Unlike BJP president Amit Shah, who is on a nation-wide tour to meet ‘Lok Sabha Toli’, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has taken a different route and is meeting with intellectuals these days to garner support for the party in the upcoming general elections. Gandhi met with Muslim intellectuals on Wednesday and assured them that Congress will form the next government in 2019.
Sources revealed that intellectuals questioned him on his temple visit, to which Gandhi replied that he also visited mosques and churches, but it was not reported by media. Gandhi, who is on a mission to strengthen the party base, but not like BJP’s Sampark for Samarthan campaign. Gandhi is meeting intellectuals and professionals who can “influence public opinion” ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports Indian Express.
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According to the party leaders, the idea behind the informal interaction was to get a feedback from the intellectuals what they feel about Congress party, BJP and the what are the issues that Muslim community are facing. Not only that, Gandhi want to know from the intellectuals what issues the Congress should raise when it goes to the people.
Noted historian Syed Irfan Habib, who attended the informal interaction, told Gandhi that Congress should talk about policies, employment, the atmosphere of fear and insecurity in which the people are living in, and stressed that even Dalits too are facing the same issues as Muslims. Others wanted Gandhi to learn from previous mistakes Congress has committed over the years.
Since Gandhi has taken the charge as Congress president, he has been trying to regain the lost ground and during the interaction he assured the intellectuals that the party is taking corrective measure. Among the intellectuals who interacted with Gandhi include – historian Syed Irfan Habib, noted scholar and academic Abusaleh Shariff, writer and activist Farah Naqvi, writer Rakhshanda Jalil, former IAS officer M F Farooqui, the Raja of Mahmoodabad Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan besides senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid and AICC minority department head Nadeem Javed, adds IE.
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