UP Deputy CM calls Jinnah an enemy of India

A day after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath refused to pay respects to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, termed him as an 'enemy of the nation'.

Speaking at Kanpur, Maurya added fuel to fire to the ongoing controversy of Jinnah's portrait at the Aligarh Muslim Students' Union Hall. "Jinnah was an enemy of the country. No one in the country will ever have any place for an enemy of the nation in their hearts," said the UP Deputy Chief Minister.

Adityanth had said on Thursday that there was no question of paying any respects to Jinnah, who was responsible for the partition of India.

The Jinnah portrait row was triggered when the BJP MP from Aligarh shot off a letter to the AMU Vice-Chancellor demanding the removal of the portrait from the university campus.

On Wednesday, activists of Hindu outfits such as the Hindu Jagran Manch, ABVP and Hindu Vahini allegedly barged into the AMU campus, leading to a clash with university students just an hour after the arrival of the former Vice-President Hamid Ali Ansari.

Following the violence, police lathicharge and firing of tear-gas shells, the university administration had to cancel an event in the evening to confer life membership to Hamid Ansari.

The Hindu outfit activists have given an ultimatum to the AMU authorities to remove the Jinnah portrait, failing which they will barge into the campus to remove it.