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| Azad strives for a comeback as Congress's JK face | | | Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Aug 10: The former chief minister and Parliament's upper house member, Ghulam Nabi Azad is subtly becoming Congress's revitalised face in Kashmir as the statement spree being issued by Azad since the onset of present unrest only hints at his re-entry in Jammu and Kashmir's political landscape.
This 67-year-old Congress veteran has been in a fore front in castigating the GOI's approach towards Kashmir while suggesting new ways to deal with the present unrest in Valley that so far has claimed more than 55 lives. Though there have already been the reports about differences within the state Congress with Azad's group preferring to defy the directions coming from the incumbent JKPCC chief, former's present handling of the Kashmir scenario at present has raised optimism among his cadre over his reincarnation. They believe that it will be Azad in future who would head the state once again. "Azad's tenure as the Chief Minister was worth to mention in JK. His pro-people measures are still remembered and talked widely. His present posture has given us hope that it is him who will lead us again," says a Congress leader and Azad supporter.
Interestingly, Azad took everyone by surprise when he started issuing the repeated statements about Kashmir and questioning government's approach over handling of the present crises. It was he among the very first ones who raised pitch against the use of pellet guns on protestors in Kashmir and expressed disheartenment over the statement of the security agencies in which they had justified the use of pellets during protests in Kashmir. Furthermore, what reflected Azad's ambitions to make a comeback in Kashmir politics was that it hasn't been a single day since July 9, this year, when Azad didn't issue a statement related to Kashmir. In parliament's upper house he talked about the people of the state and asserted not to distinguish between the people and the land. On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad reiterated the Congress party's demand for holding an all-party meeting followed by an all-party delegation to Srinagar to take stock of the situation. He was supported by leaders of several other opposition parties. Azad reiterated that militants must not be spared and that there is a difference between communalism and separatism.
"Militants are militants, they don't have any religion. Whether they are from Kashmir or from Punjab or an international one from ISIS."
He also said that the issue of law and order is not one that can just be managed by the state government. "Since there has been militancy in Kashmir, the state is policed by the paramilitary forces as well as the state police."
"We talk about Kashmir being an integral part of India, but there needs to be integration of heart and minds. There needs to be integration between people of India and Kashmir," Azad said.
"There needs to be integration between the Centre and the state government. That is not seen, else what PM Modi said wouldn't have come from Madhya Pradesh but in Parliament," he added.
Meanwhile, there it seems that the state Congress chief and the former tourism minister had kept himself confined and preferring not to issue a single statement- hinting at him being asked by the high command to allow Azad to take a fore front. As the routine statements are issued by the JKPCC, there are being quoted by the party spokesman and not by the party chief in JK.
What remains to be seen is how Azad's re-emergence as Congress's 'promising state leader' would take the Congress out of the deep fog and make it to witnessed what it hasn't during the parliament as well as the state elections of 2014. |
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