At the Aligarh Muslim University on Monday,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi chose to speak on his vision for a new India. Addressing about 1,100 students and 200 professors of AMU-affiliated institutions,he said: When we do have a Muslim prime minister,it will not be because he is a Muslim,but because he is capable. It is about what you bring to the table,what capability you have. He was answering a question on the chances of electing a Muslim prime minister. Manmohan Singh is not the Prime Minister of India because he is a Sikh. He is the prime minister because he is the most capable person to do the job, he said. In reply to another question,he said: The number of leaders from your community needs to go up. Nobody would have ever imagined that in a country of over a billion people we would have a Sikh prime minister. Sikhs are a very small percentage of this country. Rahul said his effort was to involve people from different communities and from different parts of India in the political system. Exhorting Muslim youths to participate in national politics in a big way,Rahul said: Increased participation of Muslim youths is the ideal way to take on problems,not only of the Muslim community but the country as a whole. Vice-Chancellor P K Abdul Azis,in his welcome speech,mentioned AMUs Islamic character that was truly secular. The V-C also gave a brief history of AMUs varying fortunes in courts on seeking minority educational institution status.
