Bareilly (UP), Nov 10 (PTI) A lawyer here has moved a court seeking registration of a criminal case against Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for allegedly undermining the communal harmony by equating Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah with India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

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In his complaint to the court of the Bareilly additional chief judicial magistrate, advocate Virendra Pal Gupta also demanded Yadav's prosecution on charges of defaming people like him following the nationalistic ideals of India's Iron Man by equating him with Jinnah.

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The court has fixed December 2 for a hearing in the matter.

In the complaint filed on Tuesday, Gupta said he is a patriotic citizen and has respect for the national heroes who played a role in Indian independence.

It has been said in the complaint that Jinnah was never an active character of the national movement even though he was briefly in the Congress.

Talking to newspersons on Wednesday, Gupta said Jinnah had left the Congress and joined the Muslim League in 1913 and raised the demand for a separate Pakistan for Muslims.

Yadav's statement comparing Sardar Patel to Jinnah is aimed at doing the vote bank and appeasement politics and is defamatory and an insult to nationalism.

This statement may disturb the harmony between different castes and communities. This statement is made for political gain only, Gupta said.

On October 31, Yadav had said, "Sardar Patel, 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."

Speaking about Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the same breath as leaders who fought for India's independence, Yadav had raised many eyebrows and had come in for severe attack by the ruling BJP.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)