On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got admiration and respect from unexpected sources. Modi hopes to rid India of the Congress. Former Congressman Ghulam Nabi Azad claims that despite years of selfless service, the Congress was not particularly generous to him. He has since founded his own Democratic Progressive Azad Party. He claimed that PM Modi, in contrast, had been more kind to him and asserted that the Congress “won’t come to power for decades.”
“I haven’t gone to any of his (Prime Minister Modi’s) supper parties, which was disrespectful of me, but he disregarded it. I have spoken against them for 70 years’ worth of speaking in my seven years as leader of the opposition. But he disregarded it and conducted himself like a leader. There are times in life when one must act as a leader, he continued.
He also recalled his good times with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister and one of the BJP’s biggest figures.
In reference to an incident when he had praised Sanjay Gandhi for his final speech, Mr. Azad claimed that Vajpayee “remembered the positive and there’s a statesman.”
“Sanjay Gandhi spoke for 15 minutes during the budget address, all of it being against Vajpayee. Vajpayee, however, declared that he would not criticise Sanjay Gandhi in any way. You are the prime minister because of Sanjay Gandhi and your peers, he (Vajpayee) told Mrs. Gandhi. Sanjay Gandhi acquired her position of leadership as a result of this. Therefore, I won’t mention anything negative about him,” Mr. Azad said.
Mr. Azad has faced backlash from the Congress. “The Congress structure & its leadership have greatly benefited Ghulam Nabi Azad & Jyotiraditya Scindia. They provide compelling proof that this generosity shown to them was unjustified with each passing day. They show their true character, which they had long kept hidden, according to a tweet from the party’s communications director, Jairam Ramesh.
One of the G-23’s leaders, Mr. Azad, the group of 23 internal opponents of the Congress, resigned last year amid much resentment. He criticised Rahul Gandhi in his five-page letter of retirement to Sonia Gandhi, calling him out on his “childish behavior,” “glaring immaturity,” and for allowing a “coterie of inexperienced sycophants” to run the party.
He claimed that G-25 had been handled like “Modi-ites” by Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. Rahul Gandhi allegedly claimed that Modi wrote the letter at the conference with Sonia Gandhi after it was sent, according to the accuser.
When questioned about claims that his party is the “B Team of the BJP,” Mr. Azad avoided the subject. “In Jammu and Kashmir, there are two significant political parties: the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party. I don’t have any alliances, he declared.
