DNA Special: Know why Ghulam Nabi Azad turned his back on Congress, his allegations on Rahul Gandhi

After nearly five decades of devoted service to his party, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in a surprise, resigned from all the posts of the Congress party, including the primary party membership. In his resignation letter, he was visibly disgruntled with the top leadership of the party.

Not following the suit of most leaders who resign from their political parties, Jammu and Kashmir politician Ghulam Nabi Azad wrote a 5-page long resignation letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi, where he pointed out exactly what’s going wrong in Congress.

In the first 9 paragraphs of his resignation, Ghulam Nabi Azad kept telling Congress President Sonia Gandhi about his identity as a politician. He kept reiterating his importance and his loyalty to the party. Throughout his career, he talked about the sacrifices he made for the party, including going to jail.

Launching scathing allegations at the top leadership in the party, Ghulam Nabi Azad called Rahul Gandhi an immature leader and has described his policies in the Congress party as the party's "misfortune". He mentioned Gandhi several times in his letter, without singing single praise.

One of the things he mentioned in his resignation letter was “unfortunately after Rahul Gandhi entered politics and became vice-president, the party's advisory board was abolished.” He further wrote that senior leaders in the party were sidelined and that inexperienced sycophants are running the party.

The senior J&K leader also talked about the behavior of Rahul Gandhi, where he talked about tearing up an ordinance of the party, referring to it as “childish behavior” and “immature”.

Azad had further written in his resignation, “Under your stewardship in 2014 and subsequently that of Shri Rahul Gandhi, the INC has lost two consecutive Lok Sabha elections in a humiliating manner. Unfortunately today, the INC is ruling in only two states and is a very marginal coalition partner with other two states.”

According to Ghulam Nabi Azad, the reason behind the strengthening of the BJP is a non-serious person of the Congress party, on whom the operation of the party is being imposed for the last 8 years, indirectly taking a jibe at former party chief Rahul Gandhi.

In his letter, Ghulam Nabi Azad made five serious allegations about the Congress party –

• The first allegation was that senior leaders from Congress were being sidelined. He was also humiliated on several occasions.
• His second allegation was that inexperienced sycophants are now being preferred over experienced leaders in decisions related to the Congress party.
• His third allegation was that his advice was ignored over decisions in the interest of the party during elections. He alleged that he was not even listened to seriously.
• Azad further alleged that the Congress party has also started following the 'remote control model', in which there is a face and someone else is taking decisions.
• His fifth allegation was that all elections within the Congress party are a false spectacle. Institutional elections of the Congress party are not being held all over the country, he said, and people sitting in the  AICC are making their special people sit up to the booth level.

Ghulam Nabi Azad retired from the Rajya Sabha on January 2021. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha for the last 7 years. In February 2021, Ghulam Nabi Azad reached Kashmir with leaders of the G-23 group of the Congress, and there he showed strength.

In May 2021, Ghulam Nabi Azad was upset that he, along with several senior members of the party, was not made a star campaigner in elections in five states, including Bengal and Assam. In March 2022, a meeting of G-23 leaders was held at Azad's house. In this 5-hour meeting, the demand for reform of the Congress party arose, and a letter was written.

In July 2022, an agreement was reached between the Congress's high command and Azad, and some of their demands on Kashmir were accepted. After this, Ghulam Nabi Azad reached the party office and also held a press conference in support of Sonia Gandhi. In August 2022, he was made the chairman of the party's campaign committee, but he resigned a few hours later, starting his clear revolt against the party.

READ | Sonali Phogat death: Associates drugged BJP leader, ‘economic interest’ alleged; know top updates