'I thought PM Modi was a crude man but he showed humanity': Ghulam Nabi Azad
PM Modi during the speech last year (L) and Ghulam Nabi Azad
Days after quitting Congress, former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that he had a wrong perception of the country's leader.
"I used to think PM Modi must be a crude man. I thought he won't care...since he does not have a wife or any kids. But he showed humanity," said Azad.
The former Union Minister was referring to an incident last year when he was retiring from parliament's Upper House i.e Rajya Sabha.
"Read the contents of his speech. PM Modi was not talking about being sad at my leaving the House. He was talking about an incident," Azad told the reporters on Monday.
At the time, PM Modi had given a passionate farewell speech for Azad which had left most parliamentarians teary-eyed. During the speech, PM Modi mentioned a terror incident in 2006 when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat while Azad was the CM of J&K
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"Some tourists from Gujarat had died in a grenade attack in Kashmir (in 2006)when I was chief minister there. Modisaheb, who was chief minister of Gujarat, called my office. But I was choked up, crying at how brutal the killings were. I could not speak with him. He heard me crying as my staff brought the phone close to me," added Azad.
"Mr Modi kept calling my office for updates. Later, as I was seeing off the two planes carrying the bodies and those injured, families of the victims were howling in grief. I started weeping too. It came on on TV too. He called again butI could not speak."
PM Modi's passionate goodbye to Azad had raised several eyebrows at the time as well. Azad was a prominent member of the G-23 group of dissidents that had been writing letters to the Congress high command and demanding them usher in changes.
Read more:Ghulam Nabi Azad quits Congress: As it happened
However, after Congress did not change its ways, Azad quit the party last week. Calling Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for his "immaturity" and for "demolishing the consultative mechanism" of the party, Azad in his letter to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote:
"Unfortunately, after the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed Vice President by you (Sonia Gandhi), the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him."
Read more:Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill quits, says sycophancy is eating the party like termites
Azad's great rapport with PM Modi has set the rumour mills rolling with few suggesting that the former Congress leader might be switching sides and joining BJP. However, at the moment, Azad has been tight-lipped about his political future.
(With inputs from agencies)
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