muhammad Ali Jinnah came to Aligarh University and he was given an honorary degree like many others by the union. The administration had nothing to do with it.