India

Free from tired leaders?

Youth Vikar Rasool Wani, who became the President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress, has shown political acumen by not going with Azad. They have a bright political future ahead of them. Getting the responsibility of the State Congress at a young age is a major achievement of his political career so far. It is noteworthy that Vikar Rasool Wani and Ghulam Nabi Azad had a very close relationship and on the recommendation of Azad, the Congress high command handed over the command of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress to him on August 16.

Jammu to Manu Shreevats

There is a lot of discussion these days about the setback that Ghulam Nabi Azad left the Congress. But there is no news of any discussion about the big setback that Azad himself has suffered in comparison to the Congress. Due to this blow to Azad, Azad’s entire plan to damage the Congress on a large scale has been sabotaged. In fact, it was Azad’s best effort that immediately after his resignation from the Congress, Vikar Rasool Wani, the newly appointed President of the State Congress, should also leave the party. Had this been done as planned, not only would it have been a huge loss for the Congress, but it would have been very difficult for the Congress to recover from this loss.

The first major relief for the Congress, which was hurt by Azad leaving the Congress, is that State Congress President Vikar Rasool Wani has opened a front against Azad by refusing to go with Azad. Not only Wani but no key official has left the party. In a way, all the frontline leaders are still associated with the party.

Recently, young Vikar Rasool Wani, who became the President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress, has shown political acumen by not going with Azad. He has a golden political future ahead of him. Getting the responsibility of the State Congress at a young age is a major achievement of his political career so far. It is noteworthy that Vikar Rasool Wani and Ghulam Nabi Azad had a very close relationship and on the recommendation of Azad, the Congress high command handed over the command of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress to him on August 16. But on 26 August, just ten days after his appointment, Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the Congress.

After all, what happened in ten days that Ghulam Nabi Azad had to leave the Congress. That too when the state Congress got a new president on his own wish. Experts say that the plan was that after Vikar Rasool Wani became the president, Azad was to leave the party in such a way that almost the entire Congress, including the president Wani, would have parted ways with Azad. But this did not happen and Azad’s plan was abandoned.

Azad faction was already angry with the party

In fact, the political life of most of the leaders who went with Ghulam Nabi Azad is either over or on the rise. The average age of those who hold Azad’s hand is around 70 years. In such a situation, those who expect a lot from these tired and politically disappointed leaders need to understand the ground reality.

Not only this, all those who chose to go with Azad were already angry with the party. These leaders, known as the ‘Azad faction’, had boycotted the former state Congress President Ghulam Ahmed Mir for seven years and did not attend any program of the party. The Azad faction was continuously pressurizing the Congress high command to remove Mir from the post of president.

When the Congress high command did not pay heed to his demand, all the pro-Azad leaders had resigned from all the posts of the party on November 17 last year at the behest of Azad. In such a situation, technically all the people of the ‘Azad faction’ had been ‘discharged’ from party posts.

But the tragedy is that today when pro-independence leaders are leaving the party for the sake of independence, they are resorting to the same positions they have technically left to identify themselves. The trouble is that nowadays the media has stopped asking questions. No one is asking whether the leader concerned has himself been ‘liberated’ last year from the post he is leaving.

The supporters of Ghulam Nabi Azad, who have left the Congress so far, except two or three leaders, the rest are so weak that they never contested or won elections in life. Some of the Azad supporters like Rajendra Singh Chib There are also names that have tried almost all the parties but no one has been able to win the election. There are some names like Balwan Singh who won the election once 39 years ago in 1983 and after that never won. With the help of Azad, such leaders did get tickets in every election, however. While there are some names like Tarachand, on whom many serious allegations have been made while being a minister. There are about ten leaders who have lost badly in the 2008 and 2014 assembly elections.

Ghulam Nabi Azad himself is also appearing in such a hurry that in this haste he is forgetting that the ground situation of Jammu and Kashmir, which he had left years ago, has changed in a big way. There is a big difference between sitting in Delhi and seeing the beautiful natural scenery of Kashmir and the reality. A lot of water has flowed from Chenab and Jhelum. Many distances have increased in both the parts of the state- Kashmir and Jammu.

There has also been tremendous polarization in the Hindu-majority and Muslim-majority areas of Jammu division. It is difficult to find a place for Ghulam Nabi Azad and his supporters in this atmosphere of mistrust. The extent to which the polarization has taken place has been experienced by Azad himself in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Azad, who was contesting from the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, got a negligible vote from Hindu-dominated areas. Now the situation has changed even more. The streak of polarization has deepened since the abolition of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. In such a situation, there is very little scope of getting support for Azad and his comrades from the Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu division.

If Ghulam Nabi Azad is going to start his political party on the basis of only a few assembly seats in two districts like Muslim-dominated Doda-Kishtwad of Jammu division, then it will not be wrong to say that his efforts are not serious and his motive is his proposed party. Doesn’t even have to be strengthened. The intention is to harass the Congress only and only.

Azad does not consider Kashmir as his

The situation in Kashmir division is even more opposite. The National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have two big strong parties in the Kashmir Valley. Apart from this, there are two other parties like People’s Conference and ‘Apni Party’ which also have their own good base. In many places, Congress is also in a strong position. In such a situation, it will be very interesting to see how Ghulam Nabi Azad will be able to make a place for himself.

Azad may have been educated in Srinagar and he also claims that he has a huge base in Kashmir, but it is a fact that the common Kashmiri never considered him as his own.

After separating from the Congress, the leaders of Kashmir have given a tremendous response to Ghulam Nabi Azad. Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari has made a strong allegation that Ghulam Nabi Azad had played an important role in abolishing Article 370 and had helped the Bharatiya Janata Party. Altaf Bukhari is continuously making direct and sharp attacks on Azad. He has even alleged that Azad had voted in the Rajya Sabha in favor of abrogating Article 370.

Altaf Bukhari and some other Kashmiri leaders are projecting Ghulam Nabi Azad as a ‘villain’ on the issue of Article 370. Questions have been raised in the past about Azad’s stand on this sensitive issue. Azad’s silence regarding the situation after the abolition of Article 370 has been shaky in the political circles of Jammu and Kashmir.

National Conference President and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has also been right in his words, but he has also wrongly blamed Azad leaving the Congress.

There has also been a stir among the Congress leaders of Kashmir after the resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad. Veteran Congress leaders Saifuddin Soz and Tariq Hameed Karra have suddenly become active and all three have joined hands, forgetting their old differences.

It is noteworthy that when Saifuddin Soz was the state Congress president, he had to face opposition from Azad and his faction. Saifuddin Soz has not forgotten the non-cooperation attitude of the Azad faction and still gets emotional remembering Azad’s protest.

There are many big questions quoting Kashmir, which may be difficult for Azad to answer in the coming days. Later on, they may need to answer the tough questions that have been asked of them from time to time. As many leaders of Kashmir are asking him that when the common people in Kashmir were getting crushed in the dark period of terrorism in the nineties, what did Azad tried to apply while being a Union Minister? Is it not true that during that period Azad had kept a ‘safe distance’ from Jammu and Kashmir? He had even stopped visiting his ancestral home.

Questions have been raised on Azad’s role in the days of terrorism, while questions are also being asked on his stand after the abolition of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Azad gave a tremendous speech in the Rajya Sabha in favor of Article 370 but never considered it appropriate to protest by taking to the road. After the abolition of Article 370, almost all the Kashmiri leaders were taken into custody. Even three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were put under house arrest for almost a year. Senior Congress leader Saifuddin Soz also remained under house arrest for a long time.

But the only Ghulam Nabi Azad was such a leader who never had to face strictness and roamed freely. While he was also the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Azad may have forgotten those days but the common Kashmiri remembers everything. There is no need to tell here that what has been the importance of Article 370 for the common Kashmiri. In such a situation, it is not easy for Azad to survive in the complicated politics of Kashmir.

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