Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned extremely emotional while bidding farewell to Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad in Rajya Sabha last week, saying the senior Congress leader kept interests of the nation and the House in mind besides his own party. The PM’s fulsome praise, wondering how a successor will fit his shoes, and a salute by way of acknowledging the former Jammu and Kashmir CM, saw Azad fold his hands in thanks and respond in an equally emotional vein. The gracious exchange, a complete rarity in a polarised polity, held the House spell-bound as the two leaders spoke their mind.
As he became teary-eyed reminiscing about his close association with the veteran MP, Modi said he would not allow Azad to retire (nirvit nahin hone doonga), noting that his political legacy and human qualities will be hard to match and replace. The remarks came as Modi spoke during farewell for four MPs from J&K.
Modi said as chief ministers of Gujarat and J&K, he and Azad used to talk to each other regularly. Breaking down several times, the PM recalled that after terrorists killed some Gujarati tourists by lobbying a grenade on their bus in J&K, Azad was the first one to call him about the horrific attack and remained in touch till the bodies were airlifted to Gujarat.
Azad ’s eyes too welled up in the middle of his speech as he recalled the horror on the faces during his visit to the Srinagar airport. “O God, what have you done? How do I face these children and widows? They had come here for tourism and I am sending them back with the bodies of their parents and loved ones,” Azad recalled having said at the time as the children clung to his legs in grief.
He underlined that he had not even cried loudly after his parents’ demise as he did when three of his mentors – Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi – suffered unnatural deaths. Members cutting across party lines showered praise on Azad, while also bidding adieu to Shamsher Singh Manhas (BJP) and Nazir Ahmad Laway and Mir Mohammad Fayaz of PDP, whose terms in the Upper House ended.
Recalling the terror incident, the PM said of Azad, “He could not stop crying, he talked like a family member. Power comes and goes but only a few know how to handle it. Therefore like a friend, I respect him (Azad) on the basis of the things he has done over these years,” said Modi, wiping away his tears. Azad referred to the memory of the May 2006 terror incident targeting Gujarati tourists – a usual tactic by terrorists to register their presence when a change of durbar took place – to pray for an end to militancy in J&K.
“Thousands of our security forces, paramilitary and police personnel as well as many civilians have died in cross-firing. Thousands of our daughters and mothers have been widowed, the parents of some may have been militants but what is the fault of the children? If militancy ends, the youths and widows will get jobs and can lead a normal life. For this, both the government and the opposition must together work on a solution to restore normalcy in Kashmir,” he said, prompting members across party lines, including the PM and home minister Amit Shah, to thump their desks.
