Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swaroop Shukla on Saturday suggested a narco test for Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for glorifying Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The former UP chief minister has been under fire for using Jinnah’s name along with Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters during a public meeting in Hardoi last week.
“Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped (India) get freedom and never backed away from any struggle,” Yadav had said.
Shukla said that Jinnah was responsible for India’s partition, claiming that no Indian would like to see or listen to him. The UP minister said that Yadav’s remark on Jinnah is not a “common incident” and the Samajwadi leader “must clarify as to under which pressure, greed, is he glorifying” Pakistan’s first governor-general.
“I want that Akhilesh Yadav to himself come forward, and get his narco test done,” Shukla said, adding that those heaping praises on Jinnah should go to Pakistan.
Shukla’s narco test suggestion comes days after he alleged that the former UP chief minister is getting economic support from Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has become a challenge for the Islamic world. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is getting all support from them. Akhilesh is getting ‘sanrakshan aur sujhav‘ (patronage and advice) from the ISI. It is possible that he might also be getting economic support from it,” Shukla said on Tuesday.
The sensational claim by Shukla triggered outrage among SP workers as they staged a protest at the District Collectorate building, demanding the registration of a case against the minister. SP district unit chief Raj Mangal Yadav said that the minister will not be allowed to enter Ballia if the administration doesn’t take action against him.
The BJP is yet to react to the statement made by the UP minister.