Don't look to me for answers, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, said that people should not always look up to him to solve their problems. Rahul made this observation at a conference of youth from minorities during his recent three-day visit to Madhya Pradesh.

The media was not allowed to cover the conference but those who were present said the Congress general secretary discussed problems of the minorities. Gandhi observed that people should not always look upto him to solve their problems but try to solve them on their own. It was a general comment and meant for people from all communities, they said. He asked those present to name five minority leaders who were acceptable to the society at large. Though names of the likes of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mohsina Kidwai, Omar Abdullah,

Ahmed Patel and Salman Khurshid were thrown up, there was no unanimity and some names were opposed. Syed Zafar, a youth Congress activist from Chhindwada said that the tragedy of the Muslim community was that the leaders after getting a place either in the organisation or the government tended to forget the community and instead worked only to retain their place.

A girl at the conference asked why should women enter politics when it was full of corruption and women found it tough to get respect. Responding to this, Gandhi said;" How can mud be taken out from a glass filled with water without even touching it." He was told that this could be done by pouring water at a great force from a tap. Rahul said that this can be done but added that some moss would still remain in the glass.