Opposition voices and political analysts offer harsh assessments of the Omar Abdullah-led government in Jammu and Kashmir as it completes one year in office.
On October 16 last year, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah took oath as Chief Minister, but the major promises his party made in its manifesto titled “Dignity, Identity and Development” remain largely unfulfilled, according to opposition leaders and political analysts.
The manifesto had listed 12 guarantees: the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s political and legal status as it existed on August 4, 2019; the return of normalcy; a comprehensive employment package for youth; relief from electricity and water crises; social welfare; robust health infrastructure; ambitious plans for the tourism and education sectors; and a stronger agriculture and horticulture industry.
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The NC said in its manifesto that the party would “strive for the full implementation of the Autonomy Resolution passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2000”. Besides, it promised to “strive to restore Articles 370 and 35A, and Statehood as prior to August 5, 2019” and “endeavour to redraw the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, and the Transaction of the Business of the Government of J&K Rules, 2019”.
Although the party leadership argues it has four more years left to keep its promises, it is conscious of the ground realities and practical difficulties in the altered political landscape after August 2019, when New Delhi appointed a lieutenant governor who calls all the shots.
In private, at least two senior NC leaders candidly admitted their party was now becoming “a tool of disempowerment and dispossession. We can neither govern asserting our mandate in a new set-up nor stage a walkout in anger and frustration,” they said.
Political scientists told Frontline that the NC had “largely failed to meet the expectations the party had raised during the Assembly election” of 2024.
Professor Noor Ahmad Baba, who served the University of Kashmir for over three decades and headed its Political Science department for 15 years, is displeased with the NC’s performance in the past year. He believes Omar Abdullah has failed to assert himself as a leader and Chief Minister on vital issues.
“The inability to translate its promises into tangible outcomes reflects both the structural constraints within which it operates and its own lack of assertive leadership,” Professor Baba told Frontline. “Many of its commitments—particularly those concerning administrative accountability, employment, and public welfare—remain unfulfilled, deepening public disillusionment.”
In the party manifesto, Omar Abdullah had said: “As we stand at a crucial juncture in our history, this manifesto is more than a political document. It is a testament to our shared journey, a roadmap to reclaim the dignity and honour that has been the cornerstone of our identity for generations. Our challenges are vast, and the burdens you carry are heavy. But this manifesto is our collective pledge to confront those challenges head-on, with unwavering resolve.”
Seen to go soft on Delhi
According to another veteran Kashmir observer who requested anonymity, “Omar Abdullah after being sworn in as Chief Minister in October 2024 has only built and curated an image of a pacifist, who seems disinterested in and unconcerned about the people’s issues, through his statements and actions.”
The analyst made a reference to the junior Abdullah’s gestures of gifting expensive shawls to the BJP leadership in Delhi, welcoming the BJP leadership in Sonmarg and Srinagar, and failing to assert himself as the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Punjab often do.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Omar Abdullah at Katra, Reasi district, on June 6, 2025. | Photo Credit: IMRAN NISSAR
The Valley’s opposition parties, meanwhile, accuse Omar Abdullah of playing the victim card to escape responsibility and accountability.
Sajad Lone, president of the J&K People’s Conference (PC) and Member of the Legislative Assembly from North Kashmir’s Handwara, is of the view that “playing the victim card runs in the family (the Abdullahs). They have been doing it for the last seven decades.” He told Frontline: “The excuses for NC’s inefficiency change but the motive remains the same—victimhood.”
The PC leader accused the National Conference of “lying through its teeth in the manifesto”. The NC, he said, had failed to deliver on even a single promise. “Mark my words: The NC will not fulfil even one promise.”
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Lone’s party, on its social media pages, ran a satirical reel in which Omar Abdullah can be seen tearing all the pages from his manifesto and binning them one by one. The reel then shows Omar Abdullah with a personal diary, cheerfully ticking off boxes like “skiing in Gulmarg, partying in Delhi, spending crores on cars”.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) also took a dig at the NC, arguing that the past one year has been “a year of disappointment and disillusionment” for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Waheed Parra, a prominent PDP leader and MLA from South Kashmir’s Pulwama, argues that the NC under Omar’s leadership has “normalised the process of erosion, disempowerment and dispossession”. “We are not experiencing a good or bad governance model. Instead, we are experiencing a no-governance phase with Omar Abdullah at the helm of affairs,” Waheed Parra told Frontline.
NC hopeful on fulfilling promises
On his part, NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar strongly defends Omar Abdullah’s government. Dar argues that despite multiple challenges in a “hybrid system of governance” where the New Delhi-appointed lieutenant governor enjoys more power, the party has “passed a resolution in the J&K Legislative Assembly calling for the restoration of constitutional guarantees and a Cabinet-approved resolution calling for the restoration of Statehood”.
Dar told Frontline that the NC has done considerable work in social welfare: It has raised the marriage assistance fund from Rs.50,000 to Rs.75,000 for brides belonging to poor families and holding the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration card; extended free bus service for women across districts; initiated an inter-district smart bus service; restored the academic session back to October-November as was the norm; relaxed stamp duties for blood relations buying land or transferring property; and offered free ration and free electricity units to economically weaker sections.
Dar asserted that his party would “do whatever it takes to keep all its manifesto promises despite the practical challenges of the two power centres”.
Political scientists in the Valley, however, are not as optimistic as Dar.
According to them, if the status quo continues and Omar’s government fails to demonstrate visible progress on its promises, it will be difficult for the NC leadership to retain voter trust and confidence.
“Omar’s image as a passive leader, detached from the voters and unable to assert authority within the prevailing power structure, risks further alienating the electorate,” Prof. Noor Baba argues. “Unless he re-engages directly with the masses and asserts effective control over governance, the chances of salvaging political credibility or satisfying the Valley’s voter base remain slim.”
According to him, the National Conference’s first year in power has been “uncharacteristic” and “largely disappointing for the common people, who find it difficult to comprehend the complex politico-administrative framework within which the present government operates”.
The professor refuses to call this governance a hybrid model. “In principle, a hybrid arrangement should function through cooperation between two centres of authority, each reinforcing the other’s strengths for greater efficiency. However, in the current set-up, there is a clear power imbalance that works to the disadvantage of the elected government. The Chief Minister appears to have limited control over the bureaucracy, which undermines Omar Abdullah’s ability to govern effectively or assert his leadership.”
In Omar Abdullah’s first year as Chief Minister, Jammu and Kashmir saw the deadly Pahalgam attack of April, the drone war between Pakistan and India in May, massive damage to paddy fields due to devastating floods in September, losses to apple harvest due to the prolonged closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the arrest of a sitting MLA from the Chenab Valley under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), the arbitrary termination of government employees from service, a growing unemployment rate and uncontrolled inflation, the controversial reservation system, uncertainty over the restoration of the Valley’s semi-autonomous status, special status, Articles 370 and 35A, and mounting curbs on free speech, and on media and civil liberties. While war and natural calamities lie beyond human control, it is a woeful record nevertheless, one that Omar Abdullah will have to fight hard to transform.
Gowhar Geelani is a senior journalist and author of Kashmir: Rage and Reason.
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