Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation was anticipated as earlier this month, Azad had given his resignation from the post of the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee.<\/p>\n
Ghulam Nabi Azad was a senior top Indian politician and formerly a member of the Indian National Congress who served as the seventh chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008 and was the Minister of Health and Family Welfare.\u00a0 He also led the party successfully in the 2002 Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2022 by the Indian Government in the field of Public Affairs. He resigned from all posts including primary membership in Congress on the 26th of August, 2022.<\/p>\n
He wrote a five-page letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Azad\u2019s letter begins with a long recollection of his 35 years in service to the party, noting his continued support for the party and his presence in the governments of former Congress Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.<\/p>\n
He praised Sonia Gandhi\u2019s contributions to the party and her role in bringing in the UPA-1 and UPA-2 governments. However, he says that her success with these two governments came because she heeded the advice of the party\u2019s senior leaders, indicating that she is no longer doing so.<\/p>\n
He went on to say, \u201cHowever unfortunately after the entry of Shri Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was made vice-president by you, the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him,\u201d Azad wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0criticised Congress for having lost its political will.\u00a0 The letter further detailed, according to the Hindustan Times, Azad\u2019s close relationship with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and went on to express that the party had reached a \u201cpoint of no return\u201d.<\/p>\n
Azad also criticised the party\u2019s organisation election process, calling it a \u201cfarce and a sham\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHandpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road,\u201d the newspaper quoted the leader as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and a new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the party,\u201d he wrote further.<\/p>\n
Azad made particular mention of a 2013 incident in which Rahul Gandhi tore up a government ordinance to save convicted legislators from disqualification, which the former held singularly responsible for the UPA\u2019s defeat in 2014.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Azad also points out to the numerous proposals lying dormant in Congress storerooms, and describes the party\u2019s electoral outcomes since Rahul Gandhi\u2019s entry into politics as \u201chumiliating\u201d.<\/p>\n
Further hitting out at the former Congress chief, Azad lambasted the way Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the party\u2019s leadership, accusing him of insulting senior leaders. He then noted that Sonia Gandhi, who has been serving as the party\u2019s interim chief for the past three years \u2013 since Rahul Gandhi stepped down \u2013 is just a \u201cnominal figurehead\u201d and that important decisions are still being taken by Rahul, \u201cor rather worse, his security guards and PAs\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter then goes on to refer to the letter of the dissent written by the group of 23 senior Congress leaders (G-23) and notes how no stock was taken of what the leaders had to say.<\/p>\n
Azad wrote that the only crime the leaders committed in writing that letter was to point out the party\u2019s weaknesses and provide remedies. \u201cUnfortunately, instead of taking those views on board in a constructive and cooperative manner, we were abused, insulted, humiliated and vilified in a specially summoned meeting of the extended CWC,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Underlining the grim prospects of the party in the future, Azad continues to assail Rahul Gandhi, calling him a \u201cpuppet on a string\u201d and a \u201cnon-serious individual at the party’s helm\u201d.<\/p>\n
Noting that he and his colleagues will attempt to \u201cperpetuate the ideals of what (they) have committed their entire adult lives to\u201d, Azad signed off.<\/p>\n
Azad\u2019s decision comes a little over a week after the party\u2019s attempt to reshuffle its cadres in Jammu and Kashmir backfired. While Azad was appointed the head of the Congress\u2019s Jammu and Kashmir campaign committee \u2013 and was also named as a member of the political affairs committee \u2013 he resigned shortly after his appointment for two reasons: first, that his close aide Ghulam Ahmed Mir was removed as state Congress president; and second, because he reportedly saw being a mere member of the PAC as a demotion, having to work under a leader junior to him in Tariq Hamid Karra.<\/p>\n
While the Congress stated that Azad\u2019s refusal came due to \u201chealth reasons\u201d, other sources close to the party said that it indicated internal strife.<\/p>\n
Azad\u2019s relationship with the Congress\u2019s central leadership has been fraught in recent times, with him joining the group of 23 leaders (G-23) who had written a letter of dissent to Sonia Gandhi a few years ago.<\/p>\n
In Kashmir,\u00a0National Conference leader Omar Abdullah today described Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation from the Congress as a body blow to the party, saying it was “sad” and “scary” to see the grand old party implode.<\/p>\n
\nLong rumoured to be in the offing but a body blow to the Congress none the less. Perhaps the senior most leader to quit the party in recent times, his resignation letter makes for very painful reading. It\u2019s sad, and quite scary, to see the grand old party of India implode. https:\/\/t.co\/Z6gj9AophE<\/a><\/p>\n
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) August 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n