Rahul discusses Muslim issues

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AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi interacts with party workers at a UPCC meeting in Lucknow on Sunday. — PTI

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday visited Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, a much respected Islamic seminary in Lucknow, and met its rector Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadwi, also the president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. This is Mr Gandhi’s first visit to the seminary.
According to party sources, in the meeting that lasted over an hour, Mr Gandhi explained the Congress party’s plan to provide reservation to backward Muslims from within the OBC quota. He said that this was not n election gimmick but a part of the Congress election manifesto for 2009.
Mr Gandhi also informed the Maulana about the steps that the UPA government had taken for the benefit of Muslims.
Mr Gandhi met the UP governor on Sunday and apprised him of political developments in UP before returning to Delhi in the afternoon. Mr Gandhi’s visit to the seminary assumes significance in view of the upcoming assembly polls and the Congress effort to win over Muslims. Meanwhile, talking to reporters later, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that Mr Rahul Gandhi, who met youth Congress activists and office bearers of various frontal organisations and cells on Sunday, asked them to support the party’s candidates for the polls and ensure their victory by pushing aside personal differences. Mr Gandhi asked them to help in the formation of booth committees for the elections and said that the same should be put up on the party website by December 31 to allow random verification. He told members of the Youth Congress and frontal organisations that the Congress could easily for a majority government in UP if all cadres worked together. He said that all non-Congress parties were targeting the Congress which indicated that the party’s graph was on the upswing.
Lashing out against the BJP, he said that the party had no ideology except anti-Congressism.
“The BJP is on a ventilator and will soon meet its end. The corruption in the Mayawati government is unparalleled and you should use RTI and launch awareness programmes about the misdeeds of this government and expose its true face,” he said.
Mr Gandhi asked party cadres to fight in a spirited manner and shed despair that had hounded the party for almost 20 years.