'Made A Mistake': Leaders Who Left Ghulam Nabi Azad And Returned To Congress. Factors Behind Development

Many J&K Congress leaders defected from Ghulam Nabi Azad and rejoined the party, offering a substantial boost to the party. Take a look at the following facts to help you better grasp the situation.

Former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad (File Photo)

Ghulam Nabi Azad's failure to take a strong stance on Article 370 and various issues affecting Jammu and Kashmir is reflected in the rapid explosion of "ghar wapsi" inside his newly formed Democratic Azad Party (DAP).

Regarding Article 370, a contentious and bitterly divisive topic in the Kashmir valley, Jammu, and other parts of the state, the DAP has exhibited some ambivalence. The DAP recently published a vision paper that included many promises in addition to the "restoration of statehood, land rights, and employment." The National Conference (NC) and other Valley-focused parties, such as the People's Democratic Party (PDP), want Article 370 revived; however, Azad-led DAP kept silent on the issue.

Several Senior Leaders Returned Back To Congress: 

Seventeen leaders of Jammu and Kashmir's newly formed Democratic Azad Party (DAP), including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand and ex-PCC head Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, abandoned former Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad and returned to the Congress fold on Friday.

The Congress welcomed the leaders back, stating they had gone on "leave for two months".

K C Venugopal, general secretary of the AICC, said it was a happy day for the party because they were returning home ahead of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which will enter Jammu and Kashmir in two weeks.

Not A Setback To DAP, Wish Them Luck: Azad On Leaders Who Left The Party

When asked if there are any negotiations with Azad, the Chairman of the DAP, about his return to the Congress fold, Venugopal replied he has denied any such talks.

Azad stated that his colleagues' departure was not a setback for the new party and wished them well.

“It is not a setback because all three have no constituency. I wish them well, I will not say anything against them as they have been my old colleagues,” Azad was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

He was referring to Chand, Sayeed, and Thakur Balwan Singh.

If One Returns By Evening, One Is Not Lost: Leaders On Returning Back To Congress 

Congress leaders stated that they had spent their entire lives in Congress and made the wrong decision in haste and under the influence of emotions. They made the worst mistake by leaving the party, and they have now returned, grateful to the party for accepting them back.

Asked about the reasons to quit the Congress, Tara Chand said, "We got carried away by emotions and friendship and quit the party in haste". On why they rejoined, he said, "We were not comfortable in DAP as we have spent 50 years of our life in the Congress and realised our mistake," PTI reported. 

Regarding Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chand stated that he is a senior leader and that they were unaware of the circumstances and reasons for his departure from the party. "We left out of emotion as we felt our leader has been left alone and that is why we supported him in haste," he remarked, adding that secular forces in Jammu and Kashmir should unify.

AICC in-charge for J and K Rajani Patil said if one comes home by the evening, one is not lost. She stated that they realised the Congress had given them identification and that they had resolved to return.

Mohd. Mujaffar Parray, Mohinder Bhardwaj, Bhushan Dogra, Vinod Sharma, Narinder Sharma, Naresh Sharma, Ambrish Magotra, Subash Bhagat, Santosh Manhas, Badri Nath Sharma, Varun Magotra; Anuradha Sharma, Vijay Targotra, Chander Prabha Sharma were among the other leaders that rejoined the Congress.

Factors That Acted As Catalysts In This Development: 

Azad's Stance On Article 370: 

When Azad was a member of Congress and the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, he opposed repealing Article 370. He has been speaking in various places with different words since leaving Congress. "Article 370 is critical, and I believe it was not a blunder. What could be wrong with something that has been a part of the Indian constitution for 70 years? "Azad made a remark at one point.

He stated in September 2022 that the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir was doubtful and added, "I would not deceive voters as other parties have. To reinstate Article 370, political parties would need a majority of about 350 votes in the Lok Sabha and 175 votes in the Rajya Sabha. This is a figure that no political party has or will ever have. The number of Congress MPs [in the Lok Sabha] has fallen below 50, and they are making false promises if they speak of restoring Article 370."

Lack Of Clarity Of Agenda: 

Friends and opponents alike agree that having been educated in the Congress ethos for five decades, Azad, now 73, is unwilling to take solid stances on important issues confronting the terror-stricken state. They claim that politics in J&K is moulded not only by the state's turbulent history, but also by regions, sects, and ethnicities, where Azad's stated "absence of ideology, vision, or clarity" is causing harm and difficulties. Former J&K deputy chief minister Tara Chand, former JK PCC president Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, and Balwan Singh rejoined the Congress yesterday, bolstering Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra,' which is due to visit the state later this month.

Apparent Distancing From BJP: 

Despite the fact that the Assembly elections have not yet been formally called, there is a growing belief that they are imminent. While the Congress and the National Conference are banding together, the DAP is purposefully projecting its pre-election distance from the BJP.

Farooq Abdullah, a veteran, is claimed to have reassured the Gandhi family and the Congress by promising to do everything in their power to checkmate Azad. Many Kashmir observers were also drawn in by Farooq Abdullah's appearance at the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Azad has been working behind the scenes to eliminate any perception that he is close to the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Azad's Journey As A Leader: 

In addition to the lack of ideology, Azad's lack of leadership abilities and capacity for taking decisive action appear to be hindering DAP's chances of success this year when J&K Assembly elections are anticipated to take place soon. From the Sanjay Gandhi through Sonia Gandhi era, or from the 1970s until 2022, Azad was always regarded as being close to the party leadership in the Congress organisation.

He mostly had an administrative role, carrying out Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi's directives. During the regimes of PV Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri, Azad's prominence and equations remained basically unaltered.

The seasoned leader followed the established power structure and avoided taking strongly held ideological positions on matters like Shah Bano, the Ram Temple, and economic reforms.

Even though he served as chief minister of J&K from 2005 to 2008, Azad's term is largely seen as status quoist, despite the fact that it came to an end in a bitter, violent, and contentious dispute over the donation of public property to a shrine. The ally, the People's Democratic Party, had also stopped lending a hand.