Why Ghulam Nabi Azad quit Congress; 6 key points in his resignation letter
In the 1970s, Ghulam Nabi Azad joined the Congress Party under Sonia Gandhi and worked closely with Sanjay Gandhi. He was concerned that senior leaders were sidelined as Rahul Gandhi assumed a more prominent role in the grand old party.
FollowA Congress veteran leader and member of the G-23 dissident group, Ghulam Nabi Azad, resigned from the party on Friday, August 26, calling out Rahul Gandhi for his "immaturity" and "destruction of the consultative mechanism" in the party.
Know the highlights here:
1)Â Ghulam Nabi Azad joined Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the 1970s and worked closely with Sanjay Gandhi. He was concerned that senior leaders were being sidelined as Rahul Gandhi assumed a larger role in the grand old party. Although his critics argued that Azad enjoyed a large support base and held top party posts without having any mass base, he got upset when denied continued access to privilege.
2) Azad, a former Union Minister, who also served eight terms in the Rajya Sabha before retiring in March, was not renominated by Congress, which was the final straw for him to leave the party he had served for five decades.
3)Â Azad is also a former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, which has seen turbulent political changes, still has many loyalists in the party, and a rebellion in the party's unit led by him in the former state could harm its prospects.
4)Â Unfortunately, Rahul Gandhi demolished the entire consultative mechanism that existed before he entered politics, particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed Vice President by Sonia Gandhi, Azad said in his letter.
5)Â As per Azad, one of the most visible examples of Rahul Gandhi's immaturity was tearing up government documents in full view of the media.
6) This childish behaviour of Gandhi completely undermined the Prime Minister's and the Indian government's authority. This single action, more than any other, contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014, which was subjected to a campaign of slander and insinuation from a coalition of right-wing forces and unscrupulous corporate interests.
Azad, who served as the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha until February 2021, resigned from the Jammu and Kashmir organisation last week, citing health issues.
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