Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Savirtri Bai Phule on Friday hailed Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and called him a  “mahapurush (great man)”.

As per media reports, the BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, Phule said Jinnah contributed immensely to freedom struggles in India.  He was a great man. He was, is and shall always remain a great person.

All those who sacrificed for the nation’s independence must be respected, irrespective of their caste and religion, she asserted.

As per NDTV new report, Phule said that Jinnah’s portrait features on the walls of Lok Sabha and should be remembered respectfully, while adding that portraits of great people should be placed at appropriate locations.

Her comments have come in the wake of a Jinnah portrait row raging in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

The portrait row started after BJP MP Satish Gautam wrote to AMU Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor raising objections to the portrait of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah at AMU’s students’ union office.

AMU has been tense ever since members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Hindu Yuva Vahini, while demanding removal of Jinnah’s portrait, entered the campus and assaulted students who were opposing them.

On 3 May, clash took place when the students were demanding action against right-wing protesters who had entered the AMU campus and assaulted the students. In the clash, 28 students and 13 police personnel were injured.

The university has also decided to reschedule examinations, which were earlier supposed to begin on 12 May, in view of the prevailing tension on the campus.

On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Swami Prasad Maurya too had called Jinnah a mahapurush (great man). Maurya had said that it is shameful for anyone to point a finger on great leaders who contributed towards formation of the country.

However, this is not the first time Saviti Bai Phule has raised her voice against her party’s diktat.

Last week, she slammed the BJP leaders, who visited a house of Dalit family in Aligarh district and called there approach an insult to the community. She had said that going to a Dalit house for a photo-op and eating lavish food is not enough.

She was referring to Minister Suresh Rana’s visit to a Dalit home, where he had reached uninvited with party supporters. During his unplanned visit to the house under Dalit outreach programme , Rana had allegedly ordered the food and cutlery from outside for a meal for him and his supporters. However he has denied the allegations.