I Won’t Consider Myself An Oppn Leader, I Will Stay Neutral: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Congress rebel Ghulam Nabi Azad’s memoir, titled ‘Azaad’, documents politics over the past five decades.

Providing a ringside view to the corridors of power, Azad is critical of his former party in his memoir, describing its behaviour as “bloopers and bombast”. In a conversation with Sunetra Choudhury, he argued that while senior BJP leaders would like to see competition from a strong Congress party, the latter isn’t doing enough. Azad, who is seen to be close to PM Narendra Modi, also spoke about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Do you consider yourself an opposition leader?

I don’t think I have reached that stage because I must win some seats first in the state to claim to be in the opposition. I can say my voice will be totally neutral. I will not work on preconceived things. I will call a spade, a spade. Whatever is good, I will appreciate. Whatever is bad, I will oppose. Whatever is in the interest of the country, I must appreciate as a countryman, and whatever is not in the interest of the country, I will definitely oppose, whosoever he or she may be, which political party, irrespective of what their ideology may be.

Does that make you something like what the YSR Congress Party and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal are? Everybody else apart from these two parties is critical of the BJP.

I think it cannot be compared with any of them. My ideas are not regimented. My ideas are totally open. I am totally independent. That’s why my last name is Azad (free). My party is also named Azad and my book is also ‘Azaad’. I don’t want opposite parties to be called as enemies. We are just competitors.

You praise Narendra Modi but also point out he didn’t talk about his foreign trips inside Parliament…

He was always very friendly. As Prime Minister, to some extent, I must say, whatever his perception outside may be, is not the same. I think he’s broad minded in that sense. I never attended his official function, I never spared him on the floor of the House. Yet he was so generous in praising me. I think this everybody cannot do. And I found some similarity in him with AB Vajpayee.

So, according to you, Modi is a good Prime Minister?

I would say so. I am nobody to give judgment but my personal experience is that whenever he would meet me in the lobby, he never said that Congress should be finished. In fact, he said that an alternate national party should exist. He would say how long will we continue and you people are not doing enough. I’m quoting this for the first time and I think that was the opinion of most of the BJP leaders who are senior there. Senior leaders want that Congress, which has a history, should also survive and become a competitor. But Congress itself is not ready to accept that. How can we blame others?

We just saw Rahul Gandhi getting disqualified and he has been asked to vacate his residence.

I don’t approve of that. That’s not a good thing in democracy. That is not a good idea. Moreover, he should be given a house from a security perspective. Because with Z-plus security, one is not supposed to be in a crowded area. The government may take the money, but the security should be done.

In your party, there are those who allege that because you’ve become close to the BJP, you’re allowed to stay on in government accommodation two years after retirement.

I pay every month. I pay rent, I pay water bills, I pay electricity. If I take the house in some crowded area, people will know there is a soft target. We Kashmiris have more threat.

Regarding Kashmir, I want to come to the episode you describe in your book about what happened post the abrogation of Article 370. You said that you immediately went and sat on a dharna in Rajya Sabha but people like Jairam Ramesh, your colleague, didn’t. What happened?

I don’t think he thought it fit. Perhaps he was in the favour of the abrogation of Article 370. Everybody said that he remained in his seat.

So Article 370 issue is still one factor that you have against the BJP?

No. There may be other problems. Any rule or any political party who is in power, you can’t say that they are doing everything good, but you can’t also say that they are doing everything bad. And it is with each political party in government. The good and bad, they go together.