Press Briefing Monday, 29 June 2009
Dr. Shakeel Ahmed addressed the media today.
Dr. Shakeel Ahmed said that recent media reports
suggested that minorities in Pakistan especially
Hindus and Sikhs were being forced to pay Jaziya
(religious tax) by the Taliban in Pakistan and
the Congress party condemns this and requests
the central government to discuss this issue
with the Pakistani authorities. He said that
while he realized that this was Pakistan’s
internal affair, this was also a humanitarian
issue and was concerned with minority rights and
hence the Pakistani government must put an end
to this illegal tax.
To a question on Mayawati and her
statue-building spree, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed said
that the Finance Minister has already stated
that the money spent on building statues could
have been put to better use for the poor. He
said that while there was nothing wrong in
building memorials for great people, going
overboard with it was unacceptable. He added
that the money meant for the betterment of the
downtrodden and poor was being spent on building
these statues, which was incorrect.
To a question on the fate of Section 377 and gay
rights, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed said that the
government was discussing this issue. He said
that the debate on this issue was also on within
the party. He said that it has already been
clarified that the government will discuss the
issue with religious and social leaders and take
a decision thereafter.
To a question on Raj Thakeray, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed
said that there was no politics involved in Raj
Thakeray being granted bail and the Congress
party had nothing to do with this and this was a
legal issue.
To a question on the Congress party’s line on
education and Shri Kapil Sibal’s statements in
this regard, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed said that right
now no final decision had been taken and
discussions were on with educationists,
teachers, academicians etc. Therefore the
Congress party reserves its comments on this for
now.
To a question on what prompted the Congress
President to send a letter attached with a
detailed draft legislation to the PM pressing on
food security and whether it indicated a
communication gap between the Congress party and
the government, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed said that
there was no communication gap. He said that the
government was a UPA government which consists
of many parties and so the stance of the
government and the Congress party on certain
matters was different but on this issue the
stance of both was the same. He said that it was
not unusual for the UPA Chairperson to send this
letter as it was necessary for the PM to discuss
this issue with his cabinet colleagues who are
not members of the Congress party.
(Tom Vadakkan)
Secretary, AICC
*This Press Briefing was in Hindi.
