Mubashir Naik
In a dramatic move on Tuesday, Congress youth activists set ablaze an effigy of senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in Jammu and accused him of conspiring against the party at the behest of the BJP to weaken it for “personal gains”. The Congress activists, mostly the youth, demanded his removal from the party.
It is pertinent to mention that a few days back on his arrival from Delhi, a huge public gathering welcomed him but within a few days ground reality had changed.
The protest against the former Jammu Kashmir chief minister came days after a rally addressed by some ‘G-23’ leaders ostensibly to felicitate Azad on his retirement from the Rajya Sabha. It was seen as a show of strength to convey a message to the party leadership.
The group of 23 leaders wrote to the interim president Sonia Gandhi in August last year urging her to ensure “full time” and “visible” leadership. It has since come to be known as ”G-23”.
Led by District Development Council (DDC) member and former general secretary of J&K Congress Mohammad Shahnawaz Choudhary, Congress activists appeared outside the Press Club in Jammu on Tuesday afternoon and set ablaze the effigy of Azad amid high-pitch sloganeering against him and in support of party president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
“Congress has always put him (Azad) on the top and when the party needed his experience at the time of crisis, he came to Jammu Kashmir and praised Narendra Modi who deprived us of statehood. It is clear that he is working at the behest of the BJP to weaken the party for his personal gains,” Choudhary, a former J&K Pradesh Youth Congress president, told reporters.
Choudhary, who won the DDC election from Surankot-A constituency of Poonch as an independent, accused Azad of conspiracy against the Congress leadership and demanded his expulsion from the party.
Amid sloganeering in support of Rahul Gandhi and stern action against Azad from the party, Choudhary said they have come on the roads to give vent to their anger. “It is the Congress which groomed him (Azad) over the decades, sends him to Rajya Sabha repeatedly and made him chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
“When the Congress is in crisis and he should have used his experience to strengthen the party, he comes to J-K with a select group of G-23 leaders and showers praises on Prime Minister Modi to weaken the party for his personal interests,” the Congress leader said.
On Sunday, Azad at a function praised Modi, saying he speaks frankly about his past as a tea-seller and does not try to hide his background from the world.
After the end of earlier protest in morning, another Congress group of Congress emerged in press club Jammu at afternoon. The protesters condemned the earlier protests and call them Anti-Congress element, working on behest of BJP
“Those people have no right to protest against Azad sahib Or say anything against Congress,who fought DDC election against Congress,” a congress worker said while demanding the early removal of Azad Chowdary and Jatinder singh Chib from basic membership of congress.