Omar Abdullah, Chairman of the National Conference (NC) party, was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, marking the formation of the first government since the BJP-led central government revoked the region’s special status in 2019. Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir and a BJP member, administered the oath to Mr. Abdullah. This will be his second tenure as Chief Minister, with his previous term spanning from 2009 to 2014.
Who is Omar Abdullah?
Omar Abdullah, born on March 10, 1970, is a prominent leader in the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and has been the party’s vice president since 2009. He previously served as Chief Minister from 2009 to 2014 and was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Lok Sabha from 1998 to 2009, representing Srinagar. He also held the position of Union Minister of State for External Affairs in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government from July 23, 2001, to December 23, 2002, before stepping down to focus on party work.
The son of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Omar entered politics in 1998 as the youngest member of the Lok Sabha, winning reelection three times. Taking over NC leadership in 2002, he led the party through both successes and challenges, becoming the youngest and 11th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in January 2009 in coalition with Congress. He served until 2015 and was the last opposition leader in the former Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly until its dissolution in 2018, when the state was reorganized as a union territory in August 2019.
After a period of detention in 2020, Omar returned to active politics, winning the 2024 union territory elections and assuming office as Jammu and Kashmir’s first Chief Minister under union territory status, in alliance with the INDIA bloc in October 2024.
