Unknown people install Gudi at Jinnah House

Mumbai: On Tuesday, some unidentified persons hoisted a Gudi at the gate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s bungalow, called Jinnah

House, in Malabar Hill. On Saturday, BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha had raised the issue of demolishing the bungalow and building a cultural centre.

According to buzz in  social media, some unidentified people had put up a Gudi on the gate of Jinnah House on Tuesday morning. This comes just days after the BJP MLA said, “Before Independence, a conspiracy was hatched to divide the country into three pieces in Jinnah House. As per the Enemy Property Act, it has become the government’s property. There is no other option but to demolish it. The Jinnah House is being looked after by the Public Works Department (PWD) and lakhs of rupees are spent every year for maintenance.”

Last year in January, Mr Lodha had given a memorandum to then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, demanding that the Jinnah House should be converted into the “Shahid Smarak” in Mumbai. Mr Lodha has proposed that one of the Pakistani tanks confiscated by the Indian forces in 1965

should be stationed at the war memorial as the symbol of the bravery of India’s defence personnel. He has also suggested that a T55 tank, which played a major role in the 1971 Bangladesh war, should be displayed at Jinnah house.

When asked whether he knew the people who had gone ahead and put up a Gudi at Jinnah House, Mr Lodha said he did not know them.

“This is Maharashtra’s biggest festival, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong in putting a Gudi. Believe me, people are praising me, for the move, but I don’t know what the issue is.”

Mr Lodah claimed that Jinnah House has been named as a cultural centre, by the central government. He claimed that his only demand is that the authority of Jinnah House be given to Maharashtra government so that a cultural centre comes up in its place.

Jinnah stayed in the house till partition in 1947, after which he moved to Karachi in Pakistan. The sprawling mansion, opposite Maharashtra chief minister’s official bungalow, has been lying vacant for a long time. In 1949, the government of India notified Jinnah House as evacuee property.