Jammu: Ghulam Nabi Azad ended his five-decade-long association with the Congress in August 2022, shooting off an explosive resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi in which he said that the party had lost its “will and ability” to fight and required immediate measures to remain as one unit.
A month later, he launched his own platform—the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP)—which, he said, would function in a democratic fashion, and uphold the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. Alongside him stood a number of regional heavyweights of the Congress, which reeled under the blow of the exodus.
Now, as the DPAP fights its first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the questions facing Azad resemble the ones that he had once posed to his former party. His own “will and ability” to fight is being doubted, bringing his formidable political career to a crossroads, and raising the all-important question—just why did he throw his hands up?
Technically, of course, DPAP continues to be steered by Azad, who has been campaigning for the party’s 22-odd candidates—spread across the Jammu and Kashmir divisions—since 12 September. “We are aiming to win at least 70 percent of the seats that we are contesting,” DPAP chief spokesperson Salman Nizami told ThePrint.
Political observers, however, are not as hopeful about the party’s prospects in the elections, a view which DPAP insiders also share in private. “He launched his party with a lot of goodwill. But his inability to retain leaders, indecisiveness and the tag of being a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proxy has cost him. He has lost that goodwill in the process,” Rekha Chowdhary, a former professor of political science at Jammu University, told ThePrint.
Known for his sharp political mind in a long career that saw him occupy high offices ranging from chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and berths in the Union cabinet to leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Azad has been uncharacteristically indecisive in the past two years.
Within three months of the DPAP’s launch, Azad had expelled former deputy CM Tara Chand, former legislator Balwan Singh and former minister Manohar Lal Sharma from the party after reports emerged that they were planning to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in its Srinagar leg. Following the yatra, many other DPAP leaders went back to the Congress.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the DPAP had announced that Azad would contest from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. A few days later, Azad withdrew his candidature, and later attributed his decision, in an interview with ThePrint, to his unwillingness to walk back on his commitment to the people of J&K that he would serve them, rather than returning to national politics.
All three candidates of the DPAP lost badly, forfeiting their security deposits, with the party failing to take lead in even one assembly constituency. It was followed by another round of exodus from the DPAP, with prominent names such as Taj Mohiuddin and Haroon Khatana quitting it.
Months later, as J&K geared up for the first assembly elections after a decade that saw it stripped of its special status under Article 370 and downgraded to a UT, Azad nearly abandoned the DPAP campaign last month, citing ill health.
“The unforeseen circumstances have forced me to step back from the campaign trail… The candidates should assess whether they can continue without my presence. If they feel my absence would impact their chances, they have the freedom to withdraw their candidacy,” he said in a statement. Four DPAP candidates immediately pulled out.
A week later, Azad announced that he was “feeling better” and would resume his campaign. Speaking to ThePrint, DPAP general secretary (organisation) R.S. Chib, who is among the few remaining prominent faces not to have quit the party, said Azad was forced to pull out from the campaign due to a heart ailment.
“It was a setback, indeed. But once he felt better, he rejoined the campaign. Over the past two weeks, he has campaigned extensively in the Chenab region of Jammu. He also campaigned in north as well as south Kashmir. Ahead of the last phase of elections, he will campaign in the remaining seats such as Suchetgarh, Samba and Bani,” Chib said.
‘Couldn’t get rid of BJP proxy label’
However, a senior DPAP functionary shared a different perspective. “The Lok Sabha polls were a wake up call for Azad sahib. He just could not get rid of the label of being a BJP proxy. He realised that had he fought the assembly polls equally aggressively, that perception of the DPAP working overtime to split anti-BJP votes would have been cemented. He could not afford to lose his base on his home turf of Chenab. That is why immediately after his announcement that he was stepping down, four DPAP candidates contesting from the Chenab region withdrew their names, including one from Bhaderwah, which he represented as an MLA when he was the CM between 2005 and 2008,” the leader said.
Chowdhary said the setback in the general elections would have significantly brought down Azad’s morale. “From a national leader, he has been reduced to a leader of one region, Chenab. His perceived association with the BJP cost him dearly. He did not help his case as the Congress was the central point of his criticism in all his speeches,” she said.
Chib also admits that the tag of being a BJP proxy hobbled the DPAP. “Also ,the fact that people continued to associate him with the hand symbol of the Congress impacted us negatively. That is why I feel that the DPAP should have contested the Jammu seat in the Lok Sabha polls as well. It would have helped in spreading awareness about the DPAP’s symbol,” he said.
The DPAP, which was assigned the bucket electoral symbol by the Election Commission, had fielded candidates in the Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar and Udhampur seats in the parliamentary elections. One of the DPAP candidates, G.M. Saroori, is now contesting as an Independent candidate.
“Publicly, they pledge their continuing loyalties to Azad sahib, but the fact is, all of them knew contesting as DPAP candidates would have forced them to carry the baggage of being a BJP ally,” said a second DPAP functionary. Chib, however, claimed that most of those who quit the DPAP were lured by the Congress.
“The Congress promised them tickets. But not one of them got to contest from the Congress,” Chib said, adding that aspersions are unfairly cast on Azad, “who goes by merit”, as it is not in his nature to be unduly aggressive against a party or an individual.
“That’s why he gets branded as someone who is soft on the BJP. And parties like the NC and the Congress spread such propaganda as they saw him as a political threat,” Chib said.
The first DPAP leader, quoted above, said Rahul Gandhi prevented most DPAP deserters from joining the Congress. “Such is the rancour between the two (Rahul and Azad),” the leader added.
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‘Focused campaign in limited seats’
In the assembly elections, in which the DPAP has fielded 22 candidates according to Nizami, the only two prominent names are Abdul Majid Wani, contesting from the Doda seat, and Mohammad Amin Bhat from the Devsar constituency. “The party knows that it is not in contention anywhere other than these two seats and maybe two to three more seats in places such as Bani, Suchetgarh, Anantnag. It is unfortunate because a leader like him (Azad) could have been an asset for the development of Jammu and Kashmir,” said the DPAP leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Chowdhary also said that Azad is a rare political face in Jammu and Kashmir with acceptability in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions. “It is rare for a non-Dogra and Muslim face to be well accepted in Jammu. His exit from the Congress was a loss for a party and as well as himself,” she said.
Nizami brushed off the theories around Azad’s low-decibel campaign, saying it was a conscious decision taken by the party to fight a “focused campaign in limited seats”. “Had people avoided contesting from DPAP to avoid the BJP tag, why would we have a candidate in south Kashmir? Instead, people are convinced that it is the NC which has an understanding with the BJP. The NC has not expelled even one of the party leaders who are in the fray as Independents against its alliance partner, the Congress. The next government will not be formed without the DPAP,” Nizami said.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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