UP assembly elections 2022: BJP invokes Kairana exodus, calls SP candidate Jinnah-wadi

LUCKNOW: Twenty-four hours before the first phase of polling in UP, BJP launched a blistering attack on the Samajwadi Party by comparing its Kairana candidate, Nahid Hasan, with Muslim League leader and Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, setting a spiralling narrative before voters go to the booth in Kairana along with 57 constituencies in West UP.
The party on Wednesday morning tweeted an undated video of Nahid, who is seen appealing to people not to buy anything from “BJP-wale log” (supporters of BJP) in Kairana and neighbouring areas.

“This shows they are Jinnahwadi,” a voiceover rolled in, labelling Hasan as a “Hindu Virodhi Gangster”, who forced Hindu families to migrate from Kairana before 2017 elections.
“Nahid Hasan ko ticket dekar Akhilesh Yadav ne dikha diya hai woh Jinnah ke sacchey bhakt hain,” the over one-minute video said.
The fresh attack left the SP hot under the collars. “This is nothing, but an attempt to polarize polls. BJP has nothing to show on the development front, which is why they are using such means. Such attempts will not be successful,” said SP national spokesperson, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi.
Poll watchers noted how BJP sought to hark back to its 2017 poll script in which Hindu exodus from Kairana figured prominently.
The saffron outfit upped the ante after SP announced its alliance with Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, which has been zealously working to regain political ground, especially among Jats who had acrimonious ties with the Muslims after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.