Akhilesh Yadav stoked a major controversy while campaigning for the UP-Assembly elections when he claimed that Muhammad Ali Jinnah helped India achieve independence.

The Minister, at a public rally in Hardoi on October 31, mentioned Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah as barristers who studied in the UK. He argued that they all fought for an independent India on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav remarked, "Sardar Patel Ji, father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became a barrister. They studied at the same place. They became barristers. They fought for India's freedom. They didn't refrain from taking part in any kind of struggle. It was Iron Man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who imposed a ban on an ideology (RSS)."

As a response, Swatantra Dev Singh, president of the UP BJP, questioned Yadav on why he had praised Jinnah, who was responsible for the creation of Pakistan on religious grounds. Sambit Patra, BJP spokesperson, accused SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav of appeasement politics.

Yadav's comment comes just days after UP CM Yogi Adityanath warned that those who celebrated Pakistan's victory over India in the T20 Cricket World Cup would be charged with sedition.

During the 2017 state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, BSP only won 19 votes while the SP-Congress alliance managed to win 54 of the 270 constituencies. BJP had not declared a candidate for the post of Chief Minister and Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise choice. Although some BJP leaders gave conflicting statements regarding Adityanath's future as Chief Minister, PM Modi put an end to all speculations and lauded UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

According to Akhilesh Yadav, forming an alliance with Congress and BSP is not feasible, but a reorganization of the election with his uncle Shivpal Yadav has not been ruled out. So far, SP has formed alliances with Mahan Dal and Rashtriya Lok Dal. On October 31, he expressed confidence that SP would win 400 seats in the UP polls.

Responding to BJP's charge that SP indulges in appeasement politics and dynastic politics, Akhilesh Yadav opined, "It (BJP) is the biggest casteist party. They don't look in the mirror. When they accused others of family politics, don't they check themselves? Don't they have members from the same family in the party"?

Image source: India.com