Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad praises PM Modi, calls him a grounded person

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday praised Narendra Modi and said that depite becoming the Prime Minister he hasn’t forgotten his roots and proudly calls himself a “chaiwala”.

Addressing members of the Gujjar comminity at an event in Jammu, Azad said, “People must learn from Narendra Modi, who despite becoming the Prime Minister, hasn’t forgotten his roots. He proudly calls himself a ‘chai-wala’. Though I have serious political differences with Narendra Modi, the PM is a very grounded person.”

The remarks come days after PM Narendra Modi bid a tearful farewell to Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose term as leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha ended earlier this month.

Modi broke down several times during his 13-minute speech, as he recalled Azad’s help and efforts to bring back people from Gujarat stuck in Kashmir during a terror attack in 2007.

At the event, Azad also said there was a need to fix the economic situation of J&K following the Covid-19 lockdown and abrogation of Article 370.

“Development work has to be increased three times over. J&K should be given 3-4 times more funds from Delhi. Today, work is not visible and industries are closed,” Azad said.

On Saturday, the G-23 leaders, including Azad, who have been pressing for a leadership change and organisational overhaul in the Congress, said the party was weakening and they had come together to strengthen it. The event was attended by senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha and Raj Babbar among others.

“It is an occasion to speak the truth and I will speak the truth. Why have we gathered here? The truth is we can see that the Congress is weakening. We had gathered earlier also and together we have to strengthen the Congress,” Sibal had said.