Kanpur: People who remember Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah are confined to dynastic politics, BJP chief J P Nadda said here on Tuesday in a veiled attack at Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav.
Yadav recently courted controversy when he named Jinnah, along with Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Mahatma Gandhi, saying they had helped India achieve independence and never shied away from any struggle. He had also said the three leaders studied at the same institute for their barristership.
Addressing the BJP’s booth heads of the Kanpur region at the railway ground in Nirala Nagar, Nadda said those who remember Jinnah are confined to dynastic politics.
“They have nothing to do with development. Such people have to be given a reply in the elections by nationalist forces. We all have to remember this,” he said.
Sharpening his attack on opposition parties, Nadda said, “When we used to say ‘Ram Lalla Hum Aayenge, Mandir Wahi Banayenge’, opposition parties used to ask, ‘When will the temple be built, and when will you come?’ They created obstructions and then made fun of us.”
“Today, we say that we have come, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paved the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple. I want to tell the people of opposition parties that now you too come, bow your head and go ahead,” he added.
The BJP chief is on a two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh. He was in Gorakhpur on Monday.
In his address, Nadda also listed the achievements of the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government, and highlighted the work done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Attacking the previous governments in the state, he said, “There was a rule of mafia and ‘gundas’ during the reign of the SP government. But today, none of these can be seen. Now there is the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh.”
Referring to farmers, the BJP chief said, “Politics was done in the name of farmers for a long time, but no welfare was done for them. Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done good for farmers. The Congress talks about waiving loans of the farmers as soon as the election approaches. But when they waive off the loans, it is very miniscule.”
The districts that come in the Kanpur-Bundelkhand region under the BJP’s organisational structure are Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Banda, Chitrakoot, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Auraiya, Fatehpur, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Jalaun and Etawah.
In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the BJP contested on 52 seats, and won 46, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) won one seat from this region.