Mumbai: Taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other politicians of the country, including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, have started posting frequently on Twitter and other social media platforms about daily briefings and day's happennings - sometimes even if they are insiginificant and worthless to be shared with the world.
However, quite surprisingly, rather insluting for the Muslims, Rahul Gandhi totally ignored and did not care to share with the country and the world about his meeting with Muslim world held at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.
According to reports, Rahul Gandhi met Muslim leaders and is believed to have told them that his party would adopt an inclusive approach for all sections of the society, addressing concerns that it was adopting a "soft-Hindutva" agenda.
Rahul also told them that the Congress had no specific agenda for any particular religion or section. It would have an "agenda for all" centred around providing justice, a source told news agency PTI.
The Muslims leaders told Rahul Gandhi that the Muslim community was feeling threatened as the party was now adopting a "soft-Hindutva" approach to win back Hindus who had moved towards the BJP in the last elections, PTI reported.
Among people who attended the meeting on Wednesday were former planning commission member Syeda Hameed, JNU professor Zoya Hasan, former president of Aligarh Muslim University Z K Faizan, educationist Ilyas Malik and retired bureaucrat A F Faruqui. Former minister Salman Khursid and Congress minority committee head Nadeem Javed were also present.
But, far from sharing the details of his meeting with the Muslim leaders, and its agenda and outcome, Rahul Gandhi did not find it fit to share at least a single image of the said meeting on his Twitter handler.
On the other hand, a smiling Rahul Gandhi comfortably, rather proudly, shared a photo of his meeting with film director PA Ranjith on the same day.
"I met film director P A Ranjith the man behind blockbuster films like Madras, Kabali and Kaala and actor Kalaiyarasan, in Delhi yesterday. We talked about politics, films and society. I enjoyed the interaction and look forward to continuing our dialogue", Rahul wrote on Twitter.
More insultingly for the Muslim leaders who met Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, the Congress Party Twitter handler too is silent about his meeting with the Muslim leaders, though it did not forget to re-tweet Rahul Gandhi's other programs and activities of the day.
Was his meeting with the Muslim leaders, who claimed to have spoken about the issues relating to some 200 million (20 crore) strong community, not worth even a courtesy meeting with a film director?
Or, as it is rightly accused, Rahul Gandhi is afraid of being seen with the Muslim leaders fearing backlash from the BJP and Hindutva brigade?
One does not know if the Muslim leaders who met the Congress President at his residence are convinced of his assurances made during the meeting. But, the way he and the Congress party are shying away from sharing the details and photos of the meeting, as they routinely do otherwise, shows how serious they are about the issues relating to the Muslims. It also once again proves that the Congress and its president consider Muslims no more than a vote bank, and a worthless lot of people who does not have any option but to go with the Congress.
Muslim leaders know very well that the Congress and its leadership have never been serious about the issues relating to Muslims. Far from addressing them its policies have infact made them more complicated. The BJP is in power since last few years. The evils Muslims are facing today in India are the result of Congress hypocrisy and double standard.
The Muslim leaders also know that the Congress is in no position today to address any of their issues. Then why they wasted time in meeting with the Congress president? Why didn't they explore other options? Everybody is looking for and taking advantage of options in the present political scenario. Why to mention others. Even the Congress has, openly and covertly, compromised with all its, so called, principles and ideologies for the sake of power.
Nobody is asking Muslims to compromise with the principles they value. But, why can't they explore other options? A population of 200 million is not a small number.
[The writer, Aleem Faizee, is Founder Editor of ummid.com. He can be reached at aleem.faizee@gmail.com.]
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