Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's nephew joins BJP in Jammu
Jammu(PTI): Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's nephew Mubashir Azad joined the BJP on Sunday and said he was "influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's developmental works at the ground level".
Mubashir Azad, the son of Ghulam Nabi Azad's youngest brother Liaqat Ali, also said his uncle was "disrespected" by the Congress leadership which hurt him and led to him parting ways with the grand old party.
He, however, claimed that he did not discuss the plan to join the BJP with his uncle.
Mubashir Azad and his supporters were welcomed into the party fold by Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina and other senior leaders, including ex-MLA Daleep Singh Parihar.
His joining the saffron party was described Raina as a "turning point" that will pave the way for more young activists from the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts of the Chenab Valley region to join the party.
"The BJP is growing fast with the joining of political leaders from opposition parties, social workers from all communities whether Hindus, Muslims, Gujjars, Bakarwals and Paharis," he said.
In April 2009, Azad's brother Ghulam Ali had also joined the BJP.
Mubashir Azad said, "The (Congress) party is marred in infighting... while under the leadership of Modi the work for the welfare of the people is taking place on the ground."
"The way the Congress treated (Ghulam Nabi) Azad, one of the charismatic leaders of the party and former chief minister, has hurt the sentiments of the common masses.
"He was praised by the prime minister for his service to the nation but was sidelined by the party, Mubashir said.
Azad was part of the G-23, a group of dissenting Congress leaders who wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 demanding an organisational overhaul.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
