UP minister reacts to Jinnah jibe, asks for anti-Partition certificate from Cong ally

Days after the Congress said the BJP should name itself the Bharatiya Jinnah Party, an Uttar Pradesh minister has suggested that the opposition party should get its ally Indian Union Muslim League to denounce Pakistan's founder.

After Partition of India, the 'jinn' (genie) of Jinnah emerged as the Muslim League, and the Congress entered into an agreement with the Muslim League, UP's Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said, equating the IUML with the pre-Partition Muslim League.

The Congress should have sought an affidavit from the Muslim League stating that Jinnah was a traitor and was responsible for Partition of India, the BJP leader told PTI.

And those who proclaim themselves as the Indian Muslim League must disown and dissociate themselves from Jinnah. This was the 'jinn' released by Jinnah, which has got stuck with the Congress, he said, referring to its alliance with the IUML in Kerala.

He said the 'jinn' will not leave the Congress until the voters send the party into political exile.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had on Monday dubbed the BJP "Bharatiya Jinnah Party".

This followed the Bharatiya Janata Party's Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabha candidate's claim that Partition could have been avoided had Jawaharlal Nehru allowed Mohammad Ali Jinnah to become the country's first prime minister.

Khera had slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for going to Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh to campaign for BJP candidate Guman Singh Damor.

Earlier, when Congress president Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanad in Kerala, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had called the IUML a virus.

The IUML had strongly objected to this and similar remarks, saying it did not need a certificate about its patriotic credentials from anyone.

Dinesh Sharma also accused Congress leaders of holding a record for taking vacations abroad.

In five years, they undertake foreign tours for 59 months and for one month they treat the elections as a picnic, he charged.

Claiming that the Congress is set to lose these Lok Sabha elections, he suggested that it leaders should book their tickets in advance.