VOld Age Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned On Friday, the five-decade-long association with the Congress party ended.
of free Resignation Letter There was a scathing indictment for the party leadership for Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In the letter, he accused the Gandhi family of bypassing senior leaders and implementing a ‘remote control model’.
Taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, he described his way of criticizing the government’s ordinance in 2013 as “immaturity” and “childish behaviour”. He also pointed out how a “circle of inexperienced sycophants” started running the party soon after Rahul Gandhi took over as party vice president in January 2013.
Azad’s resignation comes at a time when the Congress is gearing up for its organizational election and is looking to elect a new party president, possibly a non-Gandhi. At this juncture, Azad called the elections a “sham” and a “spectacle”, accusing the party of promoting “proxy”. And that’s why Ghulam Nabi Azad is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
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Azad’s Congress tenure
During his long tenure in the Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad was known more as an organizational figure than a mass leader.
A native of Kashmir, he joined the Congress in the mid-1970s and was made the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Youth Congress in 1975 at the behest of Sanjay Gandhi.
In his letter, Azad writes about how he inducted late Rajiv Gandhi (Rahul’s father) into the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) after Sanjay’s death.
He has served as a Union minister in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh from 1982 to 2014, and was in charge of every state and union territory at some point in the last 35 years. He was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008.
In his letter, Azad has written how he has worked as general secretary of the Congress under every party president since the 1980s. However, during his tenure, Azad has always been more of a national, Delhi-based leader, as opposed to a regional leader with a massive following. For example, he became an MLA for the first time after becoming the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, for which he was relieved of his duty as a Union Minister.
Similarly, the one Lok Sabha term he won was in 1980 from Washim in Maharashtra and not his home state of Kashmir.
So, with Azad leaving, many might argue that the Congress will not suffer an electoral loss. But the damage is real in terms of public perception. Especially because he is known for showing loyalty to the Gandhi family.
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inexperienced vs experienced sycophants
Azad’s letter refers to those he called “inexperienced sycophants” who he claims are running the affairs of the party, while senior leaders like him were sidelined.
However, in the past, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power, Azad was known for his close association with the Gandhi family. As told by Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, Azad has been bestowed with many honors by the party, which Azad himself acknowledged in his resignation letter.
After spending his entire political life on the posts assigned by the Gandhi family, why should the proximity of other family leaders bother him?
The reason is that the structure of the family circle changed under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Azad and many like him were replaced with younger leaders.
While the advice, judgment and competence of this new ‘coterie’ may be questioned, it is clear to most who follow the party that the concept of congregation is not new. The creators of it have changed now.
Over the years, many within and outside the Congress, as well as in the media, have referred to this circle of select people, saying they shield the party’s top leadership from critical criticism. Instead, opponents of the congregation say they mislead the leadership into believing that all of their decisions are correct.
On the other hand, a large section of youth leaders in the party, who are also critical of the party to some extent, strongly believe that many leaders who have crossed over their political career are not paving the way for the youth. Often the reason given is that they are not ready to give up power.
In recent times, power seems to have played a part in Azad’s relationship with the Gandhi family. Prime Minister Narendra Modi after bidding tearful farewell Last year on the floor of the Rajya Sabha, Azad did not return to the Upper House. Reconciliation efforts by Sonia Gandhi by inviting him to the party’s Chintan Shivir and making him a part of its advisory committee came to naught when Azad was denied a Rajya Sabha seat. After that, he resigned As the head of the campaign committee for Jammu and Kashmir – which he had finalized after four rounds of talks with the party.
In the youth circles of the Congress, the demand for a Rajya Sabha seat by leaders such as Azad, his G-23 ally Anand Sharma, or P. Chidambaram is not seen in the best light.
With the dwindling political fortunes of the Congress in India, there are no more Rajya Sabha seats, or winnable assemblies, or secure Lok Sabha seats. And if seniors, who have been chief ministers and have been Union ministers several times, now try to claim a share of the pie, there is not much left for those who shun election after election to the losing party. political spending.
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road to Independence
It is clear from Azad’s letter that he is not leaving politics for good. There are speculations that he will form a new party in Jammu and Kashmir. There is another speculation that he may join the BJP thanks to Modi’s tears and the government’s Padma Bhushan. given on that.
If that happens, there is a question that will be difficult for Azad to escape – how far can senior party leaders go without the Congress’s shadow over their heads? Will he be able to mobilize enough people and strength to make a successful party? And if he goes to BJP, will it be Jyotiraditya Scindia who was made minister or RPN Singh who was sidelined? At the age of 73, Ghulam Nabi would have preferred to be ‘free’ of such thoughts. But old politicians are like old bankers – they never lose interest.
(edited by Prashant)