BJP demands changing name of Guntur\'s Jinnah Tower Centre, brands him traitor

Vijayawada: The state BJP on Thursday demanded that the name of the Jinnah Tower Centre, after Mohammed Ali Jinnah, in Guntur, be changed forthwith, while branding him a traitor.

State president Somu Veerraju said that the names of traitors such as Jinnah and others should be removed from any place in the country at a time when the country was getting ready to celebrate 'Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav' to commemorate the completion of 75 years of Independence.

He wondered what kind of messages would be sent to the young generation to instil patriotism and the spirit of freedom by naming, places, centres and towers after traitors and ignoring the need to name these places after Abdul Kalam or any other prominent personalities in the district.

BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao tweeted that their demand to remove anti-India remnants would be welcomed by the people of the state. He stated that he recently met with Guntur Collector Vivek Yadav and advised him to change the name of the Jinnah Tower Centre and rechristen it after the name of a freedom fighter, and that either the municipal corporation or the state government would have to take a decision accordingly.

AP BJP general secretary S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy ruled out any controversy in the remarks made by party national secretary Satya Kumar and warned that if the name to the centre was not changed, they would change the name. He stated that they had renamed Aurangzeb Road in the national capital after Abdul Kalam and sounded confident that they could do the same for the Guntur centre also.