Former CM Ghulam Nabi Azad last week set the tone for his second coming in the Valley's politics within weeks of quitting Congress. Addressing a meeting in Kashmir's Baramulla, he said that political parties claiming to be fighting for restoration of J&K's special status are chasing votes rather than an achievable goal. Azad said, "I openly voted against the bill (to nullify articles 370 and 35A) in Parliament, but some people are creating a false narrative for vote politics. Adding this is deception designed to provoke people into agitation and get them killed. So long as I am alive, I will fight against falsehood. You will have to kill me if you want to silence me. "
Azad promised that the party he hopes to launch within a couple of weeks would stand out in the crowd of regional organisations by steering clear of electoral formulae and sticking to its goal of fighting "exploitation and falsehood even if it hurts my political prospects, said the ex-Congress member of five decades, who arrived in J&K recently to start what many see as the emergence of a potential satrap going into elections in the Valley. After quitting Congress, because he felt "humiliated" by the grand old party's refusal to take heed of what veterans like him were advising, the buzz was that Azad had struck a clandestine deal with BJP.
“I will fight legally for the people of Kashmir,” Azad said, responding to criticism that he was in it just to rebuild his political career outside Congress. While Azad has quite a following in J&K, reflected in the spree of resignations from Congress to join him, he hasn’t contested polls in the Valley since being elected MLA from Kishtwar after taking oath as CM in 2005.
