Congress is getting weak; Why Gulam Nabi is not being sent to Parliament

SRINAGAR: Senior politician Kapil Sibal on Saturday stated that the G-23 (or the group of 23 dissenting Congress leaders) are seeing the party getting weaker.

"The truth is that we see the Congress party getting weak. That is why we have gathered here. We had gathered together earlier too and we have to strengthen the party together," Sibal said at a 'Shanti Sammelan' in Jammu.

Sibal was joined by veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Vivek Tankha.

Sharma reiterated Sibal's stance and said: "Congress has weakened in the last decade. Our voice is for the betterment of the party. It should be strengthened everywhere once again. The new generation should connect (to the party). We have seen good days of Congress. We do not want to see it weakening as we become older."

Raj Babbar also seemed to be of the same opinion. "People say we are a part of G-23; for me, it's Gandhi 23. With the belief, resolve and thinking of Mahatma Gandhi, this nation's law and Constitution was formed. Congress is standing strongly to take these forward. 'G-23' want Congress to be strong," he said.

He then went on to laud Azad's work as a parliamentarian. "Azadji was recently given farewell from Parliament, even the prime minister wept. He also did not get angry by allegations made by (BJP leader) Rajmata Scindia and said 'I take these allegations seriously and a panel be formed and headed by Vajpayee and will accept their decision'. This is Gandhian ideology," said Babbar.

The opinions were mirrored by Sibal, who said that Azad knows the ground reality of Congress in every district.

"What is the real role of Ghulam Nabi Azad sahab? A person who flies an aircraft is an experienced person. An engineer accompanies him to detect and repair any malfunctioning in the engine. Ghulam Nabi ji is an experienced as well as engineer," said Sibal.

"He is one such leader who knows the ground reality of Congress in every district of every state. We were saddened when we realised that he is being freed from Parliament. We didn't him to go from Parliament. I cannot understand why is Congress not using his experience," he added.

When it was his turn, Azad took on Rahul Gandhi's "North-South" remark, which has led to a controversy.

"Be it Jammu or Kashmir or Ladakh, we respect all religions, people and castes. We equally respect everyone, that is our strength and we will continue with this," he said.

Azad, while talking about the presence of senior party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir said, "These leaders are here because, in the last five-six years, all these friends did not speak any less than me in the Parliament over issues of Jammu and Kashmir, its unemployment, stripping off of statehood, finishing off industries and education, and implementation of GST."

News agency ANI had reported on Friday that according to a senior leader of the G-23, the meeting in Jammu is a message to the Congress high command.

“We want to tell the party leadership that we are united, we have an issue and they must do something about it," the leader had said.

The G-23 is a group of leaders who had written a letter to interim party president Sonia Gandhi, expressing their discontent and urged the top leadership of Congress to bring immediate reforms, including organisational elections from the grass-roots to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) level.