New Delhi: Leader of Opposition and Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday gave his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha as he retires on February 15. Azad, who has time and again ensured issues of Jammu and Kashmir are heard in the Parliament, gave an emotional speech today thanking the Prime Minister and other Parliamentarians who stood beside him in his political career. Azad, whose Rajya Sabha term is ending this week, said, “I am a proud Indian Muslim. Muslims should be proud of this country but the majority community should take steps forward towards the minority.”

Here’s what you need to know about the Congress stalwart:

1. Ghulam Nabi Azad has served in the Upper House of the Parliament for more than two decades. “I have been in Parliament and state assembly for 41 years and got a chance to work with Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as party Presidents,” he said, adding that Congress gave him a chance to interact with many big leaders including Jyoti Basu and Pranab Mukherjee.

2. Over the course of his political career, he has represented the voice of the minority, not just that of the Muslims but also for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

3. “I never visited Pakistan but I know the problems and circumstances in that country and I hope those problems do not come to haunt the Muslims of India and after seeing the fate of Muslims in many countries I feel proud of being a Hindustani Muslim,” he said in the Parliament today.

4. Azad urged that issues related to Jammu and Kashmir should be considered and statehood should be restored soon for the benefit of the people of the state.

5. Recalling the terrorist incidents in Kashmir during his tenure as the Chief Minister, Azad got emotional speaking on how the families and children of victims suffered. “I pray to God that militancy and terrorism end in this country,” Azad said.

6. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke down several times in the Rajya Sabha while reminiscing about his close association with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad as he gave his goodbye speech that lasted for over an hour.

7. “Posts come, high office comes, power comes and goes but how to handle it, one must learn from Ghulam Nabi Azad Ji…therefore like a friend, I respect him on the basis of the things he has done over these years,” PM Modi said in Rajya Sabha.

8. Azad replied to the PM saying: “There were times when we had verbal fights. You never took my words personally. You separated the personal context from politics. You always called me on Eid… When I went on to fight Rajya Sabha you asked me if there is any need. The country is run with collaboration, not through fights.”

9. A trusted aide of the Gandhis, Ghulam Nabi Azad first became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1990 from Maharashtra. However, Azad shifted to his home seat of Jammu and Kashmir in 1996. He served as Congress representative in Rajya Sabha till 2006 when he became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and came back again in 2014.

10. The Rajya Sabha term of Azad and three other members from Jammu and Kashmir — Nazir Ahmad Laway, Shamsher Singh Manhas, Mir Mohammad Fayaz– are coming to an end as the Valley no longer has an elected assembly after it was bifurcated as a union territory, separating from Ladakh.