‘Swear by god, never met Ajit Doval’: Ghulam Nabi Azad on death threat from LeT

Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday said he came across reports that The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has issued a death threat to him. Addressing a public meeting in South Kashmir’s Anantnag, Ghulam Nabi Azad said he is scared of nothing.

“I heard about the reports that terrorists have issued a threat to kill me. They have said I met Amit Shah and Doval before coming here. I have never met Doval in my life. I swear by god. Yes, I have met Shah as he is the home minister and I was in Parliament. It was part of my work. I meet people from various parties,” he said.

Speaking about the past attacks on him, Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was targetted 50 times in Punjab and Kashmir and god saved his life. “But if god takes my life, he will take it along with the life that I have lived on principles and not lies or deceit,” he said.

At the rally, he appealed to the youngsters to shun the path of violence and blamed Pakistan for the sufferings of the people of J&K. “There are some people across the border who have not been able to set their own country right after the partition, but have taken the pledge of destroying our country and Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

“Picking up guns is not a solution. It only brings destruction in your life, to your family and to the country. Mahatma Gandhi did not pick up a gun or a sword or did not fire a missile to defeat the British. Whichever Muslim country — from Afghanistan to Iraq to Palestine — took to guns, took to militancy, was destroyed,” Azad said.

After resigning from the Congress, Ghulam Nabi Azad is strengthening the base for his yet-to-be-launched party in J&K. Recently, he saod he won’t mislead the people of J&K by promising that Article 370 will be restored, which triggered speculations over his equation with the BJP — which the Congress has been suggesting ever since Azad quit blaming the party and Rahul Gandhi.