A top Congress office-bearer led a protest against and had Ghulam Nabi Azad’s effigy burnt in Jammu on Tuesday days after the former Union minister praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“While the Congress held him in high esteem, made him a member of the Rajya Sabha and chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, he [Azad] lavished praise on Modi and has forged a friendship with the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party,” said Shahnawaz Choudhary, a general secretary of Congress in Jammu & Kashmir. Choudhary accused Azad of weakening the Congress and acting on Modi’s behest. He said Azad did not come to Jammu & Kashmir for the District Development Council election campaign last year but praised Modi, who snatched the region’s statehood.
Angry workers from the Youth Congress and National Students’ Union of India, the party’s student wing, demanded Azad’s removal from the party at the protest.
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Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the chief of Congress in Jammu & Kashmir, said theirs is a big party and every individual analyses things as per her understanding. “He [Choudhary] is certainly general secretary...but in a democracy, everyone has the right to express his or her opinion or resentment.”
{{/usCountry}}Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the chief of Congress in Jammu & Kashmir, said theirs is a big party and every individual analyses things as per her understanding. “He [Choudhary] is certainly general secretary...but in a democracy, everyone has the right to express his or her opinion or resentment.”
{{/usCountry}}On Sunday, Azad praised Modi for not forgetting his roots despite becoming the Prime Minister and asked his audience to learn from him about how one remains grounded. Azad’s comments come a day after Congress leaders, who wrote a letter to the party chief Sonia Gandhi last year demanding sweeping changes in the organisation, held a public rally with him on Saturday in Jammu.
Modi gave an emotional farewell speech on February 9 ahead of Azad’s retirement from Rajya Sabha.