India’s Opposition Leader Rahul Set to Attend Malaysia's iYCON On Saturday

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) – Over 500 people are expected to attend the Malaysian Indian Youth Conclave (iYCON) on Saturday at Dewan Tun Abdul Razak, Menara Berkembar Bank Rakyat here. Among the keynote speakers are Health Minister, who is also MIC President Dr S. Subramaniam and India’s opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. MIC is a Malaysian political party. MIC treasurer-general S. Vell Paari said Rahul is expected to arrive in Malaysia at 10.30 pm on Friday. “Rahul is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at Seri Perdana before flying home to New Delhi,” Vell Paari said at a press conference on the iYCON, here Friday. During Najib’s visit to New Delhi in 2010, the Prime Minister met with Rahul, who was then general secretary of the Congress party, which was then in power. Rahul, 48, is currently the Member of Parliament for Amethi, the constituency once held by his father Rajiv Gandhi. Vell Paari said the Indian National Congress president is also expected to visit MIC headquarters tomorrow at 2 pm and would be welcomed by its deputy president S. K. Devamany, adding it would be a historic visit for the party. He said Rahul's great-grandfather and India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru came to Malaya in 1946, just after the World War II, to see the poor conditions of the Indians living in the country. Jawaharlal then went back to India but immediately sent a medical mission to post-war Malaya, adding that in those days MIC was a chapter of the Indian National Congress, he said. Meanwhile, MIC's Young Professional Bureau (YPB) chairman, Kishva Ambigapathy said iYCON is being organised by YPB, an organisation under the national MIC Youth Movement. He said the convention would focus on four key areas, namely addressing foundations, livelihoods and wealth, social inclusion and cohesion as well as realising potentials. “YCON’s highlights will be the town hall session with Rahul, allowing young people to interact amid his good profile and also as one of the youngest opposition leaders, who is tremendously involved in development initiatives including peace mission,” he added. -- BERNAMA