Umme Kulsum at AMU (Satendra Kulshreshtha)

Lucknow, Dec. 8: If Rahul Gandhi had the time, Aligarh Muslim University student Umme Kulsum would have asked him to define competence and chart a roadmap for the community’s GenX.

A 21-year-old science undergraduate, Kulsum had yesterday asked Rahul if a Muslim could ever become the country’s Prime Minister.

Speaking to The Telegraph from her Aligarh home, Kulsum said today that while she broadly agreed with Rahul’s contention that capability, not religious or community considerations, was the key, she would like him to explain what he meant by competence.

“Barack Obama, going by Rahul Gandhi’s definition, is the most competent, most educated man in America to qualify as President of the country. But Obama emerged from the movement of the African-Americans in the US. Does Mr Gandhi believe Obama has as much academic qualification as Dr Manmohan Singh? Who will decide what kind of qualification prepares a politician for the top post?” Kulsum asked.

A shy girl, Kulsum’s question yesterday — which has made her a bit of a celebrity on the AMU campus — was an impromptu one, asked to Rahul at the fag end of the Congress leader’s interactive session at Kennedy Hall.

“She did not consult me before she left home yesterday,” said Kulsum’s father S.N.A. Jaidi, a government employee in Aligarh.

To the third-year student’s pointed poser yesterday — “can a Muslim ever become Prime Minister of India” — Rahul had replied that “it is what you bring to the table, what capability you have” that would determine who would get the top job.

Kulsum said she agreed competence was a factor, but argued that Muslims had come a long way since Independence. But unlike in the US, the movement for the community’s emergence in India had not thrown up a leader like Obama.

“I agree competence is a must, but what kind of competence is he (Rahul) talking about?” Kulsum asked.

She said Rahul didn’t have the time, but if he had, she and her fellow Muslim GenX would have more questions for him.

“Like,” Kulsum said, “Muslim youths want to increase their participation in politics but who will give them a platform? Who will make the Muslim youths feel they are not second-class citizens? Who will give the Muslim students a real sense of responsibility?”

Will Kulsum, if given a chance, take on a leadership role? The student has her mind set on a management degree, but insisted she had a strong interest in politics as well.

As the country’s lawmakers persisted with an acrimonious debate in Parliament on the Liberhan report, the student said that like most others of the new generation of Muslims in India, she wants to go beyond Babri and the terrorist stigma haunting the community, which she thinks are a thing of the past.

“Our worry is the lack of opportunities for the new generation. We are still not sure what is in store for this generation of Muslims,” she said.

Kulsum said Indian Muslims had proved themselves in all fields — research, fine arts, management — yet they suffer from a sense of insecurity. She herself has scored over 75 per cent in all her examinations.

“Our generation of students is ambitious. We want to be achievers but we wonder why there is this sense of insecurity,” she said.