Rahul connects with J-K youth

The interaction, held under tight security cover, was Rahul’s first engagement of the day in the Valley. He is on a two day visit to Jammu and Kashmir. This is his first visit to Kashmir since 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress general secretary’s interaction was held amid a call from hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani to students to boycott the function.“I have not come here to talk politics,” Rahul told the students at Kashmir university. He also told them that he is a Kashmiri. “I have come to learn and understand how best I can help the people here. The pain and suffering of this place is my suffering as well,” the Congress leader said.

Rahul said his grandmother and the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was killed when he was just 14. “My father was killed when I was 21. Pain and suffering is not something I cannot understand,” he said.

A student told him that he had lost his father when he was just five. He asked Rahul to do something for Kashmiri students, being allegedly harassed and intimidated in other parts of the country. Another student drew his attention towards growing problem of unemployment.

Rahul said students from Bihar were being harassed in Maharashtra. This trend has to be stopped. He assured the students that he would ensure that big corporate houses come here and create employment avenues in IT and other sectors.