New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday bid a tearful farewell to Congress veteran and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, saying that he respects the Congress leader as a “true friend” and will not let him retire, and will continue taking his advice.
Modi said it would be difficult for Azad’s successor in the Rajya Sabha to match him as he has set very high standards as an MP and as the Leader of the Opposition. Vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu also described Mr Azad as a “voice of sanity in the nation’s public life”, and someone who “speaks softly but conveys his point of view effectively”.
Calling himself a “proud Hindustani Muslim” who did not go to Pakistan, Mr Azad recalled how he learnt a lot from Parliament, late PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and got inspired from former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, and prayed that militancy should end in the country. Praising the PM, Mr Azad said Mr Modi never mixed…