Padma award for Azad a political decision: Veerappa Moily
Greet Azad with appreciation, says Karan Singh
Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said on Thursday the Narendra Modi government’s decision to confer Padma Bhushan on Ghulam Nabi Azad was a political one and not based on merit.
He said the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister should not accept the award if he thinks that it harms the interest of the Congress party.
“Narendra Modi took a political decision,” Moily told PTI here. “They have taken a decision politically; not weighing on any merit or otherwise. Now, it’s for him (Azad) to take a decision (on whether to accept or decline the award).
The former Union Minister, who was among the Congress group of 23 leaders who wrote to the party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking internal reforms, said Azad should think whether it’s in the interest of the party or not before accepting it.
Noting that Azad is a senior member of the Congress who had also served as Union Minister, the former Karnataka Chief Minister said he has to weigh the pros and cons on whether accepting the award will harm the interest of the party.
However, amid internal rumblings within the Congress over Ghulam Nabi Azad being awarded Padma Bhushan, senior Congress leader Karan Singh said national awards should not become subject of intra-party controversy and if “one of our colleagues” is honoured, he should be greeted with warm appreciation rather than “snide remarks”.
Singh’s comments come amid a controversy triggered soon after the announcement of the Padma awards on Tuesday evening when Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, while commenting on CPI (M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s refusal to accept the award, said, “He wants to be Azad not Ghulam”.
Several members of the group of 23 leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi demanding an organisational overhaul in the Congress congratulated Azad for being awarded Padma Bhushan, saying it was “well-deserved”.
Reacting to the row, Singh said he was distressed at the “unseemly controversy” over the well deserved Padma Award to Azad.
“These National Awards should not become subject of inter-party controversy, far less of intra-party ones,” Singh, a former Union minister and party stalwart, said in a statement.
“I have known Ghulam Nabi for half a century since he first started his political career as an active participant in my second election campaign for the Lok Sabha in 1971 from the Udhampur constituency, to which he belongs,” he said.
Since then, Singh said, he has seen Azad rise through sheer dint of hard work, dedication and administrative ability to becoming a Cabinet Minister, both with P V Narasimha Rao and Dr Manmohan Singh.
As Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha for seven years, he played a positive and constructive role in our Parilamentary system, Singh said.
Azad also served as the first Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from the Jammu region, and his short stint is still remembered positively in both regions, he said.
“If one of our colleagues is honoured he should be greeted with warm appreciation rather than snide remarks,” Singh said.
Congress veteran and former law minister Ashwani Kumar has also come out in support of Azad and hit out at Ramesh, saying his criticism of Azad is nothing less than a “shameful innuendo” and does not do justice to the ethos of the Congress party.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who is also in the G23, has said that it was ironic that the Congress does not need Azad’s services when the nation recognises his contributions to public life.
“Ghulam Nabi Azad conferred Padam Bhushan. Congratulations bhaijan. Ironic that the Congress doesn’t need his services when the nation recognises his contributions to public life,” Sibal said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Other members of the G-23 Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Raj Babbar congratulated Azad for the Padma award, saying it was “well-deserved”.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also criticised Ramesh, saying it shows one’s shallowness.
