From the first elected ‘Prime Minister of Jammu-Kashmir’ to first elected ‘Chief Minister of the Union territory’, Abdullahs have been pivotal to the valley’s politics.
54-year-old Omar Abdullah took oath on Wednesday (October 16, 2024) along with four other ministers as Jammu-Kashmir’s (J&K) Chief Minister at Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in the presence of the Union Territory’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. Since J&K’s loss of special status and statehood, these were the first Assembly polls to be held and Mr. Abdullah’s the UT’s first CM.
Ushering in his second term, Mr. Abdullah remarked, “I was the last Chief Minister to serve a full six-year term. Now, being a CM of a Union Territory is different. It has its own challenges. I hope that the status of a Union Territory is a temporary one”. None of the six Congress legislators took oath as a protest against the delay in restoring J&K’s statehood.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by several INDIA bloc leaders such as Congress’s top brass Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI(M) MP Brinda Karat, NCP MP Supriya Sule and DMK MP K. Kanimozhi, apart from J&K NC patron and former J&K CM Dr. Farooq Abdullah. His son’s re-election marks the eight term of an Abdullah as J&K’s Chief Minister – three terms of Sheikh Abdullah (1948-51, 75-77, 77-79), three terms of Farooq Abdullah (1982-84, 1986-90, 1996-2002) and one term of Omar Abdullah (2009-2015).
Here’s a look at the three generation of Abdullahs and their tenures as CMs
Sheikh Abdullah
Titled ‘Sher-e-Kashmir’, Sheikh Abdullah was one of the prominent Muslim leaders in Jammu-Kashmir of the pre-Independence era. Armed with anti-Imperialist values and national consciousness nurtured in him by Islamia College, Lahore and Aligarh Muslim University, Mr. Abdullah founded the Reading Room Party in 1930 to discuss the poor economic conditions of Muslim masses. Attracting educated Muslims, the Reading Room party became the base to stir revolution against Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule in the Valley. As his public meetings grew more and more popular to the ire of the British government, Mr. Abdullah established the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in 1932 with the sole aim to protect Muslims’ rights.
As the Indian Independence struggle gained national traction, Mr. Abdullah grew close to Jawaharlal Nehru and swore allegiance to India’s secular values and its national leaders. Striving to root out the feudal system in J&K, he began building a mass movement against the Maharaja enlisting the Hindus and Sikhs’ support. Shifting the focus to a wider base, he renamed his party as Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) in 1939, to the ire of several Kashmiri politicians who were echoing Muhammed Ali Jinnah’s demand for separate state of Pakistan.
During NC’s early stages of political activism, Mr. Abdullah demanded the Maharaja to allow self-rule of the Kashmiri people, only to be denied and then jailed. After his release, he released the charter of ‘Naya Kashmir’, promising emancipation of the masses and abolishment of ‘zamindari’ (landlordism). Rebuffing Jinnah’s urging to support the Muslim League in exchange for the League’s support to NC’s struggle against the Maharaja, Mr. Abdullah led the campaign in the Valley for an undivided India in 1946. However, due to his involvement in the ‘Quit Kashmir’ movement he was jailed and missed the birth of India and Pakistan on August 14-15, 1947.
As support for J&K to secede from Pakistan grew, Sheikh Abdullah was released from jail and appointed as head of an emergency administration in 1947. In the wake of the Maharaja’s flight to Jammu after acceding to India, Mr. Abdullah mobilised ground support in the Valley using Kashmiri volunteers to hold off against Pakistani infiltration till the Indian Army arrived. Filling in the vacuum of leadership in the Valley, he became J&K’s first Prime Minister and his first act was to abolish landlordism, redistribution of land from big owners to the landless and crown prince Karan Singh as ‘Sadar-i-Riyasat’, titular head of state.
During the drawing up of the Indian Constitution, as a member of the Constituent Assembly, Mr. Abdullah was instrumental in incorporating Article 370 which granted special status to J&K as a ‘temporary provision’, allowing J&K to have its own constitution, flag and autonomy on matters except for defence, foreign affairs and communications, based on the 1947 Instrument of accession.
By 1953, Mr. Abdullah’s stance on India visibly changed as he began vociferously batting for an Independent Kashmir which led to his dismissal as J&K’s PM and a long incarceration (1953-63) after being accused of conspiring against India. Once again, he remained absent during the Valley’s peak security threat – the 1962 Indo-China war. During his incarceration, in 1955, he formed the All Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front which called for a popular vote by the Kashmiris to decide if the state should remain a part of India or Kashmir
After his release in 1964, he reconciled with Mr. Nehru and arranged talks between him and Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan over Kashmir. However, the talks never fructified due to Mr. Nehru’s sudden demise in May 1964. As he again began voicing anti-India sentiments during his tour of Jeddah, Baghdad, Cairo, London and his meeting with Chinese leader Chou-en-lai in Algiers, he was incarcerated between 1965 and 1968, missing the 1965 Indo-Pak war. His anti-India stance compelled the Indira Gandhi to exile him from Kashmir during 1971-72, keeping him absent during Bangladesh’s liberation war.
Abdullahs rule Kashmir
He once again changed his stance on India after Bangladesh’s birth and held talks with India which led to signing of the new Kashmir Accord in 1975, allowing J&K to retain its autonomy within the Union of India. He and merged his splinter Plebiscite party with the NC and was elected as Chief minister in February 1975 with Congress’ support. In the subsequent election in 1977, he was re-elected after NC swept the polls on his own. While his tenure was stained with corruption allegations, he remained an admired figure in Kashmiri polity. He continued to remain in the post till a few days before his death on September 8, 1982. His eldest son – Dr. Farooq Abdullah took over his office as J&K’s fourth CM.
Farooq Abdullah
Inheriting his father’s legacy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah was seen as a greenhorn and the ‘perfect proxy’ by Indira Gandhi, report journalists Ashwini Bhatnagar and RC Ganjoo in their book ‘Farooq of Kashmir’. His switch from medicine to J&K politics was smooth as he helped his father’s re-election in 1977. Dr. Abdullah himself was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 and then brought back to the state as minister of health in 1982. His biggest political opponent was his own brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah, a rising star within the NC folds.
Allying with the Congress, Dr. Abdullah was re-elected in 1983 as the NC swept J&K polls winning 46 of the 76 Assembly seats. However, his second tenure was short-lived as 12 NC MLAs led by Mr. Shah defected and pulled down his government on July 2, 1984. Later, Mr. Shah was appointed as CM with the Congress’ support. His tenure was also short-lived as Mr. Abdullah once again returned as CM in 1986 with the help of then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, a close family friend. Navigating the rising stature of the state’s Congress leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Dr. Abdullah convinced Mr. Gandhi to sign an accord and reinstate him as CM in November 1986 and in the subsequent elections back him as as the NC-Congress’ CM pick.
Amid allegations of poll rigging by the NC-Congress coalition, Dr. Abdullah was re-elected for a third time as CM in 1987. His third term saw unprecedented rise in militancy in the Valley which led to the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley. Mr. Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya was kidnapped by militants, forcing the Centre to impose President’s rule in Jammu-Kashmir. In the wake of Jagmohan’s appointment as Governor, Dr. Abdullah moved to United Kingdom and remained there till 1995.
In the 1996 elections, Dr. Abdullah led NC to a landslide victory winning 57 of 87 seats and forming a government on its own. Ties with Congress had soured in the wake of Rajiv Gandhi’s demise and Dr. Abdullah opted to switch allegiances to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 1999 and his son Omar was made Union MoS in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. The NC patron’s last term as CM lasted a full six years till 2002. During his tenure, he enacted the controversial Roshni Act which granted ownership of Jammu and Kashmir state lands to its occupants upon paying a sum which was aimed to fund the state’s power projects. The laws was later scrapped by the J&K High Court.
After his tenures as CM, Dr. Abdullah handed over the baton to his son Omar Abdullah as the valley saw the rise of Mufti Mohammaed Sayeed’s new party J&K People’s Democratic Party (PDP). In the subsequent years, Dr. Abdullah switched allegiances back to Congress, served as Union Minster of New and Renewable Energy in the second Manmohan Singh Cabinet and stitched the Gupkar alliance which is opposed to the Centre’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status and autonomy and is working to restore the Valley’s statehood.
Omar Abdullah
The third-generation Abdullah had an even smoother entry into politics than his father. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, a Master’s degree in Business Administration and working with hotel conglomerates ITC and Oberoi Group, 28-year-old Omar Abdullah took the electoral plunge in 1998 and became India’s youngest Union Minister at the age of 29 when he became Union MoS Commerce and Industry and later MoS External Affairs in the Vajpayee cabinet.
But back home, all was not smooth-sailing. In 2002, NC failed to garner a majority and a PDP-Congress alliance came to power with Mr. Sayeed at its helm as CM. The youngest Abdullah faced electoral defeat to PDP’s Qazi Mohd Afzal from his family bastion Ganderbal. He bounced back in 2008 when he won the same seat in the Assembly election and stitched a coalition with Congress to become the state’s youngest CM at 38.
His tenure as CM was turbulent. In 2009, Mr. Abdullah, who was nicknamed ‘Mr. Clean’, was accused of involvement in the 2006 sex scam. The scandal pertains to the involvement of many politicians, bureaucrats, police and paramilitary officers in the sexual exploitation of 43 women including a minor in lieu of favours. While Mr. Abdullah offered his resignation, it was rejected by the J&K governor. Apart from these, he faced regular street protests over civilian killings, and anger over the hanging of terror convict Afzal Guru, compounding his troubles as CM.
Despite these hurdles, Mr. Abdullah’s six-year tenure saw growth in J&K’s employment, literacy, infrastructure, transport, horticulture and agriculture. Unfortunately, his re-election hopes were washed away by the massive 2014 floods which left most parts of the Valley submerged and residents helpless. NC was reduced to its lowest tally in the 2014 Assembly elections with just 15 seats.
As the Centre revoked Article 370 in August 2019, both Abdullahs – Omar and Farooq were placed under house arrest and the entire State was put under curfew, with a shutdown of internet services and severe restrictions on gatherings and people’s movement. After seven months, the senior Abdullah was released in March 2020 and Omar was freed in October that year. Since then, both Abdullahs buried their differences with arch rival PDP to fight for the Valley’s statehood and special status.
While the NC-PDP bonhomie ended electorally in 2024 over seat-sharing, Congress has remained NC’s staunch ally as the third generation of Gandhis and Abdullahs (Rahul and Omar) take forward their partnership. Both scions have campaigned for each other in the Valley in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls this year. While Omar Abdullah lost his Lok Sabha battle in Baramulla to jailed independent candidate Engineer Rashid, he bounced back in the state winning both Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly seats and leading NC-Congress to an easy victory.
However, his biggest battle remains as he is now J&K’s weakest CM in terms of authority. Stripped of statehood, the ECI conducted a delimitation exercise of J&K in 2022, demographically changing it – balancing power between the Valley and Jammu. Also, the BJP-ruled Centre has also passed a slew of laws which have changed J&K’s reservation policy, its domicile criteria, its ‘durbar’ move and made stringent laws against ‘terror-accused’ in government jobs. Faced with an uphill battle with a more-powerful LG and a rising BJP in Jammu, Mr. Abdullah has begun his task by reaching out to the Centre, “J&K has far too many problems to just play politics for the next five years”. Source
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