It is no disclosure. Dedication of UK-born chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir for virtual world is fairly branded. Standing at the last stage of his stint, Omar Abdullah obliged his twitter and stepped on Srinagar streets with a broom in his hand – something he didn’t do at the first place after floods filled the summer capital of his ruling state with debris.
But Omar wasn’t driven by his conscience when he held broom in his hand; rather he was carrying forward PM Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign. The drama of sorts unfolded on the eve of Diwali after Omar clicked himself cleaning Jawahar Nagar with municipal workers. Omar acted after he was nominated as one of the nine individuals by actor Salman Khan. As per PM Modi’s speech every one nominated for the cleanness drive will have to involve nine others.
Barely 12 hours after Salman nominated him along with Aamir Khan, Azim Premji, Chanda Kochhar, Pradeep Dhoot, Rajat Sharma, Rajinikanth and Vineet Jain, Omar drove to Jawahar Nagar and was seen wearing a miner’s cap and carrying a broom. He joined SMC commissioner and his workers for the night session of the cleaning operation.
Making formal debut (in politics) in 1998, Omar also declared a function organized by army in Tosa Maidan as his last official function this week. Omar who took on the mantle of National Conference from his father in 2002, said the locals wanted Tosa Maidan to be developed on the patterns of Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, etc. and their this cherished desire would be fulfilled now.
Omar while appreciating the actions taken by army “to benefit the civil population” expressed hope that army would continue to provide necessary help to the civil population in their day-to-day life affairs.
In 1999, Omar was elected to 13th Lok Sabha and on July 22 (2001), he became the youngest union minister, when he was given the portfolio of union minister of State for External affairs. He resigned from the post on December 23 (2002) to concentrate on party works.
Expressing gratitude after being nominated by Salman for cleanliness drive, Omar had within seven hours asked his more than 6.5 lakh followers to watch his twitter. “Watch this space for my contribution & the names of the 9 I will have to nominate,” he wrote.
In the state of Jammu and Kashmir where muck of every kind has piled up over the years, many expected Omar (during his six year tenure) to sweep his broom. But then, the fact is: handling twitter is different from handling governance.
-Bilal Handoo
