Return of patriarch: Farooq steps in as NC old guard reasserts influence to check Omar

Farooq Abdullah is back in the saddle after nearly withdrawing from NC, govt. affairs managed by his son CM Omar Abdullah.

The stand-off between the 17 MLAs of the ruling National Conference (NC) and Kashmir’s first political family, the Abdullahs, has had a rare consequence. It has brought the 89-year-old party patriarch, Farooq Abdullah, back into the saddle to steer the party and shape how the government functions, after he had nearly faded from affairs run entirely by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The stalemate began on October 27 with the CM’s Cabinet reshuffle, after which at least three senior party leaders publicly expressed resentment over not being inducted. Later that day, the disgruntled legislators held a meeting, conspicuously in the absence of the Abdullahs, and subsequently submitted a charter of demands to the party leadership, which included intensifying the struggle for the restoration of Statehood and special status, removing Nasir Aslam Wani as the CM’s Adviser and reassigning the Roads and Buildings portfolio, currently held by Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary.

In seven decades of the NC, the parallel party meeting was seen as a rare implosion and a visible crack that the Opposition parties could exploit to tilt the balance of numbers against the Omar Abdullah government.

The NC has 42 legislators in the 90-member J&K Assembly and the support of eight other MLAs.

The stand-off appears to have ended following a two-hour meeting on November 6 between the dissenting legislators and the party brass ahead of Friday prayers, which saw Mr. Farooq taking the lead role.

“Our struggle for Statehood, Articles 370 and 35A will continue,” he later told mediapersons in Srinagar.

On Monday, NC’s newly inducted Minister Mir Saifullah underlined that sentiment, saying the “struggle had started”.

“Whatever has been snatched will be taken back. It was the NC who got pre-1953 status, Article 370 and separate flag for J&K. The struggle for their return has begun. We all start from zero but will reach 100 one day,” he said at a rally in north Kashmir’s Kupwara.

Ever since Mr. Omar took over as the CM for the first time in 2009, there has been an apparent waning of the influence of the old guard in decision-making in the party as well as the government.

After Mr. Omar, who has served as the NC president twice while his father has headed the party four times, came to power as the CM in 2024, the old guard remained out of Cabinet as well as the government.

His detractors view Mr. Omar’s confidants — Mr. Wani; Shammi Oberoi, the first-ever Sikh to be sent to the Rajya Sabha from the Valley; and Tanvir Sadiq, an MLA and party spokesperson — as his only eyes and ears.

Behind the curtain, senior leaders have often spoken about Mr. Omar becoming inaccessible.

These rumblings took a concrete shape following the public expression of dissent last month. The criticism by disgruntled legislators was unequivocal and the CM found himself in the crosshairs.

The demands such as Mr. Wani’s removal as the CM’s Adviser was seen as an indirect way of challenging Mr. Omar’s authority.

Mr. Farooq’s statement, following his meeting with the disgruntled MLAs last week, about their issues being “genuine” is being viewed as an indictment of his son.

Mr. Omar’s bid to centralise decisions, within the party and in the government, is facing an open challenge, with the old guard and party loyalists such as Hilal Akbar Lone and Bashir Veeri throwing their weight behind it.

The 10-point charter underlined the need for a consultative advisory group of legislators and the constitution of a high-powered disciplinary committee, which is seen as an attempt to cut down the consolidation of power by Mr. Omar and place the party, instead of the Abdullahs, at its centre.

The demand to fight for J&K’s special status is a pushback to ensure the party’s relevance as an ideological force in the political landscape of J&K at a time when it is facing criticism from several quarters on the issues of Statehood and dilution of Article 370.

The issues featured prominently in the public speech that Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi made in the Valley on November 3 while announcing his resignation from the party and his Lok Sabha seat. He accused the NC of betraying the public’s expectations “for a vain and vague promise of so-called restoration of Statehood”.

Addressing supporters in Kralpora of the Trehgam constituency on Monday, Mr. Saifullah said Kashmir was on August 5, 2019 reduced to a Union Territory in a “brazen” manner.

“The downgrading and division of J&K on August 5, 2019 was zulm (injustice) that no part of the world has seen. It was a stab to our chest. Our flag and constitution were taken away. All the parties should join hands to restore the flag of J&K,” said the Minister. He added, “Only the NC can do it.”