Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and president of Democratic Progressive Azad Party, Ghulam Nabi Azad, issued a legal notice against Congress leader Jairam Ramesh for calling him “Ghulam”, "Mir Jaffar", “Vote Cutter", “Propped by BJP", and also head of the “Doda District Party" and so on.
In the notice issued earlier this week, Azad has asked the Congress leader to apologize for his comments. The notice says the statements of Ramesh against Azad are “defamatory”, issued purely for having “malice against Mr Azad” and with an aim to tarnish Azad’s reputation and the credibility he has built over the decades.
The notice asked the Congress leader to “tender unconditional apology through print, electronic media including social media or through any sort of communication within two weeks from the date of receipt of the legal notice”.
“The damages caused to the unblemished reputation of my client due to your defamatory statements, and aspersions can in no way be compensated in terms of money. However, token damages of Rs 2 crore are assessed after taking pity of your age and white hair, besides launching criminal prosecution for the imprisonment of two years,” the notice reads.
The notice says Azad had been declared as the best parliamentarian in the history of the Indian Parliamentary system.
It further says, “Azad has been decorated with the prestigious Padma Bhushan award for his exceptional and distinguished services of high order in public affairs in March 2022, in Rashtarpati Bhawan by the President of India.
“My client Mr G.N. Azad, had the privilege to work under the kind patronage Smt. Indira Gandhi, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Shri Narsimaha Rao, Shri Dr, Manmohan Singh, all former Prime Ministers, as their confident, competent and most trustworthy Union Minister of Republic India.
“Azad has enjoyed and commands high regard, and respect in the hearts of peoples, which stands recognised and acknowledged at the national and regional levels.”
The notice accuses Ramesh of always remaining “in search of occasion to tarnish and harm his (Azad’s) growing dignity, respect and honour conferred to him and hatched a conspiracy by engineering on the basis of malice, [and] personal vengeance [and] started to write by way of repeated posts on Twitter account 'Ghulam' in order to inflict injury to lower him in the estimation of others, soon after Mr Azad was honoured with Padma Bhushan Award, the third highest civilian Award in the country".
The notice said the word Ghulam reflects "'slave" and the Congress leader deliberately and intentionally used it “to harm the reputation of my client publically”.
The notice says “my client Mr Azad has recently floated a separate Political Party (DPAP) in the J&K state and is getting overwhelmingly support and sympathy”, and the party has put a “strong challenge to other political parties especially INC in J&K” and it is being not liked by the Congress.
The notice adds that since “the day Mr Azad departed from INC, his resignation letter is self-speaking, Mr Jairam Ramesh and few henchmen have become more active only to please the mindless leadership, with the sole intention to defame Mr Azad on fake, frivolous issues only to quench their thirst of taking revenge”.
