NEW DELHI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi got emotional during the farewell speech of Rajya Sabha’s Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, the latter praised former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said the late Vajpayee maintained a good relationship with opposition MPs. Azad added that he is proud to be a Muslim in India.
Azad’s comments come at a time when the opposition has accused the treasury benches of violating parliamentary procedures to get legislations passed. “I have fond memories of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who always took care of opposition MPs. When Atalji was the Leader of Opposition, I was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister and we did not have a majority.
However, as far as running the House is concerned, those were the five easiest years. I learnt from Atalji how to be an efficient Leader of Opposition,” Azad told the House in his farewell speech. Interestingly, Home Minister Amit Shah was present during his speech.
“If any Muslim in the world should be proud, it should be the Muslims of India. I am among those who have never been to Pakistan, but when I study the kind of circumstances, there are evils that exist in the society of Pakistan.
Although we should not say such things about other countries, we can say proudly say that such evils are not part of Muslims of India.” Dedicating a couplet to all those displaced from the valley, he said: “Us ashiyana jo ki is waqt ujda hua hai, uske liye hum sabko prayas karna hai (all of us have to make efforts to restore the nest, which is devastated now).”