The resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress party hardly surprised anyone. It was in the coming and his hobnobbing with the BJP was in the realm of suspicion. When most people look at Congress as a sinking ship, the tendency is naturally to run out of it or to hang on to a fig leaf of respectability by blaming the Congress leadership. Survival is first priority for all politicians. Yet, the lack of grace with which Azad did the exit was rather shameful for a politician of such a long standing as a Congress leader and parliamentarian — for which too, he has now demonstrated a lack of gratitude. This is another proof that most politicians of today lack both character and dignity.
The way Azad chose to bad-mouth and rubbish Rahul Gandhi should surprise one and all. All the accusations he made against the scion of the Nehru family – that ironically labels itself as Gandhis – were old wine. Azad was in the forefront to sing paeans of the family and the party they have been leading for almost the entire history of India’s Independence. Yet, he was badly in need of excuses for his exit and Rahul Gandhi came as the scapegoat. It is well-known that after the G23 offensive, Azad missed the bus for another Rajya Sabha innings. Also, chances for the Congress were dim both in Jammu and Kashmir and at national level. Ambitious Azad, aged 73, aims at forming his own party. His strategy is also to eventually ally with the BJP and become the Chief Minister. The plot is getting thicker and thicker.
In the final analysis, the fact is also that Jammu and Kashmir set for assembly polls by year-end must have a new leader to take it forward; and that leader must be a Muslim. This is time to end the stranglehold of the Abdullahs, a family that ruled the province for three generations and obviously made a mess of it; so did another dynast Mehbooba Mufti, who failed to check militancy and continued violence during her tenure. It was during her tenure as Chief Minister that the stone-pelting saga against security forces started and truned into an obsession. Azad on the contrary is a nationalist by all counts and it’s time perhaps to give him a chance to maintain the present peace in Kashmir and to further promote it. A new leader for the region must meet the aspirations of the locals through fast-paced industrialization and promotion of tourism. Azad has the conditioning as also stature and he might enjoy the goodwill of the people in sufficient measure there.