GUNTUR/VIJAYAWADA: After BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar tweeted objecting to a tower named after Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Guntur city, the issue has snowballed into a controversy with the party leaders demanding that the government rename it.
“This tower is named after Jinnah & area as Jinnah Centre. The irony, it’s not in Pakistan but in Guntur city of Andhra Pradesh. A centre that still carries the name of a traitor of India. Why shouldn’t it be named after Dr. Kalam or son of the soil, a great Dalit poet, Gurram Jashuva? Just an idea! [sic],” he tweeted.
Shortly after, it was picked up by his fellow partymen who addressed the media and demanded that the government rename the tower or else brace for an agitation.
BJP state president Somu Veerraju and general secretary Vishnuvardhan asked the government to rename the monument. Vishnuvardhan Reddy said the Aurangabad Road in the national capital, Delhi, had already been renamed and it was not a big deal if the state government renames the Jinnah tower. He went to the extent of threatening to destroy the monument if it is not renamed.
According to historians, the tower was built between 1942 and 1945 in honour of the Muslim League leader. It is also said that Jinnah helped Lal Jan Basha in reducing the life sentence of 14 freedom fighters of Komerapudi village to general imprisonment. Thankful for his help, Basha invited Jinnah to Guntur and organised a meeting in his honour. But unfortunately, Jinnah couldn’t attend the meeting, and instead, Judaliyaquat Ali Khan, one of his representatives, attended it.
To mark the occasion, the tower was constructed by Basha, the grandfather of former MP from Telugu Desam Party Lal Jan Basha.
Another narrative says that two municipal chairpersons, Nadimpalli Narasimha Rao and Telakulla Jalayya, were responsible, during their respective terms, for the construction of the tower to symbolise peace and harmony.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders handed over a petition to GMC commissioner Ch Anuradha to rename the Jinnah Tower as Abdul Kalam Tower.
Meanwhile, YSRC MLC Lella Appi Reddy lambasted the BJP for resorting to such a low for its political survival. He demanded to know how come the saffron party found the issue only now.
“Jinna Tower was constructed before the Independence and it is symbolic of the freedom struggle... Threatening to destroy it is nothing but creating trouble for people,” he said.
He pointed out that in the past BJP veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani, during his visit to Pakistan, described Jinna as a freedom fighter and secularist.