THE LION PRINCE

A spectacular assembly election win ended a long political winter for Kashmir and his party, the National Conference. But Omar Abdullah now faces crucial tests—that of meeting great expectations and holding his own with the Centre till J&K gets its statehood back

- Kaleem Geelani

It had been a long hiatus for Kashmiri netas, much of the stock-in-trade of their political life had been in suspended animation for far too long. A decade had passed since the last election. There hadn't been a regular government for eight years. And after August 2019, when the old bridge of Article 370 was pulled down and the state shrunk in size and in formal conception, even ceasing to be a state, everything went into deep freeze—the entire infinitude of everyday interaction with the public sphere. Omar Abdullah, former chief minister (2008-2014), was among those who also felt that other effect: presaging the abnormal hibernation imposed by COVID-19, their turfs were abridged to the confines of homes. It was a total political lockdown.