Congress dissenters today held a Shanti Sammelan’ in Jammu in presence of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal, Raj Babbar and Anand Sharma. The G-23 leaders echoed a comparable sentiment on the want to strengthen the party. Addressin the sammelan, Anand Sharma mentioned, “We have not given anyone the right to tell me if we are people of Congress or not, nobody has that right. We will build the party, we will strengthen it. We believe in the strength and unity of Congress.”
Sharma mentioned that all the leaders have covered a really lengthy distance to attain exactly where they are today in Congress. “Nobody among us has come through the window, all of us have walked through the door. We have come through the student’s movement, the youth movement,” mentioned Sharma.
He added that Congress has weakened in the final 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’ve seen good days of Congress. We don’t want to see it weakening as we become older,” mentioned Sharma.
Speaking about Jammu and Kashmir, Sharma mentioned that there has never ever been such an occasion just after 1950 when there had been no representatives from the state in the Rajya Sabha. This will be corrected,” mentioned Sharma.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal mentioned that Ghulam Nabi Azad is an knowledgeable particular person who can play the part of an engineer in fixing anomalies inside the party. “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 want him to go from Parliament…I can’t understand why is Congress not using his experience,” mentioned Sibal.
Sibal also mentioned that the leaders are seeing Congress party having weak and referred to as for strengthening the party with each other.
Senior Congress leader Raj Babbar mentioned that the G23 represent Gandhi 23. “People say ‘G23’, I say 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. ‘G23’ want Congress to be strong,” mentioned Babbar.
Ghulam Nabi Azad mentioned that this is not the initially time he has retired from Parliament and added that he has not retired from politics. He mentioned that infrastructure facilities in Jammu and Kashmir will not boost unless there are elected representatives and an elected government. “In the last 5-6 yrs, all these friends did not speak any less than me in Parliament over Jammu and Kashmir, be it unemployment, stripping-off of statehood, finishing-off industries and education or implementation of GST,” mentioned Azad.
He mentioned that be it Jammu or Kashmir or Ladakh, Congress respect all religions, folks and castes. “We equally respect everyone, that is our strength and we will continue with this,” mentioned Azad.
The Congress dissenters, popularly recognized as G-23, have been raising their voice to carry out structural reforms inside the Congress party to revive its presence and bring its glory back.