Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday attacked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav for "comparing" Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, saying Talibani mentality believed in breaking the society.
Yadav on Sunday spoke of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah in the same breath as leaders who fought for India's independence, prompting a criticism from the BJP.
"I was listening to Akhilesh ji's statement yesterday. He was comparing Jinnah, who divided the country, with Sardar Patel, who brought the nation together. This is a shameful statement," Adityanath said in a programme in Moradabad.
He said "Talibani mentality" believes in breaking the society. "Sometimes it is in the name of caste... When they are not succeeding, they are raising fingers at 'mahapurush' (great personalities) and insulting the entire society," he said.
The chief minister said this cannot be accepted and everyone should condemn it.
"Yadav should regret his statement as insulting Sardar Patel will not be accepted," he added.
"Sardar Patel is the basis of India's unity and integrity, and also is the nation's architect," he said, adding that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the belief of 'ek Bharat, shresth Bharat' is being taken forward.
“The credit of keeping free India 'undivided' goes to Sardar Patel,” Adityanath said.
“The divisive mentality of glorifying Jinnah by comparing him with Sardar Patel is back in light,” the chief minister said.
"I think the people of the country, especially those from Uttar Pradesh, will never accept this divisive mentality," he added.
The BSP hit out at Yadav on Monday for speaking of the four leaders in the same breath and alleged that there is a "collusion" between the SP and the BJP.
In a tweet in Hindi, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati alleged that Yadav's remarks on Jinnah and the BJP's response to it are part of a well-thought-out strategy of the two parties to vitiate the atmosphere on Hindu-Muslim lines ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also criticised Yadav's remarks, saying that Muslims who stayed in india had rejected Jinnah's two-nation theory and the SP leader should instead talk about the present.
The SP president, in his address at an event in Hardoi on Sunday, had lavished praise on Patel on his 146th birth anniversary but raised eyebrows at one point when he appeared to equate the four leaders, including Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.
The SP leader had said, "Sardar Patel understood the ground and he made decisions accordingly. Hence, he is also known as Iron Man."
"Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped (India) get freedom and never backed away from any struggle," Yadav had said.
He had also referred to the ban imposed on the RSS by Patel, the then home minister, following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948, saying only he could do it.
