“Many old guards who won the recently held assembly elections surprisingly did not get cabinet berths against all expectations and political inheritors of many stalwarts of the ruling party also did not get entry into cabinet despite winning the recent assembly elections with convincing margins”.
The incumbent Chief Minister Omar Abdullah denying cabinet berths to old guards and bringing in news faces having no history of political inheritance is a new dawn in the electoral politics of Jammu & Kashmir. While the fact remains that retirement is not part of the electoral politics in the country and same holds good for Jammu & Kashmir, many old guards who won the recently held assembly elections surprisingly did not get cabinet berths against all expectations and political inheritors of many stalwarts of the ruling party also did not get entry into cabinet despite winning the recent assembly elections with convincing margins. Had age been criteria in electoral politics, majority of old guards who looked unfit for the contests in the recently held assembly elections would have been replaced by the young ones. In a scenario where youth having no ancestral background in politics are very rarely given the right to contest an assembly or parliamentary elections the incumbent Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has for the first time introduced new faces into his six member cabinet most of whom have no ancestral political backgrounds. Call it family politics or dynasty politics the political party in power at centre the BJP is deadly opposed to growth or expansion of dynasty politics across the country. So while the ruling party at the centre is deadly opposed to the expansion and growth of dynasty politics in the country, the ruling party in Jammu & Kashmir National Conference has now also cultivated the art of breaking the precedence of promoting old guards and bringing into cabinet the inheritors of some of the political stalwarts of the party who have won the recently held assembly elections because of the clout of their fathers. So this way Chief Minster Omar Abdullah has broken the precedence of promoting political inheritors of the political stalwarts of his party the National Conference.
“Promoting fresh blood and denying old guards the right to come over the heads of young leaders making a mark in electoral politics is a new healthy trend Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has set in the fast changing electoral politics which could be the beginning of an end to dynasty politics in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chief Minister by the very inclusions in his ministry has implicitly and explicitly conveyed a message that not the family but performance is the new norm in the electoral politics of Jammu & Kashmir. Trend if allowed to continue in future could be beginning of a new chapter in the electoral politics of Jammu & Kashmir.”
Sakina Itoo the only second generation minister in Omar’s cabinet has been probably offered the cabinet berth only with the intent of given representation to women in the ministry and interestingly Sakina has also the distinction of having won the assembly election for the fourth time since here entry into electoral politics. Notably Omar Abdullah in one of his recent statements said that Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chowdhry does not belong to his family or region or even religion dropping a hint that people having no roots in ancestral politics are now in his cabinet. Promoting fresh blood and denying old guards the right to come over the heads of young leaders making a mark in electoral politics is a new healthy trend Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has set in the fast changing electoral politics which could be the beginning of an end to dynasty politics in Jammu & Kashmir. The Chief Minister by the very inclusions in his ministry has implicitly and explicitly conveyed a message that not the family but performance is the new norm in the electoral politics of Jammu & Kashmir. Trend if allowed to continue in future could be beginning of a new chapter in the electoral politics of Jammu & Kashmir.
Shafqat Bukhari
