Ghulam Nabi azad Archives - Lokmarg

Not As Easy As Abrogation Of Article 370: Ghulam Nabi Azad On UCC

By LokMarg 8th July 2023

Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Friday that bringing about Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will not be as easy for the central government as abrogation of Article 370.

“This is not as easy as abrogation of Article 370. It has all religions, not only Muslims, but it has Sikhs, Christians, tribals, Jains, and Parsis. Angering so many religions at the same time will not be good for any government and my advice to this government is that they should never think of taking such a step,” he said.
Speaking on elections in the state, Azad said, “When the Assembly was dissolved in 2018 since then we are waiting that when the elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir. We are waiting for six years.”

Ghulam Nabi Azad said that people in Jammu and Kashmir are waiting eagerly for elections in the union territory.

“The people of Jammu and Kashmir are waiting for the democratic set-up to be restored in the state…meaning that the elected representatives become MLAs and they run the government. Because only elected representatives can do this work in a democracy,” the veteran politician said.

The Centre abrogated Article 370 and 35(A) from the erstwhile state on August 5, 2019. Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on the same day.

“Across the world or in any part of India the ‘officer sarkar’ can’t run for more than six months. It is essential that elected representatives are brought back to power,” Ghulam Nabi Azad reasoned, backing for elections in the Union Territory.

“We have been demanding from the last six years, five years and even three years and even now that elections are held as soon as possible,” he said pleading for elections. (ANI)

When Narasimha Was PM: Ghulam Nabi On Parliament Building Inauguration

By LokMarg 24th May 2023

Asserting that the construction of a new Parliament building was necessary, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that it is good that it has been constructed but the idea was mooted when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

He further refrained from commenting on the issue of which political party would be attending or boycotting the inauguration event of the new Parliament building.
“This is a technical issue. Parliamentarians who want to boycott this event or want to attend it is up to them. It is their point of view on how they want to perceive this event. Those parliamentarians will have to explain the reasons why they are boycotting the event. I don’t want to comment on who will be attending or boycotting the inauguration event,” Azad, Democratic Progressive Azad Party chief, told to ANI.

He also recalled the conversation related to the need for a new Parliament building between him and then Speaker Shivraj Patil when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

“At the time when PV Narasimha Rao was the PM, Shivraj Patil was the Speaker and I was the Parliamentary Affairs minister, Shivraj ji had said to me that a new and bigger Parliament building should be constructed before 2026. The construction of a new building was necessary, it’s good that it has been constructed now,” he said.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi said, “Not getting the President to inaugurate the Parliament nor invite her to the ceremony is an insult to the country’s highest constitutional post. Parliament is not made of bricks of ego but of constitutional values.”

Congress and eighteen other opposition parties have decided to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament Building and stated that it “insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution”.

In a joint statement, the like-minded opposition parties said that Prime Minister’s decision to inaugurate the building by himself is “a direct assault on our democracy, which demands a commensurate response.” The new Parliament building will be inaugurated on May 28.

“When the soul of democracy has been sucked out from the Parliament, we find no value in a new building. We announce our collective decision to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building. We will continue to fight — in letter, in spirit, and in substance — against this authoritarian Prime Minister and his government, and take our message directly to the people of India,” the statement said.

The nineteen opposition parties who will boycott the inauguration are – Congress, DMK, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), Samajwadi Party, TMC, Janta Dal (United), Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), RJD, Indian Union Muslim League, National Conference, Communist Party of India, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Vidhuthalai Chirunthaigal Katchi, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary, Socialist Party and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The statement said that the inauguration of a new Parliament building is a momentous occasion.

“Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, Prime Minister Modi’s decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response,” it said.

The opposition parties said that Article 79 of the Constitution states that there shall be a Parliament for the Union which shall consist of the President and two Houses to be known respectively as the Council of States and the House of the People.

“The President is not only the Head of State in India but also an integral part of the Parliament. She summons, prorogues, and addresses the Parliament. She must assent for an Act of Parliament to take effect. In short, the Parliament cannot function without the President. Yet, the Prime Minister has decided to inaugurate the new Parliament building without her. This undignified act insults the high office of the President, and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution. It undermines the spirit of inclusion which saw the nation celebrate its first woman Adivasi President,” the statement said.

The statement alleged that the ruling party at the Centre has sought to suppress the voice of opposition parties in Parliament.

“Undemocratic acts are not new to the Prime Minister, who has relentlessly hollowed out the Parliament. Opposition Members of Parliament have been disqualified, suspended and muted when they raised the issues of the people of India. MPs from the Treasury benches have disrupted Parliament. Many controversial legislations, including the three farm laws, have been passed with almost no debate, and Parliamentary Committees have been practically made defunct,” the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the new Parliament Building on December 10, 2020. It has been built in record time with quality construction.

In the present building of the Parliament, there is a provision for the sitting of 543 Members in the Lok Sabha and 250 in the Rajya Sabha.

Keeping in view the future requirements, arrangements have been made for a meeting of 888 members in the Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha in the newly constructed building of the Parliament. The joint session of both Houses will be held in the Lok Sabha chamber. (ANI)

Shift Kashmiri Pandits To Safer Jammu Till Situation Improves: Ghulam Nabi Azad

By LokMarg 26th December 2022

Democratic Azad Party Chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Kashmiri Pandit employees of the Jammu and Kashmir government should be temporarily shifted to Jammu till the situation improves in Kashmir.

Questioning the safety of the Kashmiri Pandits, he said that life is more important than employment and that the government should transfer Kashmiri Pandits to Jammu.
“The Government should transfer Kashmiri Pandit employees to Jammu and transfer them back only when the situation improves,” said Azad.

“If our government comes to power, we will transfer the Kashmiri Pandits to Jammu until the situation improves,” he said.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had last week said that Kashmiri Pandits serving in the Valley will not be paid their salaries if they do not attend their duties.

Migrant Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting against the decision of the government claiming that they are being threatened by the terrorists and can’t go back to work.

“We are receiving death threats repeatedly, the latest being on Wednesday night. We were told that a policeman would be posted outside the place of our posting. But we do not trust the security policy of the administration,” said a Kashmiri Pandit.

“The main reason behind the protests is an insecure environment prevailing in Kashmir. We have been protesting since the day targeted killings started against the minority community in the Valley. We appeal to the government to post us at safe and secure places,” said Rohit, a Kashmiri Pandit who is participating in the protests.

Kashmir has been witnessing a series of targeted killings since October last year.

Targeted killings in Kashmir Valley were part of a larger conspiracy by terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and other proscribed terrorist outfits to disturb the peace and democratic process established by the Panchayati Raj System in Kashmir Valley and also to create terror among the politically elected representatives, an NIA charge sheet said earlier.

The revelation came when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in September filed the charge sheet against six accused in the targeted killing of a Sarpanch of Adoora village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam.

The counter-terror agency filed the chargesheet in a special NIA court in Jammu in the case of the targeted killing of Sarpanch Shabir Ahmad Mir by the terrorists of the proscribed terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

The case was initially registered on March 11 at Kulgam police station in Jammu and Kashmir and re-registered by the NIA on April 8.

Investigations have revealed that the handlers of the proscribed terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen operating from Pakistan, hatched a criminal conspiracy in collusion with terrorist associates and Over Ground Workers and terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen active in Kashmir Valley to carry out the targeted killing of Sarpanch Shabir Ahmad Mir, said the NIA. (ANI)

Nabi Azad Announces His New Outfit Democratic Azad Party

By LokMarg 26th September 2022

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday announced that his new political outfit will be named as ‘Democratic Azad Party’.

The development comes exactly a month after Azad resigned from the Congress party.
Announcing the name of the new party at a press conference here, Azad said that the outfit will be secular, democratic and independent from any influence.

Azad also unveiled the flag of the Democratic Azad Party. The flag has three colours – mustard, white and blue.

Yesterday, Azad held meetings with his workers and leaders.

Earlier, Azad, in his first public meeting in Jammu after quitting Congress, had announced to launch of his own political outfit that will focus on the restoration of full statehood.

He had said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir would decide the party’s name and flag.

“I’ve not decided upon a name for my party yet. The people of J-K will decide the party’s name and flag. I’ll give a Hindustani name to my party that everyone can understand,” he said at the rally after breaking away from his five-decade-long association with the grand old party.

“My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile,” he added then.

Azad said that the first unit of his political outfit would be formed in Jammu and Kashmir in view of impending assembly polls.

“My party will focus on the restoration of full statehood, right to land, and employment to native domicile,” he added.

He lashed out at Congress and said that people are trying to defame us (me and my supporters who left the party) but their reach is limited to computer tweets.

Azad said, “Congress was made by us by our blood, not by computers, not by Twitter. People are trying to defame us but their reach is limited to computers and tweets.

That is why Congress is nowhere to be seen on the ground.” The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in his first public meeting at Sainik Colony in Jammu.

Azad has been Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008.

In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, he had targeted party leadership, particularly Rahul Gandhi, over the way the party has been run in the past nearly nine years.

In the hard-hitting five-page letter, Azad had claimed that a coterie runs the party while Sonia Gandhi was just “a nominal head” and all the major decisions were taken by “Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs”.

He was earlier Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha. Recounting his long association with the Congress, Azad had said the situation in the party has reached a point of “no return.”

While Azad took potshots at Sonia Gandhi in the letter, his sharpest attack was on Rahul Gandhi and he described the Wayand MP as a “non-serious individual” and “immature”. (ANI)

It Might Be Too Late To Revamp Congress Leadership Now

By Sanjoy Narayan 1st September 2020

When one of the senior most leaders of the Indian National Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad, recently said that the party was at its “historic low” and that if elections to appoint a new leader of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and other key organisational posts were not held soon, it could mean that the Congress could continue to sit in the Opposition for the next 50 years, the furore his statement caused was not unexpected. Such voices of dissent are not common in the Congress party and, expectedly, a Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh quickly demanded that he be ousted from the party.

But Azad, who is the current leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, and has held key posts as a Cabinet minister, and as a chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, like the young child in the Hans Christian Anderson folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, was telling the blunt truth. Decimated in the parliamentary elections of 2019, the Congress has been plunged into a crisis like it has been never seen before. Its leadership, still controlled by the Gandhi family—Ms. Sonia Gandhi continues as the party’s interim president after her son, Rahul Gandhi, stepped down from the post in 2019—has lacked decisiveness and several party leaders, have either left the party to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (notably Jyotiraditya Scindia), or have dissented against the Congress party’s leadership.

In late August, 23 senior leaders of the Congress party, including five former state chief ministers, members of the CWC, MPs, and former central government ministers, wrote to Ms. Gandhi calling for sweeping changes at all levels of the party. The letter focused on the erosion of the party’s support base; and loss of support from among India’s youth, who make up a substantially large proportion of the nation’s electorate. The letter, in effect, was a sharp indictment of the party’s leadership.

ALSO READ: Rahul’s Return At Helm Will Harm Cong

When Rahul Gandhi took over as the Congress’s president in 2017 it was in line with the sort of dynastic leadership lineage that one has come to expect in the party. The nadir of Gandhi’s short-lived tenure—he stepped down in less than two years—was the second defeat of the party he was leading at the hands of the BJP in 2019. Since then the Congress, already nearly marginalised after the 2014 parliamentary elections, which it also lost, has become a faint shadow of what it was. Among India’s 29 states, the party is in power in the states of Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the party has majority support. In Puducherry, it shares power with alliance partner, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the regional party. And besides, simmering dissent within the ranks of its central leadership, the Congress has also lost much of its direction.

Partly that has happened as a side-effect of a series of debilitating electoral defeats; but it is also the lack of a decisive leadership that has weakened and made it rudderless. The contrast between the two central parties is stark. The strength of the BJP leadership has never been greater than it is now. The Congress’s, on the other hand, has never been lesser than it is now.

The Congress may have missed an opportunity to revamp its leadership three years ago when Ms Gandhi stepped down and a new president was to be appointed. As it happened, it was her son who succeeded her. And that might have been the most serious wrong move by the party to create a strong leadership. For Rahul has never really demonstrated his ability to be the leader of the party. His track record—whether it is in leading an electoral campaign or strategy, or in restructuring the party—has been lacklustre to put it mildly.

Back in 2014, before the parliamentary elections, this author had written in a column for an Indian newspaper that the Congress had done a wise thing by not naming Rahul (who was then the party’s vice-president) as its prime ministerial candidate. The argument that I put forward was that he was not ready for the role. And although wishing that the Congress party will come back to power when the next parliamentary elections are held is, at least for now, in the realm of fantasy, Rahul still isn’t ready for that role. Then and again in the 2019 elections, the BJP went to the polls with a strong prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, and won both times.

ALSO READ: Can Capt Amarinder Save Congress?

The thing is that the Congress has never really looked beyond the Gandhi family for its top leadership position. In 2017, Rahul took over from his mother; in 2019, when he stepped down, his mother became interim president, a position she continues to hold even as dissent, and calls for a new leadership are welling up from within the party ranks. It is true that the Gandhi family has acted like some kind of glue that keeps the Congress party together. The family’s writ runs large in the party and dissent has been discouraged. Probably not any longer.

The letter by senior leaders; Azad’s recent statement; the resignation of several leaders (some of them to join the BJP) all of this point towards one thing: the Congress cannot exist in the manner it has been for so long. A non-Gandhi leader is what the party needs most now. But even if it finds one, that person has to enjoy the autonomy and freedom to change how the party organises; how it functions; and how it strategises.

The first step would be for its current leadership to heed the voices of reason that are surfacing from within. Its most important leaders, some of whom have much more successful political achievements than, say, Rahul Gandhi, have demanded changes in the way the party is led and how it functions. For Ms Gandhi, as interim president, that is the writing on the wall—in clear and bold letters. The second thing for the party and its main movers is to realise that the climb from where the party has fallen is going to be a long and very arduous one. The morale of its grassroots-level workers is low; dissent has spread among its leaders in various states; and the BJP has strengthened its position over the past six years that it has ruled at the Centre.

The Congress’s comeback, if the party reads that writing on the wall, is going to be slow, and often not painless. And, if those warning signs go unheeded, then what once was India’s all-powerful national party could hurtle towards extinction.

Cong Blames Modi For Rise In Militancy

By LokMarg Publishing 3rd April 2019

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the erstwhile PDP-BJP government for “growing militancy” in the state, saying their policies were responsible for pushing Jammu and Kashmir back into the era of 1990-91.

“Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre is responsible for creating an environment which forces the youth of the state to join militancy,” Azad said at an election rally here.

He added that during his time “militants were willing to surrender arms and return to mainstream whereas now militancy is growing in the state.”

He also slammed the Mehbooba Mufti-led People’s Democratic Party for forming a government in alliance with the BJP, according to Azad, whose leaders have been abusing the people of Kashmir for 70 years.

The former Chief Minister of the state also blamed the previous BJP-PDP government for the state of affairs of the valley. “Bad days for the people of Kashmir started the day BJP-PDP government came to power,” he told the gathering.

He slammed the Centre for committing atrocities on the people of Kashmir by using muscle power to deal with militancy.

“Even our enemies did not gauge out the eyes of our daughters but the government of the Bharatiya Janata Party is to be blamed for this atrocity,” he said, adding that children of two-three years have become blind after they were hit by pellets.

“Can a kid of two-three years pick up arms?” he asked the crowd.

Azad raised the issue of alleged custodial deaths.

He said, “We often speak against the Army but the police is also no less an enemy of us. They have also harassed us. There are some policemen who killed innocents for promotion and money,” Azad said.

Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls from April 11 to May 6 for its six Lok Sabha seats. The counting of votes will take place on May 23. (ANI)

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