With a landslide mandate, Omar Abdullah’s government took over with a 5-member cabinet amid an ocean of issues and Himalayas of expectations. As the assembly is being constituted, in which BJP will be the strongest opposition ever, Masood Hussain reports a modest and cold start to Omar’s second term
On October 16, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office to Omar Abdullah, 54, and his five cabinet ministers. The occasion was historic for a varied set of reasons. The Sheikh family scion with a landslide mandate was taking over as the first Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after the erstwhile state was downgraded to a federally ruled Union territory. He is supposed to lead a largely powerless government. The venue of the occasion was no less interesting. Most of the people in attendance were confined post-arrest in the neighbouring Centaur Lake View Hotel for a long time in 2019.
As many as 34 politicians were confined in the hotel between August 5, 2019 and November 17, 2019. The hotel had formally been designated as a sub-jail with a senior Jammu and Kashmir officer given the charge. At least two politicians – Nizam-ud-Din Bhat (now a JKNC MLA) and Mukhtar Bandh (now with JKNC).
A number of the politicians who were detained in the sub-jail won the assembly election. These included Dr Bashir Veeri, Mubarak Gul, Showkat Wani, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Sajad Gani Lone and Nizamuddin Bhat. They returned to the same premises as privileged guests with some of the officers, who were tasked to restrain them, seen greeting them.
Bhat told reporters that he took one month to heal from his rat bite. “As I stepped into the complex today was that our sufferings have paid a better dividend,” Bhat told the Kolkotta newspaper, The Telegraph. “I do not look at the new Assembly through the prism of how much power it wields but through the public mandate, which was a verdict against our humiliation. The rest is a long struggle.”
The mood at the swearing-in ceremony was sombre and the jubilations subdued. There were quick interactions with the media, a rush-hour photo shoot and the people started leaving. “I felt as if it was the funeral of a state,” one lawmaker said. “I do not know, I was unhappy throughout, not that I was supposed to get a ministry because I have already lost. I was unhappy because the event was not even a fraction of what it used to be,” added another politician.
Perhaps that was on the mind of Omar when he had said he would avoid a contest. Eventually, it was the party that prevailed and pushed him to a contest, which got the party a landslide victory. It was a rollercoaster ride. In Lok Sabha, Omar lost by a huge margin and a few months later his potential opposition was literally nowhere. He won two seats in Ganderbal and Budgam. His party got 42 seats on its own and then five independent lawmakers joined him. This was in addition to the support that CPI (M), AAP and Congress extended as part of the INDIA alliance grouping.
“He (Omar) has been a powerful Chief Minister for six years,” one of his colleagues said. “Now, when he lacks the authority, he obviously will feel choked.”
Omar behaved very normally throughout the day. He started with his prayers at the grave of his grandfather, the JKNC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on the banks of Dal Lake. His second stop was the neighbouring Hazratbal shrine where he paid obeisance, also in the same neighbourhood. Finally, he drove home, wore his oversized achkan and took the oath of office and secrecy at the SKICC. Post lunch, he was in the civil secretariat receiving the guard of honour, and warm greetings from the employees and the officers before signing into the chambers which remained vacant for 2311 days after the BJPDP government crumbled in 2018 summer. A day later, his first day out was to Malwarwan which was ruined by a daylight conflagration.
Omar’s takeover was just the beginning of a long tunnel within the governance structure that is full of challenges, some seen and mostly unseen. It was his father and his son explaining the situation to the media persons. “The State is full of challenges and I hope this Government will do what it had promised in the election manifesto. It is a crown of thorns and may (almighty) Allah succeed him (Omar) and he fulfils the people’s hope,” Omar’s father, Dr Farooq Abdullah told reporters. “After Statehood, our true struggle (for restoration of) Article 370 will start. Article 370 will always be our priority,” his son, Zahir Abdullah was quoted as saying. It was interesting that Omar’s sons have been speaking for the party’s policy issue even though they have yet to formally join it.
A Split Verdict
The pattern of voting by the electorate across Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as a Himalayan challenge. Broadly it emerged as a Hindu-Muslim divide with the Kashmir vote going against the renovation of Article 370 and the Hindu vote supporting it. It was status quo versus status quo ante. Balancing this and accommodating Jammu is a huge crisis for any political formation.
Omar played honest if not smart. Of the six people who took the oath of office, three were from Jammu. The situation helped a first-timer Surinder Choudhary to become the Deputy Chief Minister.
Choudhary, 56, has an interesting story. Once the head of the JKNC-influenced SKUAST-J Mazdoor Union, he was a junior assistant at the same university, a job he gave up for politics.
After joining politics formally, Choudhary contested the assembly election from Nowshehra on BSP mandate in 2009. He lost but bagged 12000 votes. In 2014, he contested from the same constituency but on PDP mandate and lost to BJP by around 10000 votes to BJP’s Ravinder Raina. PDP not only elected him to the Legislative Council as a member but also gave him a good party position.
On April 5, 2022, Choudhary quit the PDP and joined the BJP. In the presence of the top BJP leaders, when he was asked for the crossover, he said while people “love” the party and he has his own “affection” for it, it was the delimitation process’s separation of Nowshera from Sunderbani that made him fall for the Saffron party. He was expecting a mandate but the BJP could not afford its high profile president Ravinder Raina.
The two, however, were not going along well from the very start. Finally, Choudhary decided to move out. “Gud bye BJP….Ravinder Raina enjoy with your parivharbad and corruption,” Choudhary wrote on twitter, on July 11, 2023. Almost a year later, he returned to the party where he started his political career, the JKNC. On July 7, 2024, he joined the JKNC in Jammu. The 2024 assembly election saw him defeating his rival by 7819 votes.
The post-election situation was interesting. BJP retained all the Hindu seats in Jammu plains and most of the Chenab Valley. Choudhary was a giant killer, a Hindu, a proud Jammuite and had the first right to represent Jammu. He became the Deputy Chief Minister.
“I had said that we will not allow Jammu to feel that they do not have a voice or representatives in this government,” Omar told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony was over. “I have chosen a deputy chief minister from Jammu so that the people of Jammu feel that this government is as much theirs as it is of the rest,” he said.
That was perhaps why Omar gave three positions to Jammu and two to Kashmir. The other interesting entrant to the council of ministers was a recent import – Satish Sharma, who won independently from Chhamb and extended his support to the new government. He is part of the NC-led government but not an NC member.
Satish is the son of the late Madan Lal Sharma, a former Congress MP and MLA. He was a mandate expectant in the party but the Congress party gave the mandate to Tara Chand. Satish decided to contest independently especially after the delimitation allowed Chhamb to become an open seat after decades of being reserved for Scheduled Castes. Sharma is not a SC so he jumped into the ring and made it big. He defeated BJP’s Rajeev Sharma by a margin of 6929 votes, with Tara Chand finishing third. Post results, he extended his support to JKNC and was picked as a minister. Again, a first-time MLA, he became a minister.
Murmurs in Kashmir
The 20024 assembly, the first ever of the Union territory, has 51 of the 90-elected members as first-timers. All parties have enough of debutants. The PDP trio are entering the assembly first time so are Congress’s two, BJP’s 15 and even six of the seven independents are first-timers. For the first time in its history, the JKNC has 29 of its 42 members entering the house for the first time.
“This is a real big worry,” one senior JKNC leader confided. “We would require a lot of effort to train them for a house that we ourselves do not know. We were part of an empowered house and now they are entering a house that has skirted authority.”
Barring the two Jammu leaders, all others in Omar’s council of ministers have been to the assembly earlier, Javed Ahmad Dar was elected once, Javed Rana is there for the fourth term and Sakina Itoo is also for the fourth term. Lack of seniority is also being talked about. “Jammu and Kashmir’s cabinet has been outstanding throughout,” a retired bureaucrat, who has worked with all the post-1975 governments said. “I see a lack of wisdom in the cabinet other than that of the CEO.”
Though Omar said it already that there are three more berths to be filled, the choice of cabinet reflects the Chief Minister’s assertion that he intends to run the government in a state of cooperation with the central government rather than confrontation. His cabinet may suit his requirements. However, he has picked Nasir Sogami as his adviser and is contemplating getting seven-time MLA, Abdul Rahim Rather to the position of Speaker. Omar has retained key portfolios with him to avoid tension as LG will hold most of the powers. There are too many issues and every issue can spiral into a mess.
Possible Confrontation
After Omar Abdullah got the massive mandate, responses from Delhi were reconciliatory. “Congratulations to Omar Abdullah Ji on taking oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter. “Wishing him the very best in his efforts to serve the people. The Centre will work closely with him and his team for J-K’s progress.”
In Srinagar, LG Manoj Sinha said he will not have any confrontation with the new government that will share the powers with him till the statehood is restored. “The elected representatives should fulfil their promises to the people of Jammu Kashmir to provide peace, prosperity and development,” Sinha said in an interview. “In fulfilling this goal, all my support will be with the new Government.” He said the Constitution and the relevant laws have defined the roles of the LG and Chief Minister in the Jammu Kashmir Union territory. “I will not do anything that will cause a situation of confrontation. From my side, there will be no cause for confrontation.”
Omar Abdullah has this already on his mind. He would not push the situation towards a crisis unless pushed to. “I have some strange distinctions. I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term. Now I’ll be the first chief minister of the Union territory of J-K. The last distinction, as in the one of serving six years, I’m quite happy about,” he told reporters before the oath ceremony. “Being a CM of a Union Territory is a different matter altogether. It has its challenges. I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with the government of India to resolve the people’s problems and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring statehood to Jammu Kashmir.”
The Resolution
Omar’s shifting priorities between the close of the polling and the start of the results tell its own story. When he decided not to go with Article 370 resolution and instead restrict the first business to statehood demand was termed as “somersault” by BJP leader Ram Madhav.
In late August, Omar told NDTV about the first business that the new government must have: “The first order of business of the elected assembly should be to make it known not just to the rest of India but to the world at large that the people of J&K don’t agree with what happened to us on 5th August 2019, and then we start undoing what was done to us.”
When the exercise gave him a landslide mandate, the compulsions of the new responsibility started reflecting. He stated that the cabinet would go for a resolution seeking restoration of the statehood. On October 17, when he met his cabinet formally in the civil secretariat, the resolution was moved and passed and will be personally handed over to the Prime Minister, once Omar flies to Delhi.
The climb-down is being felt within the party and within the political class of Kashmir too. The opposition has started pushing the issue into a major controversy surrounding the new Chief Minister. They had sensed the shift much before the swearing-in and had made it public.
“Today is a very auspicious day. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have got their government after several years. People have elected a stable government. People of Jammu and Kashmir suffered a lot, especially after 2019, and we hope that this new government will heal the wounds we got,” Mehbooba Mufti, the PDP president, told reporters after attending the oath ceremony. “We hope that the government will pass a resolution condemning the decision of August 5, 2019, that the people of Jammu Kashmir do not accept those decisions.”
Peoples Conference leader, Sajad Gani Lone invited the media to a press conference in which he urged the JKNC to introduce a resolution in the first session of the assembly condemning the removal of Article 370 and Article 35-A.
“If we fail to do this, it would amount to betraying the people of Jammu and Kashmir. During the election campaign, the focus was on 370, but now, after the results, it seems to have faded,” Lone said. “If we let this opportunity slip, history will record that we endorsed the decisions of August 5, 2019. We cannot move forward without addressing this issue. Let every member vote according to their conscience.”
Engineer Rasheed’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) addressed a presser a day later with the same content.
The opposition members are right in asserting that the entire campaigning was carried out on the decision-making of August 5, 2019. “A resolution is inconsequential,” one politician said. “It will reflect the collective response of a society and put it on record.”
The JKNC insiders, however, insist the resolution will have consequences and the party does not wish to start with a confrontation. “There are efforts that the opposition will bring the resolution and the JKNC will oppose it,” an NC MLA said. “This will help them go to the people with the allegation that we are not interested in keeping up with our promises.” The idea of this resolution is not dead. “It can be adopted any time, why at the very start.”
Sections within Kashmir’s political class – within and outside JKNC – are talking in terms of mandate and majority. “The fact of the matter is that the BJP is the most voted party and the JKNC a party with highest number of seats. BJP won for status quo and JKNC for status quo ante,” one former planner said. “A balance has to be there for a start. Issues are plenty and can be tackled later.” Some of them get angry insisting that political groupings who barely survived in the race should look within rather than forcing their agenda on the majority party. Politics, however, is not always linked to numbers.
The Supreme Court is also considering an application seeking early restoration of the statehood. How will the top court see the demand in the backdrop of the earlier orders it issued on Jammu and Kashmir? The elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held within the timeframe set by the top court.
What Next?
Insiders within the government and the political observers insist it is too early to pass a judgement when the status of the state has changed already and there has not been a civilian government since 2018. “This government would require a lot of time to understand wherefrom to start and how,” one politician said. “They must be given that time or things will go astray.”
The assembly is yet to be constituted. With Mubarak Gul as the Protem Speaker, the process will conclude next week following which a decision will be taken on the nomination of five members. Indications suggest it will be a consensus decision between the Chief Minister and the Lt Governor.
So far, the Chief Minister has passed just one direction. It is about the movement of his cavalcade. “I have spoken to the DG, Jammu and Kashmir police, that there is to be no ‘green corridor’ or traffic stoppage when I move anywhere by road,” Omar wrote on Twitter. “I have instructed him to minimise public inconvenience & the use of sirens is to be minimal. The use of any stick waving or aggressive gestures is to be totally avoided. I’m asking my cabinet colleagues to follow the same example. In everything our conduct must be people-friendly. We are here to serve the people & not to inconvenience them.”
The party is overwhelmed by the mandate it has and the Himalayas of expectations that are linked to it. It is frustrating to understand how to manage it all. Deep inside the party does admit that they never expected this landslide mandate.
A senior JKNC leader said that the party is concerned about the promises it has made. “We have talked about many things from LPG to free power and all these promises have financial requirements,” he said. “We need to speed up the recruitment process. For all these things we need a state of cooperation and not confrontation, at least right now.” Jammu and Kashmir has the highest percentage of jobless youth in India.
There are indications of cooperation amid tensions within the system. The appointment of VCs to some universities could have waited a few days more and it still would eventually be done by the Chancellor. “Why so rush,” pointed out a former bureaucrat. “The fair accommodation of Jammu region in the cabinet, the possibility of a Deputy Speaker from BJP and Congress not joining the government indicate that there is an element of cooperation too.” In the coming days, there is a possibility of an informal durbar move till the age-old tradition is formalised. It is just a start, wait and watch the democracy in action.
Post Script
A day after Lt Governor Manoj Sinha approved the resolution related to the restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah cleared the air on a resolution related to Article 370 abrogation. He said the statehood issue falls within the preview of the government and that is why the it was tackled by cabinet unlike Article 370 which is the issue for assembly.
