Gorakhpur MP Praveen Nishad

Aligarh: Even as tensions continue to simmer at the Aligarh Muslim University over the row over the portrait of Pakistani leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the university campus, Samajwadi Party MP from Gorakhpur, Praveen Nishad, triggered a fresh controversy on Friday after he compared Jinnah’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle to that of Mahatma Gandhi, and called the whole issue “unnecessary”.

Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party over playing politics over the issue, Nishad said, “BJP is playing a dirty game over Jinnah’s name, which is highly condemnable. Nehru and Gandhi contributed to the nation’s freedom but it can’t be denied that Jinnah contributed equally to our independence,” the Times of India reported. He further said,”Jinnah contributed in India's freedom, whether it was Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi Ji or Veer Savarkar, people from all religions & communities played a role,” as per news agency ANI.

Nishad also condemned the police lathicharge on the students who are staging a sit-in at the Baab-e-Syed gate in the university, demanding judicial enquiry against members of right-wing outfits who allegedly barged into the campus and clashed with them on Wednesday. The right-wing groups’ members purportedly wanted Jinnah’s portrait removed from the student union office, where it has been hanging for decades. Around 3,000 students, from Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Allahabad University, have joined the protests, DNA reported.

The issue is unnecessary, I condemn baton-charge on students. Jinnah contributed in India's freedom, whether it was Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi Ji or Veer Savarakar, people from all religions & communities played a role: Praveen Nishad, SP MP from Gorakhpur on Jinnah's portrait at AMU pic.twitter.com/mBRt5whnuI — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 5, 2018

Meanwhile, internet services were suspended on the AMU campus on Friday, to prevent “rumour mongering”, university authorities said. “There will be no internet services from 2 pm on Friday to 12 midnight on Saturday,” district magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh told PTI.

Controversy erupted after local BJP MP Satish Gautam wrote to AMU raising objections to the portrait present at the campus. However, the University stated that portraits of all life members of the student union are displayed in the campus, and Jinnah, who was a founder member of the university court, was given this honour before the Partition, PTI reported.

