OMAR MUST JUGGLE DNA TO RESTORE PARADISE

OU can take the Kashmir out of Abdullah but you cannot take the Abdullah out of Kashmir. Last week, J&K's new Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted on X: "I am back" - a Kashmiri Schwarzenegger acting as The Terminator who incinerated his political enemies. With 3.2 million followers, the 54-year-old, British-born, third-generation Abdullah's post was a deadly DNA denouement. During his swearing-in ceremony, he followed the family tradition of donning a sherwani and pajama which signaled locality, heredity and continuity. His political pedigree mandates he favors both more power for the UT (read himself) and dialogue with Pakistan and that Jammu and Kashmir is different from other states. Omar, too, is different now. He is J&K's first CM to swear by the Indian Constitution after Article 370 was flung into the trashcan of turbulent history.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

Perhaps the years out of power has endowed him with painful pragmatism: He has figured he, and his party, the National Conference, must live with a new political reality. He has taken over a Naya Kashmir where genuine secularism and Kashmiriyat must be restored sooner than later. The Abdullahs always demanded more autonomy for Kashmir. That ship has sailed on Dal Lake. Though they are the Valley's uncrowned monarchs who democratically replaced the Dogra dynasty, saffron ideology calls the shots in Jammu. For the sake of forward momentum and political peace, the twain shall have to meet; Omar must take the lead and walk the extra mile. In Kashmir, over a lakh of civilians and uniformed forces have been killed since 1990. In 2024, voters have given Omar a triumphant mandate for development and dignity. In spite of the pluses of his modern image and assertive attitude, Abdullah Junior's is a throne of thorns. Even with democratic endorsement, Omar must adopt a realistic perspective and ensure programme-based governance which was in the ICU so far.

For this, J&K needs political and economic stability more than anything else. It is perhaps the only state in which President's rule has been imposed 11 times as against 8 chief ministers since 1951. It has undergone the longest spell of Central rule. First for six years from 1990 to 1996, and from 2019 to September 2024 post its Union Territory avatar. Omar's grandfather Sheikh Abdullah, who was Kashmir's first elected chief minister governed for almost five years before he was arrested on Nehru's orders. Next, two Congress Chief Ministers Bakshi Gulam Mohammed and Gulam Mohammed Sadiq ran J&K for six to ten years. However, the three Abdullahs hold the record for ruling their mountain fiefdom for the longest time: a combined 34 years. Sheikh Abdullah was prime mi