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Congress's ‘capability’ jibe after Shah says Azad not among ‘three families’
Union home minister Amit Shah had attacked leaders from opposition parties with frequent references to the "three families", "Mufti and company" and "Abdullah and sons".
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday targeted his former party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad after Union home minister Amit Shah said the Jammu and Kashmir leader was not among the “three families” he had earlier trained his guns during a rally. Addressing a gathering at Showkat Ali stadium in Baramulla district earlier this week, Shah attacked leaders from opposition parties NC, PDP and Congress with frequent references to the "three families", "Mufti and company" and "Abdullah and sons".
The home minister had blamed Abdullahs (National Conference), Muftis (PDP) and Nehru-Gandhi (Congress) for the "lack of development" in Jammu and Kashmir. He said only the "three families" used to come to power but the “delimitation by the Election Commission will result in your own representatives winning in the elections and then governing".
"Has terror benefited anyone ever in the world? About 42,000 people of J-K have lost their lives from 1990 till now because of terrorism. Tell me, who is responsible for this? These three families who have ruled J-K are responsible," he said.
In an interview with the Jammu-based newspaper Daily Excelsior, Shah said that “Ghulam Nabi Azad is not among the three families.”
“Everyone has the right to contest, elections are to be fair and free but one thing is there Ghulam Nabi Azad is not among the three families,” he said.
Shah’s remark drew a swift reaction from Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications.
“He is the beneficiary of the Congress Party which over 50 years gave him much more than he deserved and much more beyond his capability,” Ramesh tweeted.
Ghulam Nabi Azad left the Congress party earlier this year and floated his political outfit Democratic Azad Party (DAP), with the support of dozens of former ministers, ex-legislators and other prominent leaders, the majority of whom also resigned from the Congress in his support.
