A salute, effusive praise in PM's emotional farewell to Ghulam Nabi Azad

The respective Rajya Sabha terms of Azad and three other MPs, all from Jammu and Kashmir, are ending on February 15.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday bid farewell to senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and three other Rajya Sabha members, whose terms are expiring on February 15. While PM Modi effusively praised all the four MPs, it was the personal equation with Azad that he stressed upon and even broke down during his farewell speech. The Prime Minister's tribute to Azad also featured a salute as the outgoing Congress MP acknowledged the gesture.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad (File Photo/ANI)

PM Modi said he valued Azad as a friend and his doors would always be open to the outgoing leader of the opposition. Speaking about Azad, the Prime Minister said that he was ‘worried’ that whoever succeeds the senior Congress MP will have big boots to fill. “Whoever succeeds Ghulam Nabi Ji will face great difficulties in matching up to him. This is because while Azad Ji was concerned about his party, he was equally concerned about the House and the country,” PM Modi said, adding that he also places the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who is also a member of the Upper House, in this ‘category.’

Azad is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House.

The Prime Minister then recalled a meeting of floor leaders he was to chair during the coronavirus crisis. The same day, PM Modi recalled, he got a call from Azad and quoted the Congress leader as saying, “It’s good what you are doing Modi Ji, but please also call a meeting of leaders of all parties.” “I did what he advised me to do,” he said. PM Modi also remarked that he felt ‘delighted’ that Azad, a former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, gave him the idea to do so.

Among other instances, the Prime Minister recalled the time when both he and Azad were chief ministers of Gujarat and J&K respectively. Remarking how tourists from Gujarat constitute a large number of visitors to the Valley, he recalled he recalled a terror attack in which eight people from his home state lost their lives. “Ghulam Nabi Ji was the first to call me up. That call was not just to inform me, he couldn’t control his tears on the phone,” PM Modi said, his voice breaking down.

He continued after sipping a glass of water. “That night Azad Ji called me up and expressed his concern like one would for his family.”

Besides Azad, the other three retiring Rajya Sabha MPs are Shamsher Singh Manhas of PM Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Peoples Democratic Party's (PDP's) Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Nazir Ahmad.