Wajahat Habibullah hopes to meet Narendra Modi to discuss riot victims' issues

NEW DELHI: National Commission for Minorities Chairperson Wajahat Habibullah has said he wanted to discuss several issues related to minorities, including rehabilitation of 2002 riot victims in Gujarat, with CM Narendra Modi.

“I had earlier tried to meet Modi but could not due to certain reasons. I am again renewing my efforts to meet him. I hope to meet him soon,” Habibullah was quoted as telling a news agency on Sunday. The issues he wanted to talk about included scholarships for minority students and problems faced by Parsi and Sikh communities in Gujarat.

The state government has challenged a central scheme to provide scholarships to pre-matriculation students from minority communities saying it was discriminatory.

While addressing BJP’s minority morcha’s national executive meeting here on Sunday, party President Rajnath Singh reiterated that it was unfair to blame Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for the 2002 riots and tried to turn the tables on Congress saying its minority-oriented schemes were limited to lip service. “An unfortunate incident took place in Gujarat.

What all misinformation the Congress has unleashed against Narendra Modi.

When I talk to him, and try to read his face he looks so sad. Are Hindus and Muslims discriminated in Gujarat?” Singh said.

He said people should ask the Muslims of the state whether they felt any discrimination under BJP's rule. Flanked by minority leaders of the BJP—Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shahnawaz Hussain and Najma Heptullah— Singh took on the Congress saying that the party had ruled the country for around 50 years and it could have worked towards bringing the two communities together.