India's BJP urges converting historic Jinnah House into cultural centre

MUMBAI: The Mumbai unit of India's Bharatiya Janata Party is urging Union Home Minister Amit Shah to convert the historic Jinnah House in Mumbai to a cultural centre, The Stateman reported Wednesday.

The report, citing a BJP leader, said that the party wants to convert the Jinnah House into the South Asia Centre for Arts & Culture (SACAC).

“I met Amit Shah ji and requested him to convert the Jinnah House into a SACAC, as was decided in 2017, and there is a board put up there to this effect,” said BJP city chief  M P Lodha.

The request was made after the Centre had announced that it would auction more than 9,000 evacuee properties left behind by people who went to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. 

It should be noted that the Jinnah House was handed over to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) a few years ago, per the report.

Located at Mumbai's Malabar Hill, the Jinnah House was the residence of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. Per the report, the Jinnah House was stamped as an ‘Evacuee Property’ and was leased out to the British Deputy High Commissioner between 1955-1982.