Jammu, Sep 26: Exactly a month after he resigned from Congress, the former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday finally launched his party, christened as “Democratic Azad Party” (DAP) with a ‘tri-striped’ flag bearing “mustard, white and deep blue” colours.
In a crowded press conference here at Jammu, Azad explained the name of his party and flag with the rationale behind each word and colour.
“Don’t construe “Azad” in the party’s name as “Ghulam Nabi Azad”, he hastened to add as he revealed the name of his party.
“Here, ‘Democratic’ denotes democracy. It will be independent – representing an independent line of thinking, not influenced by the ideology of any party or leader. So ‘Azad’ here means “independent.” It will be truly democratic in its nature and not autocratic. The power will not remain restricted to one individual. This will be a definite provision in the constitution of our party,” he said.
Defining the significance of three colours of his party’s flag, Azad said, “Mustard’ conveys ‘creativity’ – which means capability to create and think something new and innovate. It also represents ‘diversity’ – imbuing the idea of ‘unity in diversity’ of India and then ‘diverse J&K as part of India’ – be it religion, languages, caste, culture or tradition. ‘White’ (colour in the flag) connotes ‘peace.’ Being the followers of Gandhiji, “peace” will be our principle and priority as well. “Deep Blue” denotes multifarious concepts. It has a whole world in itself. It retains “depth of sea” and “limits of sky.” It will represent patience, perseverance and open mind and space to welcome new ideas; freedom of speech and expression; intuition; imagination and inspiration.”
Further elaborating the concept of ‘inspiration’, the former Chief Minister said that the leaders of his party or those joining him should become inspirational with their conduct for the youth.
“They should be clean (in their conduct) and honest. They should enter politics with the mission of service (of people) and not just to mint money. Gandhiji should be our ideal as he has inspired millions in the past, including us and continues to do so even decades after his death. ‘Blue’ also represents sensitivity; depth, trust, sincerity and loyalty (a rarity in politics now). We will prefer sharpness; wisdom; confidence and sensibility in our party leaders,” he explained.
Azad stated that it would be their endeavour to allocate fifty percent tickets to women and the youth. “There will be no age bar in our party. Youth and the old and experienced will co-exist. Both are indispensable. This will not discourage the entry of youth,” he said.
He averred that earlier he had to announce his party’s name on September 23 yet later changed his mind. “I decided to do it on the auspicious occasion of Navratri today. I greet all my countrymen and the people of J&K and pray for peace and prosperity for them,” Azad said, striking a chord with his prospective Jammu electorate.
POLITICAL PARTIES ARE COMPETITORS, NOT ENEMIES
While referring to political rancour, which was in public display following his decision to sever ties with the Congress and float new party and acerbic barbs aimed at him, the former Chief Minister said that he observed a lot of “Tu Tu Main Main” happening in the past few weeks.
“I’ve never spoken against a political party or its leader, neither in public rally nor in debates inside the parliament or assembly. Yes, we are (have been) critical of policies (of other parties). Other political parties and their leaders are not our enemies. We will have to draw a line somewhere clearly demarcating between the political parties and enemies. There is a difference between the two. We cannot treat them as their foes. Political parties are our political competitors, be they in the parliament, legislature or at any other level of democratic system of governance,” he said.
In the past, Azad has been in the line of fire of his political detractors, particularly those from his previous party for his “alleged proximity with the BJP leadership, mainly the Prime Minister.”
Drawing an analogy between the students of a class-room and the political parties, Azad maintained, “They (political parties) are like a part of a class (room) where students compete with each other to excel and attain top position; some lag behind; finish second; while others fail the exam. Parties may have different ideologies or slogans. This is up to people to reject or accept those political parties, their ideologies, slogans or manifestoes. So I’ve asked my colleagues not to indulge in verbal-duel with anyone or abuse any leader. Let them (political detractors) do whatever they wish; we don’t need to respond to their abuses. We’ve so many good things to deliver to our people; we will focus on that. Those indulging in slugfest have nothing else to give and deliver hence they resort to abuses. When we were in power, our era was marked by positive development. People saw our performance and trusted us. We would like to repeat that performance.”
HOW PARTY GOT ITS NAME
Azad stated that it had been a Herculean task for him to christen his new party given the diversity of J&K.
“My all well wishers here in J&K as well as outside were very inquisitive to know at what would be the name of party and how its flag would look like. It is difficult to name a party as already a number of regional and national political parties are there in the country. In J&K, it is more difficult given its diversity. It comprises two regions, which further have sub-regions which have different languages, culture and traditions. Thus it (name of party) should be the one with which people of both regions of Jammu and Kashmir, their rural and urban populace, every section of the society viz., labourers, traders, poor, educated, farmers can identify and comprehend,” he stated.
Former Chief Minister stated that his well wishers and supporters sent him around 1500 names, some in chaste Urdu while others were in Sanskrit.