Rahul, who has been concentrating his poll campaign on Muslim pockets of Azamgarh and Mau, stayed inside the college guest house where he had spent the night.

Police dispersed the noisy protesters and later prevented male students from entering the college. Only girls and the faculty were allowed to meet the Congress general secretary.

Rahul’s day ended in Mau, where weavers told him and Textiles Minister Anand Sharma that they were yet to get the benefit of the new package announced for them.

In Sanjarpur, home to several youths accused of terror plots, residents complained the Congress had not fulfilled the promise, made by senior leader Digvijaya Singh, of a judicial inquiry into the Batla House encounter.

Iqbal Ahmad, a former professor of Shibli College and Sanjarpur resident, said he did not approve of the effigy-burning. However, “He (Digvijaya) had come here two years ago and promised a judicial inquiry, but changed his statement while talking to the media outside the village. The Congress talks of minority reservation, but we are not fools... We are not the only minority,” Ahmad said.

“We feel cheated because not a single demand of ours has been considered — something as simple as ensuring that the jail manual is followed with our children in Rajasthan’s jails. Now an inquiry does not matter much, because some of the cases are close to their end,” he said.

Tariq Shafique, a social activist in Sanjarpur, agreed with Ahmad. “All of us feel cheated and nothing can change that now. Promises have not been fulfilled. Our people still face bias when they go out to work or to find a place to live in,” he said.

Weavers in Mau and Azamgarh expressed scepticism about Rahul’s schemes for them.

Mohd Faizan, the 25-year-old whom Rahul had introduced in Mubarakpur on Tuesday as the man who had pointed out the lacunae in the weavers’ package, said people were not sure what benefits they would ultimately get.

“Until the benefits actually reach us, we can’t be sure that these promises are different from those made in past,” Faizan said. He said people had applied for the weavers credit card, but no one had got one yet.

Abu Bakar Ansari, himself a weaver and the Congress candidate from Mau City, was candid about the potential of the much-hyped schemes. “Benefits like credit card and health card will not be given to powerloom weavers, who make up 98 per cent of all weavers in Mau. I know of only two weavers who still operate handlooms.”