The Guntur Municipal Corporation has painted the Jinnah Tower in the colours of the national flag.
The move comes in the backdrop of demands by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the State to either rename the structure or ‘allow the party workers to demolish it’. Stoutly opposing the demands, the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) reiterated that the structure was a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity and that it would continue to stand the way it has over the past few decades.
Aftererecting an iron fencing around the tower. GMC Mayor Kavati Manohar Naidu said that Jinnah Tower has been painted in the colours of the national flag.
“Guntur town is an enduring symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity and no force can disrupt this secular tradition in the town. Jinnah Tower is among the enduring symbols of the freedom movement and so we decided to paint the towerin thetricolour,” said Mr. Naidu.
Mr. Naidu also said that theGMC hadrejected a resolution back in 1966 demanding that the tower be renamed as Hamid Minar.
“The GMC had rejected a similar demand made in 1966 and all members cutting across party lines said that there was no need to do so. The BJP seems to have no other issue except to cling on to communal issues. The communal forces have never had a footing in the State,” Mr. Manohar Naidu said.
