Had Rahul not thrashed UPA Ordinance, he would not have been disqualified : Ghulam Nabi Azad

"This was different Shah ...not in a denial mode", say Muslim leaders after meeting Home Minister

New Delhi 

A delegation of Muslim leaders who called on Home Minister Amit Shah over various issues concerning

the religious minorities said the Minister "responded positively" and heard them in detail.

"This was a different Amit Shah from the one we see delivering political speeches. He responded positively, 

he heard us in detail, he was not in a denial mode," Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind president Maulana Mahmood Madani, 

secretary Niyaz Faruqui told journalists.

He said the delegation raised 14 challenges facing the country including recent incidents of communal violence in 

Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra and also doing away with Muslim reservation in Karnataka.

"His response was positive as he was not in denial mode and gave us a patient hearing to understand

things in detail," he said.

The delegation was led by Niyaz Faruqui and All India Muslim Personal Law Board members Kamal Faruqui 

and Professor Akhtarul Wasey.

The leaders also raised the incident in Bihar's Nalanda in which a madrasa was set on fire, Mr Faruqui said.

Sharing details of the deliberations, 

Faruqui said. "We did not target any leader, that was not our goal. Our goal was to create cooperation and change the atmosphere in the country". The subjects of same sex marriage and Uniform Civil Code were also discussed.

"We expressed our stand," he said.

Asked whether the Muslim leaders were satisfied with the deliberations, he said this was a "ice breaking" meeting. 

"We have taken an initiative, we are not saying anything on the behalf of the government".

During interaction, Mr Shah said, "I practice what I preach" and assured them that certain matters raised

by them will be looked into. 

A member of the delegation said, Mr Shah told them that “the abrogation of Article 370 should not be viewed through 

the lenses of Hindus and Muslims” but assured them that he would take action if he came across “any excesses by 

the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir”.

The controversial Article was abolished on Aug 5, 2019 and the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union Territories - Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. 

The delegation said that responding to the Muslim vilification campaign run by a section of the media, Shah said that even the BJP and the Union government have been “targeted” by the media.

The meeting could have a special significance in view of the beginning of election season in the country.

After Karnataka polls in May, assembly polls are due in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana

and Mizoram later this year and parliamentary polls in 2024. 

While BJP is in power in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Regional parties BRS and MNF are in power in Telangana and Mizoram respectably.

A delegation member said, "We raised all issues, including Ram Navami violence, the growing threat of Islamophobia 

and even the scrapping of Muslim reservation in Karnataka...He heard us". 

BJP leaders and Chief Ministers in BJP-ruled states on a number of occasions  speaking about

issues of governance and Muslims have stated that the saffron party follows inclusive policy towards

all and upholds the principles of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas as underlined

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP governments have only one policy that no one should face problems and the respective state governments 

are doing whatever is required to improve the life of every citizen. The schemes and policies in BJP-ruled

sattes are for all citizens irrespective of religion. "We would not tolerate anyone breaking these policies of 

the governments," -- is often the refrain.

Ends

Had Rahul not thrashed UPA Ordinance, he would not have been disqualified : Ghulam Nabi Azad

(Azad lauds Narendra Modi's statesmanship in 2021 when the PM had appreciated then LoP in Rajya Sabha and said that had reminded him of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who once spoke highly of Sanjay Gandhi's leadership qualities.) 

New Delhi 

Amid hyped and even created controversies vis-a-vis sentencing against Rahul Gandhi and his

disqualification, a former member of the Manmohan Singh cabinet, Ghulam Nabi Azad,

said had the Congress leader not dismissed and thrashed the Ordinance brought by the UPA government in 2013, 

he would not have been disqualified today.

“We brought the Ordinance because we knew that one should be ready .....It was a weak cabinet and it should have 

gone ahead by bringing a law and should have stuck by its decision of bringing the law even after Rahul Gandhi 

dismissed it as nonsense and tore it,” Mr Azad said here after release of his autobiography “Azaad”.

‘khud kiye aapne deewaron mein suraakh, ab koin jhaank rahe hain to shor kyon (You created holes in your own 

wall, when people are watching through them now, why should anyone raise a voice). 

In could be a rather damaging statement against Congress as the election season has just been unleashed,

former Minister Azad said Rahul Gandhi was personally the 'reason' for his exit from Congress party.

“Yes. Not me alone, but at least a few dozen more, both young and old leaders….," he said adding, "Once you are 

in Congress, you are spineless…. you have to get operated".

It has been reported earlier that Azad in his memoir also held Rahul Gandhi responsible for the exit of

Himanta Biswa Sarma, present Assam Chief Minister, for his exit from the Congress.

According to Azad, Rahul had “mismanaged” the Sarma episode. “After our interaction with Rahul, I met Sonia ji 

and apprised her of the new twist in the tale. Despite understanding the disastrous consequences that lay ahead, 

it is rather unfortunate that she did not assert herself as the party president. Instead, she asked me to request 

Himanta to not rock the boat,’” writes Azad, who now heads the newly floated Democratic Progressive Azad Party.

In his book release function, Azad also said, “It was a wrong thing on the part of the Congress party to keep mum at 

the time… Rahul Gandhi would have been saved today through that only. The one who tore it, it got applied on him 

now. He should have realised it then".

To a question on whether he would rejoin Congress, Azad said, “But, they don’t want people like us. They want those who 

are fast on Twitter and are claiming that after Bharat Jodo Yatra the party will get 500 seats".

Azad was also critical of the functioning style of the present Congress leadership vis-a-vis over emphasis

given to social media.

“I am 2000 per cent more Congress than those who run (politics) on Twitter. I am 24-carat Congress by conviction, they 

are not even 18 carat," he remarked. 

Mr Azad has been also critical of PDP in Jammu and Kashmir that in 2002 polls, “Mufti Mehmood whose party came third 

in the elections with just 16 MLAs, became the CM, while I, despite having the support of 42 MLAs, had to return to national politics".

"Modi's statemanship has Vajpayee glimpses"

Meanwhile, to a TV channel, Azad said, "It was unbecoming on my part as Leader of the opposition (Rajya Sabha)

not joining any dinner party of PM Narendra Modi in seven years...but PM ignored them".

He said on the contrary Prime Minister Modi "behaved as a statesman" and added, "There are occasions in life

when one has to behave as a statesman...That day I expected him to abuse me (last day of Azad in Rajya Sabha

in February 2021)".

"He (Modi) remembered only the positive thing about me (in reference to killings of Gujaratis in

Jammu and Kashmir when Azad was Chief Minister)," he said. Azad said PM Modi's appreciation of

him (Ghulam Nabi) in 2021 in Rajya Sabha had reminded him of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who after 1977

elections had applauded the leadership qualities of Sanjay Gandhi. 

ends