In a free-wheeling interview with The Daily Guardian on Monday, Ghulam Nabi Azad who resigned from Congress on Saturday, once again made a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi saying that the Gandhi scion is a good human being, but politics is not meant for him and he is not going to be a success in politics.
Azad said, “Personally speaking, Rahul Gandhi is a good human being. Personally probably he can do many things for me. But when it comes to the assigned job to him, the least I can expect from him is to do his job properly. I want to say if you do not have that aptitude or time, what are you doing here?”
“We tried to help him, assist him. But Rahul is not ready to take help. He does not have time. He does not have that mindset. He is not ready to listen to anybody,” said Azad.
The veteran leader, who had long association with Gandhi family stalwarts-from Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi-said, the decision to leave Congress was tough one. “It was a very tough test for me. I wasn’t able to sleep for a couple of nights before tendering my resignation. It wasn’t easy for me. I have had a very long journey with Congress since my university days. I have been a member of the party for around 50 years.”
“During my earlier times, I used to read about (Mahatma) Gandhi’s love for Tilak and other great political leaders. I just didn’t have a relationship with Congress but a great relationship with the Gandhi family too. My political icon has always been Gandhi because I have read him. I was very much influenced by his honesty, integrity, and policy to take everybody along with him and to free India from colonial rule without any violence. But my whole political career has been with the Nehru family. Be it Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, or Indira Gandhi, or any other leader. I have worked with three generations of the Gandhi family, and it was not just a political relationship with them but also a personal and family relationship. We usually dined together. It is very tough to leave them I have been in this dilemma for the last couple of years. I have to control myself a lot.”
However, this was bound to happen as the party was going nowhere and it had been practically ruined. “But let me tell you I tried my best.”
“No doubt, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi invested their time since 2013. We made a plan then on how to win the 2014 election. We made plans for blocks, villages, and districts in every state. Since then, there hasn’t been any implementation of those plans till now. I took pamphlets and documents to both of them four times, especially Rahul as he became the vice president. He didn’t even read anything and just said we would do it tomorrow. Tomorrow never came. It has been 9 years now. It has been going on. When I was the leader of the opposition, people used to come to me after parliament and say that nobody listens to us. We don’t even get an appointment with Rahul.”
Azad said they had formed G23, not to destroy the party, but to strengthen it. “What will you do when you cannot get a patient hearing and you have to wait for days just to speak to somebody?”
“I used to get complaints from party colleagues that nobody is here to listen to them. I informed Sonia Gandhi that people are complaining, please coordinate with them…listen to them. Indira Gandhi used to coordinate with 1000 people, Rajiv Gandhi also used to do so. But, you are three people….cannot you coordinate with 30-40 people? But nothing happened. We waited for many months. However, things did not improve. It was then when we conceptualized G23.”
“When that happened, we faced huge backlash. People made uncharitable comment on us. Even after the resignation people are tagging us with (Narendra) Modi. All non-sense being spread. What’s this? Has Modi told us to conduct block level elections?”
In the CWC meeting (after the poll debacle), Rahul Gandhi lambasted all of us. “What had he not told to us then? He did everything nasty. ”
On his next move, Azad said, he would start from Jammu and Kashmir as people there would support him with open arms.
When asked what would be his suggestions to Rahul Gandhi and to revive Congress, Azad replied, “Sab kuch lootake hosh me aye to kaya hua…”
