It is noteworthy that to whomever the Congress high command handed over the reins of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress, Azad cleverly got him opposed by his supporting group. During the last almost three decades, all the presidents of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress could not get any help from Azad. Such conditions were being created by Azad that every Congress President was stamped ‘failed’.
Even when the Congress high command handed over the responsibility of the state Congress to the staunch supporters of Azad for the purpose of ending the mutual war, Azad maintained his non-cooperation and continued to protest with the help of his faction. Pirzada Mohammad Syed, who was a staunch supporter of Azad and the late Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam, have been great examples of this. Despite being close to Azad, the tenure of the president of both could not be successful due to the independent camp.
There is a long list of state presidents in the form of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Ghulam Rasool Kar, Mohammed Shafi Qureshi, Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Saifuddin Soz and Ghulam Mohammad Mir who became victims of the politics of Ghulam Nabi Azad. The latest case is of Vikar Rasool Wani, who became the state president recently. Despite being close to Azad, Azad gave such indications as if he was not happy with Wani being made the state president. Azad resigned from the campaign committee immediately after Wani’s appointment in displeasure and later left the party.
To some extent, during their respective tenures, former state president late Ghulam Rasool Kar, late Mohammed Shafi Qureshi and Saifuddin Soz tried to counter Azad but it was never easy for them to do so. The pair of Ghulam Rasool Kar and Mangat Ram Sharma openly opposed Azad in the nineties and tried to connect the new and grassroots people with the Congress. For some time later Saifuddin Soz also tried to bring new people forward in the state Congress and also gave them opportunities. But due to the unnecessary interference of Azad, the rest of the President could not do so. This is the reason that only the leaders of the nineties are active in the state Congress even today.
There are many big questions that are rarely answered freely. Why did Azad, who criticizes the Congress leadership and Rahul Gandhi’s style of work today, maintained a separate faction within the Congress in his home state and did not extend his support to any state president? Were all the state presidents made from 1990 to 2022 incompetent and only the independent ones were full of virtues? Azad advises his old party Congress to brainstorm, but the need is more for him to introspect about himself.
