Ghulam Nabi Azad declines J&K campaign chief post: A look at his many tiffs with Congress leadership

The latest twist in the seemingly never-ending tiff between Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Congress occurred on Tuesday when the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister declined the post of party’s campaign chief in the Union Territory.

The announcement, made by Congress president Sonia Gandhi as part of a comprehensive revamp of the organisation in Jammu and Kashmir, also saw the appointment of Vikar Rasool Wani, considered close to Azad, as the new Jammu and Kashmir unit chief.

However, sources said Azad declined to accept the offer just hours after the appointments were made public.

Let’s take a look at the many tiffs between Azad and the Congress

Not renominated to Upper House

Despite serving eight terms in the Rajya Sabha, Azad, who retired from the Upper House in March, was not renominated to the Upper House by the Congress.

This came at a time when the Congress, facing the exit of several high-profile leaders and defections, saw its list of Rajya Sabha names create more heartburn within the party ahead of the presidential polls.

As per New Indian Express, at the time there was a strong buzz that Sonia had offered Azad a top party position but the Congress stalwart politely turned it down.

Sources told the newspaper Azad, declining the offer, reportedly talked about the generational gap and how there is a big difference in the thinking of young and old leaderships.

Sources close to Azad said he was also offered a Rajya Sabha berth but he referenced the G23 demand of a complete overhaul in the party functioning. Rumours of Azad leaving the party or even floating his own outfit have been doing the rounds for a while, as per the report.

Padma award sparks Congress vs Congress battle

In January, the Centre’s call to award Azad the Padma Bhushan sparked a battle within the party with some celebrating the honour while others slammed the senior leader for accepting the award.

On 25 January, Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka Jairam Ramesh took veiled jibes at Azad for accepting the award by giving the example of PN Haksar, the principal secretary of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1971.

A few minutes later, Ramesh again tweeted, this time referring to former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as “Azad” (free) and not “Ghulam” (slave), who refused to accept the award.

However, Azad’s G23 cohorts Kapil Sibal and Shashi Tharoor offered their best wishes.

While Sibal slammed the Congress leadership saying it “doesn’t need his services when the nation recognises his contributions to public life”,  Tharoor said he appreciated the fact that “a government of the other side” had recognised Azad’s public service.

This, even as rumours ran rampant about Azad’s possibly shifting parties as reports surfaced that he had removed his Twitter bio after the award was announced.

Azad at the time called the claims “mischievous propaganda”.

Takes on party leadership in public

In December 2021, the rumour mills went into overdrive when Azad openly slammed party leadership.

“When Rajiv ji joined politics, Indira Gandhi called both of us and told Rajiv ji that Ghulam Nabi can even say no to me, but that NO doesn’t mean disobeying or disrespect, that’s for the good of the party. Today, no one is ready to listen to that no. For saying no you become nobody today,” Azad told NDTV.

In November 2020, Azad blamed the Congress party’s poor showing at the polls on a ‘five-star culture’.

“The problem with our leaders is that if they get a party ticket, they first book a five-star hotel. Even there they want a deluxe place. Then they will not move without an air-conditioned car. They will not go to places where there is an untarred road,” he told news agency ANI.

“Elections are not fought from five-star hotels… We can’t win until we change this culture,” he added.

Farewell speech stirs trouble in Congress

Azad’s 30-minute farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha, in which he recalled his nearly five-decade-long political journey stirred even more trouble with many from his own party choosing silence while BJP stalwarts including Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaping praise on Azad.

Modi had turned emotional while bidding farewell to Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Rajya Sabha.

Setting aside party politics, Modi narrated an event that occurred when they were both chief ministers of Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have known Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad for years. We were chief ministers together. We had interacted even before I became chief minister, when Azad Sahab was very much in active politics. He has a passion not many know about - gardening,” PM Modi was quoted as saying.

The prime minister recalled how Azad had reached out to him in 2006 after Gujarati tourists were killed in a grenade attack in Srinagar.

“I will never forget Shri Azad’s efforts and Pranab Mukherjee’s efforts when people from Gujarat were stuck in Kashmir due to a terror attack. That night…Ghulam Nabi Ji called me…,” he recalled, fighting tears, and paused for water.

“He sounded concerned like people are concerned about their own family members. That is the kind of feeling he showed.”

Narendra Modi remarked that Azad was a tough act to follow. “The person who will replace Ghulam Nabi ji as Leader of Opposition will have difficulty matching his work because he was not only concerned about his party but also about the country and the House,” he said.

Azad returned the praise, noting that the prime minister kept personal ties separate from the context of party politics. “We sparred in the House, we had long arguments, but you never let it affect personal bonds,” the Congress leader said.

The Print approached many Congress leaders for comment on Azad’s retirement speech but few were willing to comment.

“You should ask Modi,” a senior Congress leader from Kashmir who did not wish to be named said brusquely.

Congress leaders told The Print at the time that Azad’s “flip-flops” upset the party high command. “He is a very senior and respected leader, but to say such things after decades and decades of benefitting from closeness to the Gandhi family… it was of course disappointing,” a party leader said.

G23 grouping

Azad is a prominent member of the G23 grouping within the Congress which has been critical of the leadership and has been seeking an organisational overhaul.

The group of 23 senior Congress leaders including Azad, Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor, M Veerappa Moily, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan first  wrote to interim party chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020.

They unanimously requested immediate and active leadership and organisation rejig in the party.

As per The Print, in the CWC meeting that followed the letter, the Gandhi family, as well as other members such as Ambika Soni, had lashed out at Azad.

The demand intensified over time, and the dissenters including Azad and Sibal continue to debate and defy the party position from time to time.

The ‘rebel’ leaders sought overhaul within the party in view of failure to perform well in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Senior leader Rahul Gandhi’s defeat in Congress home turf Amethi also acted as a catalyst for the bubbling discontent in party leaders.

In the letter, the leaders suggested a democratic setup inside the party to elect its president and other office bearers.

In March, after the Congress drew a blank in all the five states whose results were declared on 10 March, some members of the G23 met at Azad’s residence in New Delhi.

According to an Indian Express report, the leaders agreed that the party was staring at an “existential crisis” and it will sink further if credible corrective actions are not taken. It cannot be business as usual, some argued.

Asked how they plan to take it forward, a leader said: “If we don’t take it forward, we sink. We are sitting in a boat in the turbulent ocean of Indian politics where water is gushing in from all directions. So, we can either submerge or some of us will try to take it back to the shore,” he said.

India Today reported that the G23 members demanded a new Congress president “as soon as possible” and asked for speeding up the electoral process for the same.

Sources  who attended the meeting a few leaders suggested that they should skip the Congress Working Committee because in the meeting the chief ministers, Youth Congress leaders and presidents of frontal organisations only praise the Gandhi family and do not discuss any serious issues.

Sharma added that if the leaders speak assertively in the extended meeting, several sycophants oppose them. Therefore, it is necessary that only CWC people should attend the meeting, they added.

Congress revamps J&K unit

The Centre wants to hold Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir soon and the process of finalisation of electoral rolls is underway after the completion of the delimitation exercise.

Wani replaces Ghulam Ahmad Mir who had tendered his resignation in July after holding the post for eight years.

The Congress president has accepted the resignation of Mir from the post of president, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, a party statement said.

The Congress president appointed president and working president of the J&K unit and also constituted the campaign committee, political affairs committee, coordination committee, manifesto committee, publicity and publication committee, disciplinary committee and pradesh election committee of the UT unit with immediate effect, the statement said.

Wani (46), a resident of Banihal township of Jammu region’s Ramban district, is a two-time former legislator who also served as a minister during the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference-Congress coalition government between 2009-14.

Tariq Hamid Karra will be the vice chairman of the campaign committee headed by Azad, while G M Saroori will be its convenor, according to the statement.

The campaign committee has named 11 leaders with PCC president and working president its permanent invitees.

Mir, Tara Chand, Thakur Balwan Singh, T S Bajwa, Shabir Khan, Neeraj Kundan, Abdul Majeed Wani and Fairoz Khan are also part of the campaign committee.

Sonia also set up a political affairs committee with Karra as its chairman and it included the likes of Azad, Mir and Saifuddin Soz.

The political affairs committee also includes Peerzada M Syed, Taj Mohiuddin, Tara Chand, Mula Ram and Khemlata Wakhlu.

The committee comprises nine leaders with AICC in-charge, PCC president and working president being permanent invitees in the panel.

The party also formed an 11-member coordination committee headed by Mir, 12-member manifesto committee under the chairmanship of Soz and nine-member publicity and publication panel led by Mula Ram.

A seven-member disciplinary committee has been formed with Taj Mohiyuddin as the chairman.

A Pradesh Election Committee headed by PCC chief has also been set up.

The Election Commission had recently revised to November 25 the date of final publication of voters list of Jammu and Kashmir – the union territory’s first voters’ list after the boundaries of assembly seats were redrawn in the delimitation exercise.

After the rolls are published, the EC can technically hold assembly polls in the UT. A timeline for the election is yet to be officially declared.

With inputs from agencies

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