Several BJP leaders, including its national secretary Sunil Deodhar and workers have been detained by the Andhra Police over protest demanding to rename Jinnah Tower after former president APJ Abdul Kalaam.

After the party’s youth wing BJYM’s meeting, the BJP leaders and workers, who have been demanding to rename historic Jinnah Tower for the past few months, tried to take out a protest march to Jinnah Tower on Tuesday but the police stopped them and taken into custody.

The police, however, have detained the BJP workers and leaders including national secretaries Sunil Deodhar and Satya Kumar.

The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government has not paid any attention to the Andhra BJP leaders and worker’s demand to rename Jinnah Tower as APJ Abdul Kalaam Tower.

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BJP Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao condemned the behaviour of the police against his party leaders and their detention. In a tweet, he asked wondered if we are in Andhra Pradesh or Pakistan.

Not only their party but also the people demanded that the tower be renamed, state BJP president Somu Veerraju said. He also said that there was widespread support for the demand to remove Jinnah’s name and the tower be renamed after former APJ Abdul Kalam.

The state government cannot adopt an oppressive stance over our demand, Veerraju said.

Earlier in February, the tower was coloured in Indian tricolour which was unfurled after a month-long showdown between the BJP and the ruling YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh.

Jinnah Tower is a pre-independence era landmark monument in Guntur located at Mahatma Gandhi Road in the city. It was built in 1940 remembering the visit of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

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The Jinnah Tower in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur is constantly being part of controversies. Earlier, its name created some controversy. Now, it has been painted in tricolour and it was arranged to hoist the national flag near it. This caused some disagreements among the mass. Mohammed Musthafa, MLA from Guntur East said that in order to hoist the national flag near the tower, a pole will also be constructed.

Mohammad Musthafa said that it was decided after various groups requested to paint the Jinnah Tower in tricolour and to construct a pole to hoist the national flag near the tower. He also added that necessary arrangements will be made to hoist the national flag on Thursday, February 3, 2022.

Instead of inciting communal clashes, BJP leaders should assist those in need during the Covid-19 outbreak, according to Mohammed Musthafa. This remark was in relation to the events of January 26, 2022, when a group of people stormed into the Jinnah Tower with an aim to unfurl the tricolour. All those who were a part of the incident were detained.

On his visit to the tower to follow up on the security arrangements on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, he shared the reason behind it. He said that the Muslim elder leaders fought against the Britishers during the freedom struggle. However, after independence, many such leaders left the country to settle in Pakistan. It was the people who stayed in India that wanted to continue in their own country as they love their motherland. He was also joined by Kavati Manohar Naidu, the GMC Mayor. Musthafa further criticised the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for invoking the Jinnah tower issue in January.

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In December of 2021, the BJP’s Andhra Pradesh division sent a memo to Guntur Municipal Corporation Commissioner Challa Anuradha seeking that Jinnah Tower is renamed after former President Abdul Kalam.

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