Muslim protests may mar meet

Several Muslim organisations are slated to hold four major conferences in Jaipur, coinciding with the Congress's chintan shivir as a mark of dissent and to draw the party's attention to alleged human rights violations, including police firing inside a mosque in 2011 that killed 10 Muslims, Zia Haq reports.

Several Muslim organisations are slated to hold four major conferences in Jaipur, coinciding with the Congress's chintan shivir as a mark of dissent and to draw the party's attention to alleged human rights violations, including police firing inside a mosque in 2011 that killed 10 Muslims.

HT Image

MPs Asaduddin Owaisi, Mohd Adeeb and Ali Anwar Ansari, as well as film-maker Mahesh Bhatt are among those who will address the rallies.

An expected turnout in tens and thousands will not be exactly be music to the Congress ears. One of the meets, by the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, is being held opposite the Congress venue — the Birla Auditorium.

"The underpinning theme of these rallies is the abuse of human rights and apathy of the Congress towards Muslims," said M Hasan, a former professor of the Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration.

Hasan, a social activist, is organising his protest on the January 18.

Before that, on January 16, the Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis, comprising mostly academics from the Aligarh Muslim University, will protest a decision by the state to de-recognize Urdu-medium bachelors' degrees after 72 years.

Krishna to skip meet

Former external affairs minister SM Krishna is likely to skip the Congress session at Jaipur although he has co-drafted the discussion paper on 'India and the World' for the meeting. Sources close to Krishna claimed that he has to attend a programme in Vietnam during the said period.