In a surprise turn of event pointing towards the party going in for `secular make over’, the UP Congress Committee (UPCC) has cancelled the ‘Roza Iftar’ scheduled for coming Friday.
The decision is said to be a sequel to a similar stand taken by the party brass of cancelling the traditional ‘Roza Iftar’ party in New Delhi this year.
“Yes, we cancelled the Roza Iftar party on Friday, but it was not taken due to any political compulsion,” confirmed Chairman of UPCC Media Committee Satydeo Tripathi in lucknow on Monday.
``The move was takebn as the AICC too decided not to organise any Roza Iftar party this year and directed party leaders to go to the poor among the minorities and donate them eatables and other for celebrating the occasion,” explained Tripathi.
Meanwhile, party sources confirmed that after all preparations were in place and the visit of AICC general secretary and new UP in-charge Gulam Nabi Azad to join the Roza Iftar party in lucknow was final. The party was cancelled by the brass to steer clear of a tag that the party was working only for the welfare of Muslims.
“The party has paid heavily due to large scale polarization in last Parliamentary polls. We could bag only two seats - that too of Sonia Gandhi and Ruhul Gandhi. Our efforts to ensure better life and upliftment of minorities were projected as if we are merely concerned with the Muslims and not serious towards the majority community. We wanted to get out of this image and stop exodus of Hindus towards the BJP,” said a senior Congress leader.
The Congress dropped the first hint on this score when despite pleas from the UP unit, it refused to field any Muslim candidate during the recent biennial polls for legislative Council and Rajya Sabha and gave tickets to Deepak Singh and Kapil Sibbal.
The decision to field Singh came as a surprise as the seat in the Council fell vacant due to the completion of tenure of Naseeb Pathan, a Muslim leader from the party.
After Azad was made UP in-charge replacing Madhusudan Mistri, the local buzz was that the high command made the move to make up for the denial of ticket to a Muslim leader in the recent polls. But that was not to be. The decision to do away with the yearly Roza Iftar parties this year both in Delhi and lucknow has definitely sent a strong message.
A senior Congress leader said that it was necessary to maintain a real `secular’ image by attaching equal importance to all community. “So why just organise Roza Iftar party and no other Hindu or Christian or Jain or Sikh or Buddhist festival at the party office, they decided not to organise any Party for minorities but instead facilitate the poor which they often do on other festivals or during birth and death anniversaries of senior leaders of the Party.