By M S Nazki
To which team of BJP does Ghulam Nabi Azaad belong to? Team A, Team-B or Team-C!
-‘Or is Azad the former Chief Minister running out of money?’
-‘Well at this ripe old age he should or would be having a comfortable life in New Delhi and suddenly Ghulam Nabi gas got energized!’
-‘Is it a plan to splatter apart the Congress vote bank? Definitely it is!’
-‘Power matters and Azad always went for power but one thing he forgot, the party Indian National Congress gave him the stature which he probably forgot or was it that he was scared from the lengthening claws of the enforcement directorate! Again he probably was!
-What did Azad say: Article 370 Can’t Be Restored; Cong May Go From 50 to 25 LS Seats: Ghulam Nabi Azad at J&K Rally! Sounds a great statement but that is not going to happen! A man who was with the oldest party in India is speaking a language of a party whom he opposed tooth nail sounds a bit incredible! But the fact remains that he is in one of the teams of BJP! Could be Team-C! Such a man deserves the status of Charlie! Sorry I did not add Chaplin!’ Azad is nowhere near the great actor in any case!’
-‘After serving the Congress for over five decades, 73-year-old Azad resigned from the party on August 26. The former chief minister targeted regional party leaders, saying they should not lie to people about Article 370. Azad told the gathering that he will fight for restoration of statehood and protection of jobs and land for residents of J&K!
-‘The history of Article 370 is far bigger than Azad’s own political career?’
-‘Article 370 of the Indian constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a region located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and part of the larger region of Kashmir which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan and China since 1947’.
-‘Jammu and Kashmir was administered by India as a state from 1952 to 31 October 2019, and Article 370 conferred on it the power to have a separate constitution, a state flag, and autonomy of internal administration!
-‘Article 370 was drafted in Part XXI of the Indian constitution titled ‘Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions’
-‘It stated that the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir would be empowered to recommend the extent to which the Indian constitution would apply to the state. The state assembly could also abrogate Article 370 altogether, in which case all of the Indian Constitution would have applied to the state.’
-‘After the state constituent assembly was convened, it recommended the provisions of the Indian constitution that should apply to the state, based on which the 1954 Presidential Order was issued. Since the state constituent assembly dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution.’
-‘On 5 August 2019, the Government of India issued a Presidential Order superseding the 1954 order, and making all the provisions of the Indian constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. The order was based on the resolution passed in both houses of India’s parliament with two-thirds majority.
-‘A further order on 6 August made all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative.
-‘In addition, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was passed by the parliament, enacting the division of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories to be called Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh.] The re-organisation took place on 31 October 2019.
-‘A total of 23 petitions were presented to the Supreme Court of India, challenging the central government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which has constituted a five judge bench for the same.
-‘At his first rally in Baramulla after his exit from the Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad was candid saying Article 370 is done and dusted and it was almost impossible for any political party to bring it back.’
-‘I will not mislead anyone. Neither for votes, nor for politics will I exploit you. Please don’t rake up issues which can’t be achieved. Article 370 can’t be restored. It needs a majority in parliament,” Azad told the gathering, clearly hitting out at Kashmir-based mainstream parties.’
-‘Obviously it seems that he is the Chief Minister candidate of the state which belongs to the people!’
-‘Parties such as the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party have come together to form the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration to fight for restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, stripped in 2019.’
-‘But is Ghulam Nabi right in making such declarations and masking himself? He is absolutely wrong’!’ He is in for a highland surprise!’
-‘The former J&K chief minister said the Congress was going down with every election and there is no party in India which can get a majority in parliament and restore article 370. Neither the Congress nor any other regional party or leaders … Mamata, DMK, Sharad Pawar or anyone can get back 370,’ he said. Yes they cannot but you Azaad Sahib were the mosst vociferous about the same! You are calculating seats but will you win yours! Honestly speaking I have doubts!
-‘Azad added that for anyone to do so, a party has to get 350 plus seats in the Lok Sabha and also two-thirds majority in Rajya Sabha. He said in the last election, the Congress won 50-odd seats and that might further come down to 25, but “I pray the Congress does well.’ Perhaps the tally would be more! Self assumptions can be deliciously dangerous!’
‘J&K has been going through a difficult phase since 1947 and more than one lakh people have lost lives and leaders have banked on falsehoods to deceive the masses. The politics of exploitation has led to the killing of one lakh people in Kashmir. It has orphaned five lakh children and caused massive distraction’ he said.’
-‘He said said that he has come to J&K to fight against falsehoods even if it hurts his political prospects. Azad is the biggest false face in political landscape of J&K as many others were and he knows who exactly they were!’!
-‘Azad was the Chief Minister when the same things were happening? What great things did he do?
Known for his ability to negotiate the challenging twists and turns of body politic, Azad was often sent by the leadership to fight any situation – be it a crisis in a faction-ridden state unit like Haryana or cobble up a new alliance and government in Karnataka with the JDS. He did it but it was power that bothered him more perhaps! But things were never the same between Azad and Gandhi after the summer of 2020 when he headed the ‘group of 23’, seeking a leadership and organisational change. Observers say the relationship broke irretrievably after the Congress chief denied Azad, the sitting leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, a renomination to the upper house last year. This is what politics is all about and he found that Congress was a depleted lot! Right or wrong, the decision he took at the age of seventy could not have been right in any way! Anyway the choice was his!
Many eyebrows were raised when Prime Minister Narendra Modi profusely praised Azad while delivering an emotional speech during the Congress leader’s farewell in Rajya Sabha in 2021. In return, Azad was also effusive in his praise for Modi. Again the Congress did not take it easily when the Modi government conferred the Padma Bhushan on Azad. Senior leaders called it a political decision and not one on merit. And very recently, Azad resigned from the post of head of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee hours after he was appointed. The writing was on the wall since then. But the people know as to what the game plan was! Anyway let us see how Azad plays the final few overs of his political innings! By the way, the prospects do not look bright at all, sadly speaking!