Nearly a month after his exit from the Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday announced the name of his new party and the organization’s flag in Jammu.
Stating that he has no enemies and only opponents in politics, Azad said the new party would be called the “Democratic Azad Party” (DAP) and there would be “no age bar” for those joining the new outfit.
“Youth and veterans would co-exist in the party,” the former Congress leader said during an event in Jammu where he also released his party flag with three stripes in different colours—mustard, white and dark blue.
The mustard colour in the flag means creativity, power to think and unity in diversity, while white stands for peace and brotherhood, he told reporters. The dark blue in the flag represents open space and freedom to think and tolerance and imagination as deep as the sea and as high as the sky.
Stating that political opponents were not enemies, the DAP chief called for drawing a line between “enemies and political opponents”. “Like us, they too have a right to propagate their own policies and programmes and in a democracy, it is for the people to choose any of them.”
Azad said his priority was to get the new party registered. “But since elections (in Jammu and Kashmir) can happen anytime, related developments would continue,” he said without divulging further details.
On Article 370, which was abrogated by the Center in August 2019, the veteran leader said that he never said it won’t be restored.
“I stated if someone can persuade PM Narendera Modiji or Home Minister Amit Shahji. Frankly speaking, I don’t have such influence,” Azad said. “If someone can persuade Modiji or Shah, they are welcome. I can’t do that as I have no such strength at present.”
“On the bill seeking roll back of Article 370, the Home Minister got 86 per cent votes while nine parties got only 14 per cent votes. 86 per cent matters,” he said.
He appealed to the people of Kashmir and Jammu regions to break the walls being raised between them saying they are dependent on each other.