Pointing out that even the current Lieutenant-Governor says there was 'jungle raj’ until 2020, former Chief Minister and Central Minister Omar Abdullah tells author and journalist David Devadas that accountability has never been as low as since Central rule began in 2018.
The smirk, which used to come across as either supercilious or insecure, is gone. And he says he has “never claimed a God-given right that any party or leader should rule forever”. Yet, Omar Abdullah retains the dignified aura of privilege. Even the shirmal crisp biscuit that is served with kehwa is “straight from Pampore”, a hamlet not far from Srinagar most famous for that Kashmiri snack.
After exercising regularly at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president has emerged as a slim, tall, dapper gentleman-politician. One gets the impression that he’s maturer in more ways than the greying of his hair. For, in a time of bombast, bluster, even abuse, he speaks with measured gravitas.
On the constitutional changes, for instance, his reply is logical rather than hyperbolic: “I understand that [Article] 370 had become a hugely emotional issue across the country,” tied to property rights, “appeasement” of Muslims, and concerns about Pandits. Hence, he says, he can forgive those in the opposition who went along with making Article 370 inoperative, but he “will never be able to forgive them for backing the division of the state into Union Territories”.