A Tussle Over Transfers

Buoyed by the first assembly election in five years in 2024 and the hope of a return to statehood, Omar Abdullah has had a largely frictionless run as chief minister of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

- By Kaleem Geelani

However, a political faceoff with the Centre—held off till now under a veneer of courtesy and cooperation—seemed inevitable. That came to pass last week, when Omar and J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha locked horns over their respective jurisdiction of powers. The immediate trigger was Sinha’s transfer of 48 middle-rung officials—16 additional deputy commissioners, 23 sub-divisional magistrates and nine assistant revenue commissioners—all part of the Jammu Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS), on April 1.

Setting the tone for a direct confrontation between the Union territory’s dual power centres, CM Omar organised a meeting of all 42 National Conference (NC) MLAs, along with those of ally Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Independents on April 4. At the end of it, a veiled warning was served. “Don't push us to the wall. Don’t take our friendliness as weakness,” said Tanvir Sadiq, MLA and chief spokesperson of the NC.

Though Omar has disagreed with the L-G over several issues, he has avoided escalating matters, even drawing the Opposition charge of being overly amenable to Sinha. The most significant gap in views came when the L-G refused to approve Omar's request for reinstating the December 5 holiday in J&K to celebrate the birth anniversary of National Conference founder Sheikh Abdullah—it had been scrapped along with the July 13 ‘Martyrs Day’ holiday by the L-G in 2020.