Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, arriving in Jammu on Sunday for a series of public meetings ahead of launching his own political party, is likely to place his political mission around safeguarding jobs and land for locals in Jammu & Kashmir, a place where the spectrum ranges from independence to self-rule to greater autonomy.
Sources in the Mr. Azad’s camp said the former Congress leader is likely to depart from the pattern of the regional politics and drift the polity in the Union Territory away from constitutional and pro-Article 370 demands.
“Mr. Azad will focus more on safeguarding jobs and land for locals while announcing his roadmap for J&K. Land and job securities were key provisions to Article 370, too,” a close aide of Mr. Azad said.
Mr. Azad may not demand “reversing the clock” but will focus on bringing more laws related to land and jobs in the future “under different nomenclature”.
In Mr. Azad, J&K will see a rare voice that departs from demanding any special status or touching upon Pakistan as a party to the Kashmir issue. In fact, Mr. Azad and J&K Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari became two major voices in the post-August 5, 2019 J&K to talk about moving on and not raise Article 370.
Mr. Azad, in his earlier statements made in 2020 in J&K, said there was “no point in raising Article 370”. After J&K lost its special constitutional position in 2019, he shifted his focus more to restoration of Statehood and conduct of elections in J&K.
Meanwhile, Jammu was being decked up with large-than-life posters of Mr. Azad on Saturday, with many banners reading: “We for ‘ azad (free)‘ soch (thinking)“.
Prominent faces of the Congress from J&K have already joined Mr. Azad, who quit the Congress party on August 26. All eyes will be on G-23, the rebel group within the Congress, if they join Mr. Azad in Jammu on September 3. “There is overwhelming support from workers and the public for Azad sahib’s political movement, which reflects a change that is coming to J&K soon,” Mr. Azad’s aide Salman Nizami said.
