Convert Jinnah House into South Asia Centre for Arts and Culture: Maharashtra BJP

In a significant development, Mumbai BJP President Mangalprabhat Lodha called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded that the Jinnah House in Mumbai be converted into South Asia Centre for Arts and Culture.

The historic Jinnah House in Malabar Hill was once the bungalow of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the barrister-politician, who founded Pakistan and became its first Governor-General.

Lodha, a five-time BJP MLA from the Malabar Hill seat, has been pursuing the issue for the last several issues.

It may be mentioned that the Centre had handed it over to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

Jinnah House carries a very simple postal address — No 2, Bhausaheb Hirey Marg, Malabar Hill, Mumbai, 400026 and is situated opposite Varsha, the official residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister and the palatial style bungalow is surrounded by ministerial houses.

Earlier Bhausaheb Hirey Marg used to be known as Mount Pleasant Road.

Believed to have been built under the supervision of Barrister Jinnah, who was then a practising advocate at the Bombay Presidency High Court, the mansion has a built-up area of 1,694 sq metres and a garden spread over 4,358 sq metres. The mansion was designed by famous British architect Claude Barley. The mansion came into existence in 1938 and was then built at a cost of nearly Rs 2 lakh.

An intangible pre-Independence charm pervades the majestic structure. The momentous Gandhi-Jinnah talks were held here and a host of nationalist leaders including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were among the distinguished visitors to this place.

Historical records reveal that Jinnah wanted this house to be occupied by a “small European family or a refined Indian Prince" and expected rent of Rs 3,000 per month. He made his wishes known to then Bombay Province Governor Sri Prakasa who had been deputed by Nehru to find out what he (Jinnah) wanted to be done with the property after Partition.

However, after Independence, it was declared an “evacuee property” and was let out to the British Deputy High Commissioner in 1955, which functioned from here till 1982.

When the then Pakistan President Gen. Parvez Musharraf came in 2001 for the Agra summit-level talks with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he proposed that Jinnah House could be used as a Pakistani Consulate in Mumbai.