Choudhary is Dy CM; Sakina, Javed Dar, Rana, Sharma Ministers
Fulfilled promise that we won’t let Jammu down: CM
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Oct 16: National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah today took oath as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) here in front of a galaxy of INDIA bloc leaders.
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Lt Governor Manoj Sinha administered the oath of office and secrecy to Omar Abdullah and five Ministers, including Surinder Choudhary from Jammu who is Deputy Chief Minister.
Omar became the first Chief Minister of the Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir and in his first term he was Chief Minister of J&K State.
The five Ministers sworn in were Surinder Kumar Choudhary who is Deputy Chief Minister and Sakeena Masood Itoo, Javed Ahmad Rana, Javid Ahmad Dar and Satish Sharma are the Ministers in Omar’s Cabinet.
Choudhary, Rana and Sharma are from Jammu and Itoo, the only woman Minister and Dar are from the Valley.
Among those who attended the oath ceremony were Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Mallikarjun Kharge, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Left leaders Prakash Karat and D Raja, DMK’s Kanimozhi and NCP’s Supriya Sule. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Member Parliament Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid were also present on the occasion.
Omar Abdullah’s family, including his father and mother Molly Abdullah, his two sisters, and two sons were present on the occasion.
Together, the NC and the Congress have a strength of 48, a majority in the 95-member Assembly – five members are to be nominated by the LG.
Omar told reporters after the ceremony that he had promised that he won’t let Jammu people feel that they have no representation in the Government and in the today’s swearing in ceremony, he has fulfilled his promise.
“I fulfilled my promise by choosing Deputy CM from Jammu. I had promised that Jammu people should not feel that they are not part of the Government. Deputy CM from Jammu is a clear message to Jammu people that we are going to take them along,” he said.
He said that there are three Cabinet posts still vacant which will also be filled shortly.
Minister Sakina Itoo told Excelsior that her Government will fulfil the promises made with the people of J&K.
“Under the leadership of Omar Abdullah, as promised, we will end all the hardships of Jammu and Kashmir. We will deliver everything mentioned in the party’s manifesto,” Sakina told Excelsior.
No BJP leader, except Darakshan Andrabi, chairperson of J&K Waqf Board, attended the oath ceremony.
Taking the cue from his grandfather, Zahir Abdullah, Omar Abdullah’s son, said the true struggle for the restoration of Article 370 will start after statehood.
“Article 370 will always be our priority,” he said.
Omar Abdullah addressed speculation of a rift between NC and the Congress.
“If all is not well, why would (Mallikarjun) Kharge (Congress president), Rahul (Gandhi) and other senior leaders of Congress would be coming here. Their presence here is indicative of the fact that the alliance is strong, and we will work for the people (of J&K).”
Replying to a question about non-inclusion of any Congress MLA in his Cabinet, he told a news agency that the national party is not out of the Cabinet.
“It is for the Congress to decide. We have been in discussions with them. Principally around the fact that as a UT with a unicameral house, we don’t have the upper house. Therefore, the size of the government is severely restricted. Gone are the days when you would see 40 or 45 Ministers,” he said.
Terming the union territory status of J&K unfortunate, he said, “I have always maintained that our status as a UT is temporary one. We have commitments from the Government of India, particularly from the Prime Minister, Home Minister and others that statehood will be restored to JK and we hope that happens at the earliest”.
Omar said the first task of his Government will be to become the voice of the people and expressed optimism that Jammu and Kashmir will not remain a Union territory for a long time and regain full statehood soon.
Abdullah noted that J-K is without an elected Government since 2018 so it has been a long gap without democracy and people have felt “voiceless”.
“I think the first thing obviously this Government has to do is to be the voice of the people of J-K. They must feel a part of this Government, they must feel that they have a voice and we must also ensure that they are heard. We cannot suppress their voice,” the NC leader said.
He also said that the people’s voice gets magnified through the press and you cannot have a democracy without having a functional press.
“A strong democracy requires a strong institution of press and I am committed to that,” he said.
On the challenges ahead, he said it is a mix and obviously, governing Jammu and Kashmir comes with its own challenges.
“This is also an incredible opportunity for a generational shift in Government, for a new team to come and we are UT therefore this is a chance to figure out how it works. This is a new mandate from the people so yes there are a lot of challenges but it also is an incredible opportunity, it will be a crime to allow this opportunity to go to waste,” he said.
On former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressing his willingness to share his experience with him on governing a ‘half-state’ like Delhi, Abdullah said “I have a lot of lessons to learn. I learnt a lot of lessons in six years, made some mistakes and intend not to repeat those mistakes again because it is only a fool who keeps repeating the same mistakes again and again”.
“I definitely am not doing that. But nobody is perfect so every day is an opportunity to learn. So yes, one will learn from everybody who has experience governing this country. But again I make the point I sincerely believe that we will not be a UT for a long time. Therefore, this so called half state is very much a temporary phase and we will be a full state soon,” he said.
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