J-K Assembly elections: At 86, Farooq Abdullah in political spotlight as son Omar may opt out. 5 points

National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah said on August 16 that he will lead the party in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections scheduled in three phases from September 18. 

The announcement by 86-year-old Farooq comes after his son Omar Abdullah opted to refrain from participating in elections until Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood is restored.

“I will contest these elections. Omar Abdullah will not. When the state status is granted, then I will step down and Omar Abdullah will contest from that seat,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters in Jammu soon after Election Commission announced the dates of assembly polls on Friday.

Restoring Statehood

Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised as Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government has promised return of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have made it very clear. I have been the CM of a state. I can’t see myself in a position where I would have to ask the LG for appointing my peon. It’s as simple as that… I am not going to sit outside the waiting room of the LG and, ask him, ‘Sir, please sign the file’, Omar told Indian Express in an interview earlier this month explaining why he is opting out of elections this time.

Omar lost Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Baramulla seat to Engineer Rashid, who is jailed under UAPA.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness assembly polls after a gap of ten years as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the saffron party withdrew support to the then Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti. Since then, the erstwhile state has been under Central rule.

Spotlight on Farooq Abdullah, 86

In Omar’s absence, the attention shifts to his father Farooq Abdullah, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference.

A three-time chief minister of the erstwhile state, a former Member of Parliament (MP) and ex-Union Minister, Farooq is arguably the most-popular political figure from the Kashmir Valley. Just before 2024 general elections, Farooq stepped away from contesting polls citing health reasons. But his son Omar had then said that skipping Lok Sabha polls did not mean end of political career for his father.

Born in Srinagar in 1937, Farooq studied at a missionary school. He completed his MBBS degree from SMS Medical College, Jaipur and then went to practice medicine in United Kingdom before returning home.

CM at 45

Farooq assumed first public office in 1980 when he was elected MP from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, which he went on to represent many times in years to come. A year later, he became president of the National Conference, a position his father and party founder Sheikh Abdullah held before him.

Farooq served as chief minister of J&K for the first time when he was 45 in 1982 after his father’s death. He became chief minister again in November 1986 and in 1996 – for a full six-year term until 2002.

His son, Omar Abdullah took over the reins of the party in 2002. Since then. Farooq has been primarily focused on a role in New Delhi. He won Lok Sabha elections in 2009, 2017 and 2019 from Srinagar seat. He has been union minister for New and Renewable Energy between 2009 and 2014.

Days ahead of poll date announcement, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court quashed the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate against Farooq.

Active in political circles

Farooq may not have contested the Lok Sabha polls, but he has been involved in political affairs actively. The former Union Minister has been attending party meetings and making public appearances. He was among the first leaders from J&K to be detained in the run up to the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Farooq was at the president of now-defunct PAGD, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration which was an alliance forged between several political parties in Jammu and Kashmir campaigning for restoring special status under Article 370 of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In December 2020, PAGD swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls, first elections held in the erstwhile state post abrogation of Article 370.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was keen on investing in Farooq Abdullah, according to his latest biography ‘Farooq of Kashmir’ by Ashwini Bhatnagar and RC Ganjoo. The book says that Farooq came across to her as a happy-go-lucky man who was neither ambitious nor deeply rooted in Kashmir politics and ethos.

‘Greenhorn who can be moulded’

Farooq had grown up in the comfortable shadow of his father – there hadn’t been an occasion where he needed to fight a political battle in the streets or hold his nerve during a tense closed-door conversation, the book reads. 

“He was a greenhorn who could be groomed and moulded. He was the perfect proxy,” reads the book excerpt published in Scroll.in.

With over four decades of experience, nobody understands the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir like Farooq does, at least within the National Conference, say people who follow him. “He might as well overshadow his son, if put to test, in terms of popularity,” said a political analyst who did not want to be named.

With a month to go for the first phase of voting, Farooq’s role will be keenly watched in Jammu and Kashmir’s political circles.