Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has slapped his former colleague Jairam Ramesh with a defamation notice for damaging his reputation through the use of disparaging language.
The latter had reportedly referred to Azad as a ‘slave,’ ‘Mir Jafar,’ and a ‘vote-cutter”. In a notice sent through Azad’s legal counsel Naresh Kumar Gupta, the former Congress leader has sought compensation of ₹2 crores for the harm caused to his reputation.
The notice stated that Jairam Ramesh intentionally used the name “Ghulam” to imply “slave,” which was a deliberate attempt to defame Azad in public.
Defamatory suit of Rs 2 Crores issued on behalf of Ghulam Nabi Azad, to Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh for allegedly using defamatory language against Azad in his press conferences and social media posts.
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) February 24, 2023
It emphasised that the Congress General Secretary had committed an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 500 (punishment for defamation) and was liable to pay monetary compensation.
The notice said, “…Mr. Jairam Ramesh in an overweeingly and predominantly manner, to quench your thirst with motive to lower down and cause harm to the unblemished life and strong character, integrity made aspersion, imputation by using defamatory language in your statements during press conferences and otherwise also thereby strongly violently criticised directly commenting defamatory remarks.”
“Admittedly, the reputation of my client has been effected, and there are cogent reason to believe, that there had been big conspiracy hatched by you Mr. Jairam Ramesh to tarnish and cause harm to the reputation of Mr. Azad deliberately, intentionally to lower down the reputation in the estimation of public,” it further underlined.
Former Congress leader and Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman @ghulamnazad sends a legal notice to @Jairam_Ramesh for calling him “Mir Jaffar”, “vote cutter” and “slave”. pic.twitter.com/2hgI7jnK0r
— Sohil Sehran (@SohilSehran) February 24, 2023
It further stated that Jairam Ramesh’s statements had caused mental agony, torture, and harassment to Ghulam Nabi Azad and sought an unconditional apology through print-electronic media and social media within two weeks from the date of receipt of the legal notice.
Meanwhile, the legal counsel of Ghulam Nabi Azad informed that if Ramesh failed to respond within the stipulated time, the former Congress leader might take further legal action against him.
It must be mentioned that the name ‘Mir Jafar’, who betrayed Bengal Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah during the battle of Plassey, is synonymous with the word ‘traitor’ in Indian history.
Ghulam Nabi Azad and his estranged relationship with the Congress party
Azad’s discontentment with Congress became evident when he joined the G-23 rebel group in Jammu last year. He had also showered praise upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and hinted at the lack of ‘reality check’ within the Congress.
After being unceremoniously ousted from the disciplinary committee and the party’s list of star campaigners before the 2022 Punjab elections, the resignation was on the cards.
The last nail in the coffin was perhaps his ‘downgrade’ appointment to 2 committees of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress on August 17 this year. In his parting note, Ghulam Nabi Azad did not mince any words in holding the Congress high command accountable for the party’s downfall.
He squarely blamed Congress scion Rahul Gandhi for single-handedly destroying the consultative mechanism within the party. Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his letter, drew attention to the childish, immature and non-serious attitude of Rahul Gandhi towards Congress and national politics.
