By Girdhari Lal Raina, Ex-Member Legislative Council
The Omar Abdullah government’s failures during crises, its out-dated blame-Delhi politics, and its inability to inspire confidence highlight a deeper malaise in Kashmir’s political class. Citizens must now demand accountability, transparency, and delivery-driven governance.
Jammu & Kashmir today stands at a defining crossroads. Socially and politically, the Union Territory is undergoing a paradigm shift. The most striking change is visible in the political discourse: the National Conference (NC), long accustomed to being the central pillar of Kashmiri politics, is now visibly on the defensive. Within a year of returning to government, Omar Abdullah and his party are confronting an unprecedented erosion of popularity.
This sharp decline is not accidental. It stems from both visible failures in governance and the exhaustion of old political tricks that no longer resonate with a society tired of excuses. For decades, NC has thrived on emotional politics, dynastic appeal, and a narrative of victimhood built around “Delhi’s conspiracy.” But the realities of governance in today’s Jammu & Kashmir demand competence, accountability, and tangible results — areas where the NC appears increasingly hollow.
The Government’s Paralysis in Crisis
The recent natural calamity — devastating rains, cloudbursts, landslides, and floods — was a litmus test. A responsive administration would have swung into action, conducted damage assessments, coordinated relief, and reassure citizens. Instead, weeks later, the Omar Abdullah government has not even finalized a comprehensive estimate of losses — a prerequisite for mobilizing central aid or planning rehabilitation.
For the ordinary citizen who lost a home, a shop, or an orchard, the silence of the state feels like betrayal. Worse, insensitive remarks by ruling party leaders have deepened the sense of alienation. In moments when empathy and urgency were required, governance stood paralyzed.
Contrast this with Kerala in 2018, when catastrophic floods displaced over a million people. Within weeks, the state government had produced detailed loss estimates, enabling swift release of central and international aid. Relief camps, rehabilitation packages, and transparent fund utilization won praise even from critics. Similarly, after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the then state government designed one of India’s most ambitious reconstruction programs, rebuilding houses, schools, and infrastructure within a defined timeline. These examples highlight the NC government’s inertia not as inevitability but as a failure of will and priorities.
The Highway Controversy: Old Tactics, New Exposure
The closure of National Highway 44 between Jammu and Srinagar — the Valley’s economic lifeline — further exposed this governance deficit. Instead of directly addressing the crisis faced by stranded passengers, fruit growers, and truckers, NC leaders reached for their oldest political tool: blaming New Delhi. An NC parliamentarian even alleged that the prolonged closure was a “deliberate attack on Kashmir’s economy.”
But facts told a different story. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari detailed the extraordinary effort of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI): over 50 earthmovers and a dozen excavators deployed round the clock, temporary diversions constructed, and traffic resumed despite incessant rainfall. The NC’s accusations collapsed against this evidence. NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah was forced to contradict the party MP’s “deliberate attack on Kashmir’s economy” charge.
This episode illustrates a broader truth: the “Markaz ki chaal” narrative that once rallied support now rings hollow. A generation that has lived through decades of disruption now demands results, not rhetoric.
Tourism: Mishandling an Economic Lifeline
Tourism, another pillar of Kashmir’s economy, reveals similar mismanagement. After the April 2022 Pahalgam terror attack disrupted tourist confidence, the government failed to design a credible recovery strategy. Tourist arrivals dipped sharply, yet no sustained promotional campaign, infrastructure push, or safety assurance plan was rolled out.
Instead, Omar Abdullah sought to deflect attention by reviving directly/indirectly the statehood demand during claimed promotional visits to other cities. As though the constitutional status of the territory by itself could lure tourists back to Jammu Kashmir. Disconnecting with the ground reality was glaring. Similarly instead of working on messaging from the ground on law and order and safety & security aspects the government remains focussed on promotional activities only that too on a limited scale.
Tourists return to destinations where safety, infrastructure, and services are assured — as Uttarakhand demonstrated after the 2013 Kedarnath disaster. Through a mix of central support, local planning, and stakeholder engagement, the state rebuilt confidence, and by 2016 pilgrim numbers had not only recovered but surpassed pre-tragedy levels.
In Kashmir, by contrast, the Chief Minister went so far as to rebuke travel agents in a closed-door meeting for not defending his government against opposition attacks. This misplaced expectation revealed the NC’s mind set: governance is reduced to party loyalty, while economic revival is left to chance.
The Yasin Malik Row: Politics over Principle
The controversy surrounding Yasin Malik, leader of the banned JKLF, further revealed the opportunism of mainstream Kashmiri parties. Malik, serving a life sentence in a terror funding case, besides accusations of killings, claimed in a Delhi High Court affidavit that his 2006 meeting with Hafiz Saeed was facilitated by intelligence agencies as part of a back-channel process. Political row broke out on this at national and local levels.
Kashmir’s political parties used the episode to score points against each other, accusing rivals of encouraging terrorism in the past. In the eyes of the public, this turned leaders who project themselves as “mainstream” into petty opportunists, willing to exploit even terrorism for short-term political gain.
A Systemic Malaise
Taken together, these episodes expose a systemic malaise: Jammu & Kashmir’s mainstream parties — NC, PDP, PC and others — have functioned less as instruments of governance and more as dynastic enterprises. Their survival strategy rests on:
Recycling emotional grievances.
Blaming New Delhi for local failures.
Avoiding accountability for misgovernance.
Treating citizens as pawns rather than stakeholders.
This pattern has weakened institutions, stalled economic development, and entrenched a culture of cynicism.
Lessons from Elsewhere
The contrast with other Indian states is instructive. Odisha, one of India’s poorest states, has become a global model for disaster preparedness, drastically reducing casualties through early warning systems and efficient evacuation. Kerala institutionalized participatory planning that empowers local bodies. Gujarat rebuilt earthquake-hit Bhuj into a thriving urban hub.
These examples demonstrate that geography is not destiny. Governance matters. Leadership matters. Political will matters. Jammu & Kashmir’s failures are not inherent; they are chosen.
Towards a New Political Culture
Yet within this crisis lies opportunity. The political class is being unmasked before the people. Citizens are beginning to see through the NC’s theatrics and the opportunism of other parties. The task now is to channel this awareness into a demand for a new political culture built on:
Institutional accountability in which: Governments must be answerable through transparent mechanisms.
Transparency in governance: From disaster relief to tourism promotion, fund use must be visible and verifiable.
Effective delivery systems: Citizens must receive timely relief, efficient services, and functional infrastructure.
Shift from emotional to developmental politics: Public discourse must move from identity grievances to measurable progress.
Conclusion: The People’s Moment
For too long, Jammu & Kashmir’s destiny has been scripted by politicians who thrive on emotional manipulation and power for their families. The NC’s current struggles are not merely the decline of a party — they represent the exhaustion of an entire political style.
The people of Jammu & Kashmir must seize this moment. By demanding accountability, rejecting empty blame games, and prioritizing governance over rhetoric, they can ensure that the future belongs not to dynasties but to citizens.
Only then can the Valley move beyond cycles of manipulation and stagnation, towards stability, dignity, and genuine progress.
(The writer is a former MLC of erstwhile Jammu Kashmir and the spokesperson of BJP JK-UT)
