Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda on Sunday tore into Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh in the run up to next year’s high-octane Assembly elections, accusing them of “Jinnah” sympathisers.

Addressing a gathering of sugarcane farmers, Nadda said “Jinnah is theirs and ‘ganna’ is ours”.

His statements come more than a month after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav triggered a controversy where he took reference of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in one of his speeches, along with Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi.

“Hum ‘ganna’ ki baat karte hain, woh ‘Jinnah’ ki baat karte hain. I feel bad to say that there are political parties in the country who compare the great Sardar Patel with Jinnah. Sugarcane is ours and Jinnah is theirs. We will win by contesting on sugarcane and expose their Jinnah mentality,” Nadda said.

The BJP chief said that the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state has made record payments to sugarcane farmers in the past 5 years, adding that Rs 1.41 lakh crore have been paid to farmers, including the dues of previous governments.

He claimed that nearly 20 sugar mills were shut down during Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party regime, while 11 others ceased operations under Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party government.

“We are worshippers of democracy, they (SP) are of riots. Soon, your ‘lal topi’ (red cap) will turn saffron,” Nadda said.

He said that the Swaminathan Commission had recommended that farmers must get 1.5 times their production cost but the previous Congress government at the Centre didn’t do it.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave it to farmers,” Nadda claimed.