Cong may consider keepingmadrassas out of RTE ambit

LUCKNOW: After promising reservation for backward Muslims within the OBC quota, theCongress party is likely to accept the community leaders' demand to keep madrassas out of the Right To Education's ambit. The party general secretary Rahul Gandhi met rector of Nadwatul Uloom and president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, on Sunday which gave away the first hint of a thaw between the government and the board. Both have been at loggerheads over the issue for almost a year.

Things had turned ugly in July last when AIMPLB had threatened to hit the street to "highlight the injustice" if their demand to exempt 10,000-odd madrasas from the RTE was not met. The places carefully shortlisted for the show of strength, interestingly, included Rae Bareli and Amethi - the constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. The resolve was reiterated in Delhi during the board's last meeting on November 26. This time the resolution widened the scope of the agitation to cover entire UP. Rahul's initiative to douse the discontent by holding a dialogue with the board's chairperson could mean that a solution was in sight, sources said. This is another attempt by the Congress to capture the wavering minority votes in UP.

The issue figured prominently and took a large chunk of the one-hour meeting between the two parties, sources claimed. Rahul arrived at Nadwa with Congress MLA from Rae Bareli, Mohammad Muslim. Rest of the senior leaders were conspicuously missing. The last time Rahul had met the Maulana was in 2009 at the election time. He had accompanied Sonia and Priyanaka, on a visit to Dayra Shah Alam-ullah Takia Kalan - maulana's religious seat and residence in Rae Bareli . So, even as UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi made light of the meeting by referring to it as "a courtesy call solicit the highly respected cleric's views on minority welfare issues," the visit created a stir in political circles.

Sources in the seminary told TOI that Rahul promised to take up the RTE issue with human resources development minister Kapil Sibal and minister for minorities welfare Salman Khurshid. "Rabe Miyan explained to him that although guidelines of the Act issued in February assures of exemption to religious institution, this needs to be incorporated in the Act by a proper amendment to provide a legal sanctity," a source said. "Rahul said that the intent was already there as shown by the guidelines and that he would talk to the two ministers and ensure that necessary steps were taken to clear the misunderstanding and break the impasse," he added.

According to party sources, after Nadva, Rahul is likely to visit Kichchocha Sharif, the apex body of Barelvi sect and the headquarters of All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board in Ambedkar Nagar. At a conference held here last month, the participants had demanded reservation to Muslim backwards as per the recommendation of Rangnath Commission, and also political representation, allocation of land for setting up educational institution at subsidised rate and scholarship to Muslim students from class VI onwards. Since most of the demands have already been met, it's time now to take credit and score a point," said a senior Congress leader.