Ahead of the Uttarakhand state assembly elections, Congress leader Harish Rawat has promised to open a Muslim University in the state if he gets elected as the Chief Minister. Congress leader Aqeel Ahmed withdrew his nomination from the Sahaspur constituency on Wednesday and said that Rawat has promised him to build a university for Muslim students if Congress comes to power.
Uttarakhand BJP posted a video of Aqeel Ahmed supporting Congress leader Aryendra Sharma from Sahaspur constituency and quoted that Congress has only one agenda and that is to build a Muslim University in the state.
चार धाम और कांग्रेस का एक ही काम – उत्तराखंड में मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी का निर्माण! pic.twitter.com/ePy3vSCpq0
— BJP Uttarakhand (@BJP4UK) February 2, 2022
According to the video, Aqeel Ahmed who belongs to Sahaspur is said to have taken back his nomination for Assembly Elections 2022, only after 12 of his demands were approved by the former CM and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat. Ahmed confirmed that state congress leader Devendra Yadav also supported one of his 12 demands, to open a university for Muslims.
“I am ready to support Aryendra Sharma to fight elections from Sahaspur constituency. I have no problem as Harish Rawat ji and Devendra Yadav has agreed to my demands. Rawat ji has promised to construct a university for Muslims students in Uttarakhand. I don’t want anything else”, he said in the video that went viral on social media.
Harish Rawat said he will open Muslim university in Uttarakhand if he become CM. pic.twitter.com/PdUgD3ezOo
— Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) February 1, 2022
Reports mention that Congress in the state is anxious about votes getting split up in a few seats in the minority bastion in Uttarakhand with rivals such as SP, BSP and AIMIM fielding Muslim candidates.
It is pertinent to note that the Congress that is backing to open a Muslim University in Uttarakhand had revolted against the proposal to build a Sanskrit University in Karnataka. On January 16, after the Karnataka government allotted 100 acres of land for the permanent campus of Karnataka Sanskrit University, Congress Spokesperson A N Nataraja Gowda opposed the construction and called it ‘useless’.
The Karnataka state Congress Secretary and Spokesperson had tweeted, “…Instead of boosting tourism sector of this taluk govt is allotting land to useless Sanskrit university.”
Legislative Assembly elections will be held in Uttarakhand on 14th February this year to elect 70 members of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on 10th March.
