Ghulam Nabi Azad's quits Congress after 50 yrs: His journey

CHENNAI: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all positions, including primary membership of the party. In a letter addressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Azad alleged after Rahul Gandhi was appointed vice-president of the party in 2013 all senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and "inexperienced sycophants" started running the affairs of the party. This came days after Azad resigned from the post of chairman of the campaign committee and from the political affairs committee of Jammu and Kashmir Congress hours after his appointment.

Let’s take a look at his journey:

* Ghulam Nabi Azad (7 March 1949) was born in a village named Soti of Gandoh Tehsil (Bhalessa) in the formerly princely state of Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district. His parents were Rahamatullah Batt and Basa Begum.

* He attended the local school in his village. Later, for higher studies he moved to Jammu and received his Bachelor's of Science degree from GGM. Science College.

* Furthermore, he also received a Master's in Zoology degree from the University of Kashmir, Srinagar in 1972.

* Between 1973 and 1975, he was serving the Congress as a block general secretary after completing his post-graduation from the Kashmir University. He took on the responsibility of the presidentship of the Jammu & Kashmir Youth Congress in 1975-76.

* The veteran Congress leader became the general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in 1977.

* During this time, he went from jail to jail along with thousands of Youth Congress leaders and workers. According to the ex-Congress leader, his “longest period in Tihar jail was from 20th December, 1978 to end of January 1979” - for leading a protest rally against the arrest of Indira Gandhi.

* In 1980, Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as the national president of the Indian Youth Congress. Since the mid-1980s, he has also served as a general secretary of the AICC.

* He was also a member of the Congress Parliamentary Board headed by the late Rajiv Gandhi till his assassination in May 1991, and then by PV Narasimha Rao.

* Azad has also been a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for nearly four decades. Ghulam Nabi Azad has also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha for seven years.

* In June 2014, after the National Democratic Alliance won a majority in the Lok Sabha and formed the Union government, Azad was appointed as the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where Congress still held the majority.In 2015, Azad got re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir, despite the PDP-BJP alliance holding a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly.

* He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2022 by the Indian Government in the field of Public Affairs. He resigned from all posts, including primary membership in Congress on 26th of August, 2022.