Sonrise in Srinagar

Now begins the real test of Omar Abdullah as a politician

Under different circumstances, Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah’s nomination as chief of the National Conference would have raised eyebrows. But then the NC is not just another political party and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah not just another politician. One may raise questions about the democratic credentials of a party when its leader anoints his son as his successor. Though instances of a son or a daughter succeeding the father are not a new phenomenon, seldom has it been done in this unabashed manner. If anything, it reflects the complete sway of the chief minister on the party. Speculations abound about the reasons for the young Central minister agreeing to go to Srinagar. Whatever may have prompted Abdullah Senior to relinquish the leadership of the party and, possibly, of the state, it denotes a major change in J&K politics. Omar Abdullah is no longer a greenhorn in politics as he has proved his mettle as a junior minister in the Vajpayee government. He is articulate, media savvy and, needless to say, young. However admirable these qualities may be, they are insufficient for the kind of responsibilities that come with the leadership of the ruling party in the border state.

Omar Abdullah’s first and foremost task will be to rejuvenate the National Conference so that it can fight the assembly elections due later this year. This is easier said than done, given the fact that the NC is seen as just a pocket organisation of the Abdullah family. The morale of the party workers cannot be high in view of the battering they have been constantly receiving from anti-India forces. No other political party has lost as many cadres as the NC has during the last one decade. They cannot expect a walkover in the coming elections unlike last time when low polling and the boycott call given by some militant organisations facilitated an easy victory. A repeat of such an election is the last thing the Centre would like to have.

By making demands that the elections should be held under an impartial election commission and not the Election Commission of India, the Hurriyat has more or less ruled out its participation in the electoral exercise. But then allowance has to be made for the fact that the Hurriyat is an umbrella organisation and there may be constituents who are willing to contest polls once they are sure about enjoying a larger measure of autonomy. There is now a growing realisation even among those who had been demanding abrogation of Article 370 that J&K is not just another Indian state and it needs to be handled differently and diplomatically. Though the Hurriyat makes fantastic claims about the grassroots support it enjoys, it is, for all practical purposes, an untested entity. There have been occasions when its calls for protests and hartals met with a stony response from the people in the Valley. Even so, it can pose a challenge to the National Conference. Now that Omar Abdullah has decided to shift to Srinagar, he cannot shy away from meeting this challenge. At stake is the legacy of Sheikh Abdullah.