Azad stirs a controversy, what next?

Anil Anand
“…..Our PM hails from a village and very proudly says he was a nobody- that he used to wash utensils and sell tea. I appreciate the fact that he is true to his roots…..”
How about these words of praise coming from a veteran Congress leader for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the midst of campaigning for five assembly elections? And that too when the party’s former president and its prominent face Rahul Gandhi has launched a no-holds-bar broadside against Mr Modi’s policies and programmes.
The daggers are already out in the AICC corridors as the party high command has taken a serious note of a veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad applauding Mr Modi. This statement has caused consternation among Mr Azad’s fellow travellers in what is termed as the Group 23 or G23 the acronym for rebels as many of them are as shell-shocked and are hard pressed to know what caused him to praise the Prime Minister. It is rather ironic that he chose to praise the PM from his own home turf, a place which has been demoted and decimated. That is as befuddling for the G23 as for the Congresspersons at large.
Former Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mr Azad chose a place and time of his choice to deliver this politically heavily loaded commentary which has set the tongues wagging whether the Congress was heading towards a fresh round of upheaval if not the split. There could be varied interpretations of his observation focused on Mr Modi, after the recently found bonhomie between the two leaders.
But the fact remains that Mr Azad, after having been denied another Rajya Sabha term and nearly sidelined in the party affairs particularly in respect to his home turf Jammu and Kashmir, seems to have made it clear that he is not going to take things lying low while breathing at the same time that he was not hankering after any position of power anymore. But will his resolve stand ground in view of the growing chasm in the Group 23 over this statement?
In his first outing after the expiry of his Rajya Sabha term, Mr Azad armed with half-a-dozen members of the G23 group- the signatories to a letter written to the interim Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi on organisational matters that was subsequently leaked in the media- chose his stronghold Jammu to flex muscles. As expected, being the tallest Congress leader in the Union Territory (UT) he evoked thunderous response from his party-persons and followers in the opening programme of his three-day tour. This euphoria was short-lived and soon gave way to protests for having praised Mr Modi.
His fellow-travelling G23 group members such as former Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Congress’ deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, Rajya Sabah MP and former Union Minister, Kapil Sibal and Lok Sabha MP from Punjab, Manish Tiwari, left no one in any doubt that their hurt was more on account of “Mr Azad’s experience not being utilised” than the enfeebled condition of the party. The party has weakened statement was merely used as a decorative icing on the cake. It is another matter that the intent became clearer as the three-day tour ended.
Mr Azad’s eulogy of the PM entirely changed the contest and even thinking of majority of the G23 members. They are all begging for an answer as to what led Mr Azad to praise Mr Modi from a public platform. Some of them have already parted way while others are biding time to drift.
The programme had all the trappings of a pressure building exercise though it definitely created flutter at the AICC and in the state Congress levels. The two-pronged intent of the G23 leaders, as became evident from their speeches, was don’t ignore Mr Azad and if so do it at your own risk, and or the need for like-minded forces to come together to face the might of the BJP wherein he has an important role to play. The implied hint was towards opposition unity with Mr Azad at the helm. Might be without the Congress? So, they laid the options on the table for the Congress high command to make a choice.
However, Mr Azad’s eulogy of Prime Minister Modi made at a separate function where he was the chief guest brought more clarity on the intent behind organising such a show. Nothing including praise for Mr Modi’s was off-the-cuff. Everything was immaculately planned to deliver a message both to the Congress higher ups as well as where the other course of action lies.
The timing of the Jammu event- in the midst of electioneering for the important assembly elections- has made many sit up and think if it was merely a pressure building exercise or has more to it. It certainly has the potential to provide the BJP with a tool to further up the ante against the Congress in the poll bound states as the latter is already hard pressed to make an electoral comeback somewhere.
The event has made the task even much harder for the Congress as BJP will not allow the opportunity to go without deriving electoral benefit are at least further embarrassing its arch political rival. After this the veracity of Mr Azad and group 23’s assertion that they all stand for strengthening the organisation has come under a cloud. It would be in the fitness of things to ask whether this programme could have been delayed in view of the elections so as not to embarrass their own party by indirectly helping BJP.
There is no doubt that Mr Azad is one of the senior most among the Congress leaders who has a wide-ranging experience of the country’s politics. He certainly has great utility for the party be it inside or outside the Parliament. This fact should have dawned both on Mr Azad as well as the party strategists: the former for rushing to organise the Jammu show and in turn embarrass his own party and latter for failing to make some peremptory moves to placate him.
Whether someone likes it or not, it remains a fact that Mr Azad’s identity and his current stature is because of Congress. The party has reposed faith in him and has been using his experience for 40 years, which he has been reciprocating till he decided to lead G23 letter-war followed by exhibition of bonhomie towards a rival leader. There is a marked difference between personal-social relations and political bonhomie of the kind exhibited during the last few weeks which was avoidable unless the motive is different.
There are still no direct answers coming as to why Mr Azad was neglected or feeling neglected by the Congress high command of which he himself has been part for the last three decades. Even if another Rajya Sabha term was not in order for him, the party strategists should have worked an honourable way out of the situation by taking him into confidence in terms of utilising his services in some other capacity.
It is very difficult, in the context of Indian politics, for the old guard to realise that the party is in the mode of a generational change. Who better to understand this situation than Mr Azad who is a witness to series of generational power shifts in the Congress and became perpetual part of the new dispensations?
This time around he seems to have abandoned his time-tested USP of patience and wait and watch, and preferred to up the ante. His political success unlike his former party colleague Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, has never been based on adventurism.
From here on much would depend on how Mr Azad and Group 23 conducts itself in the run up to the organisational elections. Whether they decide to hold similar shows in rest of the country as was indicated by them? Or have they exposed themselves to disciplinary action.
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