Lok Sabha election results 2019: UP’s BJP, SP winners rake up Jinnah, Vande Mataram issue
Gautam, who has won a consecutive term from Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency, said, “Among my priorities is to send the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah which is locked inside a room in AMU to Pakistan.”
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept Uttar Pradesh winning 62 seats, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) won five out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, two newly-elected candidates triggered a row on Friday with Bharatiya Janata Party’s Satish Gautam saying he would soon “send the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Aligarh Muslim University to Pakistan” and SP’s Shafiqur Rehman Barq refusing to sing Vande Mataram when he takes oath in the Parliament.
Gautam, who has won a consecutive term from Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency, said, “Among my priorities is to send the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah which is locked inside a room in AMU to Pakistan.”
“The right place for Jinnah’s portrait is not at AMU, but in Pakistan. There is no change in our stand.” A freedom fighter, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is one of founders of the state of Pakistan.
On April 18, Gautam raised the issue of the portrait, which hangs inside the AMU’s Students Union Office, after casting his vote. During his term as a parliamentarian, he had written to the university’s vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor seeking an explanation.
The university, however, said the portrait has been up for several decades as Jinnah was a donor, a founder member of the University Court and had been granted life membership of the student union.
Gautam has also supported a demand from a section of students over constructing a temple inside the campus.
Gautam defeated BSP’s Ajeet Baliyan. The BSP and SP were in an alliance in the state, and together won 15 seats.
Barq, who won the Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency on Samajwadi ticket, said: “I am a ‘desh bhakt’ (patriot) and have always worked for the well-being of my country and its people. I am firm on my stand that I will not sing ‘Vande Matram’ even in parliament.”
He added that it was wrong to assume that only those who sing Vande Matram are patriots.
Earlier in 2013, Barq, who was then a BSP member of parliament, had courted controversy when he walked out of parliament at the time of singing of Vande Matram, facing criticism from all quarters.
Barq defeated Parmeshwar Lal Saini of the BJP.