New Delhi (TIP): Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, February 9,  bid farewell to four retiring members of the Upper House with Deputy Chairman Harivansh heaping lavish praise on the leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, terming him a repository of rich experiences. PDP

The veteran Congress leader and Nazir Ahmed Laway (PDP) will retire on February 15 while the terms of Mir Mohammad Fayaz (PDP) and Shamsher Singh Manhas (BJP) will end on February 10.

“It was my fortune that I got to sit next to Ghulam Nabi Azad in the House… He has connected the entire country with Jammu and Kashmir… I have not come across a person like him who has such rich experiences… Have learnt a lot from his guidance, decency, conduct…,” Harivansh said.

Azad’s political stature is unparallel, he said and added that the Congress leader has risen to such a position in national politics from a block level worker in Kashmir.

He appreciated him for the mammoth work in the health sector like National Urban Health Mission and setting up of medical colleges.

Retirement from the house is only a temporary thing and not a break in his chosen path of serving the nation, Harivansh said.

Azad said he is among those lucky people who never went Pakistan and feels proud to be a Hindustani Muslim.

He spoke for almost 28 minutes, quoting several couplets and hoping for restoration of peace in Jammu & Kashmir and return of Kashmiri Pandits back to the valley.

Fayaz in his speech said, “We work for this country. We have taken the flag of the country to villages. It hurts and saddens us when we are called anti-national by the media and others.”

He recalled his journey from Kupwara, near Pakistan border and from the municipal committee there to Rajya Sabha and said he worked for the mainstream and against separatist calls.

He praised the government for the work in the areas of schemes like Ujjwala and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, both of whom were present in the House, to “do justice to people to J&K” by restoring statehood and special status and thereby winning and strengthening their faith.

In his speech, Manhas said: “I come from Kashmir, the mukat mani (crown jewel) of the country, and am sitting among others from the country. I have worked for this mukut mani and will work for it in the future too.”

He said he has visited all parts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and learnt a lot from Modi about conduct in public life. Another retiring member Laway appealed for restoration of statehood besides rail connectivity.

He remembered his party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who sent him to this House and said he developed a relationship with all the members and people because he came to Rajya Sabha.

He urged the prime minister and the home minister for human and other resources development work in Jammu & Kashmir saying they have to take care of the union territory because now there would no representation in the House from there.

Prime Minister Narendra Modiheaped praise on Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad by describing him as a leader who cared not just for his party, but about the country and its Parliament, and welled up while describing shared experiences with Azad.

“I am concerned that whoever is appointed to his position may not be able to match up to him,” Modi said, pointing to Azad, who was sitting across the hall in the slot occupied by the Opposition floor leader in the Rajya Sabha.

“Posts come, power comes but how to handle these one must learn from Ghulam Nabi Azad,” the PM added. He saluted in his direction, and said:“On the basis of events and experiences, I respect him as a friend.”

Modi also complimented Azad for being a stellar Parliamentarian whose word he respected, and on a lighter note, for his interest in gardening.

While speaking at length about his association with Azad, the PM recalled how, as the then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Azad called Modi as the then chief minister of Gujarat, after several tourists from Modi’s state were attacked in a terror ambush in the Valley in May 2006.

“He had not just called to inform me… his tears were flowing uncontrolled. Pranab Mukherjee was then the defence minister, and I called him to ask if the defence planes could be provided for ferrying the bodies… At night Ghulam Nabi ii called me from the airport. He sounded as concerned as people are when talking about their own family members,” the PM said, pausing as he was overcome with emotion and had to take a few sips of water before continuing.

When Azad later referred to the same incident in his speech, he got emotional as well. He said there have been only a few occasions when he wept aloud, and the incident that the PM recounted was one of them.

“When I went to the airport. These young kids who had lost family members clung to my legs, weeping. I could not control myself and wept aloud,” Azad said, his voice quavering.

In his farewell speech, Azad — he has spent 28 years of his 40 years as a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha — said he was a proud Indian, and that when he reads about circumstances in Pakistan, he feels proud to be a Hindustani Muslim.

“If any Muslim should feel proud in the world, it should be the Indian Muslim. Over the years we have seen how Muslim countries from Afghanistan to Iraq are getting destroyed. There are no Hindus or Christians there, they are fighting amongst themselves…” Azad said.

He also recalled how he had the opportunity of learning from not just Congress leaders but also imbibed lessons in politics from BJP stalwarts. “I learnt how to be the leader of the opposition from Atalji…how to break a deadlock, how to run the House,” he said.

Earlier, referring to the two PDP MPs, Modi said he had heard their views on various subjects in his chambers several times. And recalling how he would go riding a scooter with Manhas when they were party workers in Jammu & Kashmir, the PM said he cannot even recall how long their association dates back to. Appreciating his dedication, he pointed out that Manhas’s attendance in the house has been 96%, and whatever responsibilities have been given to him, he has perform them to the best of his ability.

No J&K MPs in RS after Feb 15

The Rajya Sabha will have no representatives from Jammu and Kashmir by the middle of February, when the four Upper House member from the Union territory (UT) carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 complete their stints.

Because the UT does not have an elected assembly at present, there will be no representatives in the upper chamber of Parliament until elections are held in J&K. Members of the Rajya Sabha are chosen by an electoral college of state legislators with a system of proportional representation through a single transferable vote.

The election itself will be held after the delimitation exercise to redraw the boundaries of the electoral constituencies is completed. According to people aware of the details, the delimitation process is expected to be completed by March.

In August 2019, the Centre pushed through constitutional changes divesting the erstwhile state of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcating it into two UTs — J&K and Ladakh.

To be sure, this is not the first time that the Upper House will be without any representative from J&K. Between 1991 and 1996, when the state had no assembly, there were no MPs from J&K in the Upper House for the duration between April 1994 and October 1996.

Former CM and PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was then with the Congress, was a member of the Upper House from 1986 to 1992; his party colleagues Rajendra Prasad Jain and Dharam Pal retired in 1994. Ghulam Rasool Mattoo, an independent, was a member of the House from 1988 to 1994 Shabir Ahmad Salaria of the National Conference retired in 1992.