New Delhi, Oct 21: National Conference supremo and former chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah has said that the country was passing through a trying time where divisive forces are hyper-active and posing a grave threat to the unity and integrity. This tendency of pitching one community against the other and religious polarization has to be unitedly fought by one and all.
Speaking at a function to release the autobiography of veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister, Mohsina Kidwai titled “My life in Indian politics” here last evening in the presence of a galaxy of senior Congress leaders and other prominent personalities, Dr Abdullah exhorted that the Congress has a historic role to play under the circumstances. Pleading the Congressmen to close their ranks and stand united, he said that no initiative to retrieve the country from divisive forces will be successful without the Congress.
The biographical sketch of Kidwai has been written by senior journalist and Congress historian, Rasheed Kidwai as narrated by the former to him.
Among the prominent Congress leaders present on the occasion were two former Home Ministers, Mr Shivraj Patil and Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Minister and diplomat Mani Shankar Aiyer, former Chief Election Commissioner, S Y Qureshi and Congress MP, Sushil Tharoor who recently contested and lost the party president’s election.
Turning towards Tharoor, Dr Abdullah lauded his effort to have entered the fray and contested the presidential election and asked him to keep his spirit up despite the loss and work to strengthen the party which has an important role to play under present circumstances. ” Sashi I you not to get disheartened and never leave Congress. Unity is what will gear up the party for a fight against the forces that are bent upon dividing the country,” he said.
Dr Abullah who was in his elements lambasted those counting age and talking of retirement. Looking towards 90 year old Kidwai, ” how much you may want you will never retire from public life. You still have an important role to play. Age is in mind and should not be considered as a barrier in one’s zest to continue performing in whatever field one is related to, ” he added.
Earlier speaking on the occasion Tharoor in his inimitable style delved upon the contents of the book which he said amply reflected Kidwai’s non-controversial persona apart from giving an insight into her long journey in politics. He revealed that she had agreed to become one of her proposers in his nomination papers filed for the Congress president’s election despite most of the party veterans backing the other side. That shows her commitment to democratic values and urge to usher the party which she has served for over six decades into an era of change. The book has been published by “Harper Collins”.