Omar Abdullah

Omar Abdullah
عمر عبد اللہ
Abdullah in 2014
Member of J&K Legislative Assembly for Beerwah
Incumbent
Assumed office 2014
8th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
In office 5 January 2009 – 8 January 2015
Governor	Narinder Nath Vohra
Deputy	Tara Chand
Preceded by	Governor's rule
Succeeded by	Governor's rule
Member of J&K Legislative Assembly for Ganderbal
In office 2009–2014
Minister of State for External Affairs
In office 23 July 2001 – 23 December 2002
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Krishnam Raju
Succeeded by	Digvijay Singh
Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) for Srinagar
In office 10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999
Preceded by	Ghulam Mohammad Mir Magami
In office 10 October 1999 – 06 February 2004
In office 17 May 2004 – 18 May 2009
Succeeded by	Farooq Abdullah
Personal details
Born	(1970-03-10) 10 March 1970 Rochford, Essex, United Kingdom
Political party	Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
Spouse(s)	Payal Nath (m. 1994; separated 2011)[1][2][3]
Children	Zahir and Zamir (sons)
Parents	Farooq Abdullah and Molly Abdullah
Residence	40, Gupkar Road, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Education	Bachelor of Commerce
Alma mater	Sydenham College, University of Mumbai

Omar Abdullah ( pronunciation ; born 10 March 1970) is an Indian politician and the scion of one of the most prominent political families of Jammu and Kashmir, the Abdullah family,^[4][5][6] he became the 11th and the youngest Chief Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, after forming a government in coalition with the Congress party, on 5 January 2009.^[6][7]

He is currently Leader of opposition jammu kashmir legislative assembly (Member of the Legislative Assembly from Beerwah constituency of Budgam district.) ^[8]

He was a member of 14th Lok Sabha, representing Srinagar constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, India. He was the Union Minister of State for External affairs in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government, from 23 July 2001 to 23 December 2002. He resigned from NDA government in October 2002 to concentrate on party work.^[9]

Omar joined politics in 1998, as a Lok Sabha member, a feat he repeated in subsequent three elections and also remained the Union minister; he took on the mantle of National Conference from his father in 2002, though he lost his own seat of Ganderbal during the 2002 state assembly elections, and so did his party, the political mandate; four years later, he contested once again from the same seat and won in the 2008 Kashmir Elections.^[5]

Personal life

Omar Abdullah was born on 10 March 1970 in Rochford, Essex, United Kingdom. He is the son of Farooq Abdullah, a qualified doctor and grandson of Sheikh Abdullah, all three of whom have been Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir.^[10] His mother Mollie, an Englishwoman and a nurse by profession, was not in favor of him joining politics.^[11] He studied at the Burn Hall School located at Sonwar Bagh, Srinagar and then at Lawrence School, Sanawar.^[12] He is a B.Com graduate of Sydenham College.^[13]

He married Payal Nath,^[14] but on September 2011, he confirmed that he and his wife are separated.^[1][2][3] He also had an affair with NDTV journalist and news anchor Nidhi Razdan.^[15] His younger sister, Sara Pilot, is married to Sachin Pilot, son of Rajesh Pilot.

He had a role in director Apoorva Lakhia’s film, Mission Istanbul (2008), based on international terrorism, playing himself.^[16][17]

Political career

In 1998, at the age of 29, Omar Abdullah was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha, becoming the youngest minister. In 1998–99, he was a member of both the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of Tourism's Consultative Committee. In 1999, he was elected to 13th Lok Sabha (2nd term as a Member of Parliament).^[18] On 13 October 1999, he took oath as Union Minister of State, Commerce and Industry. On 22 July 2001, he became the youngest Union Minister, when he was made Union Minister of State for External affairs. He resigned from the post on 23 December 2002, to concentrate on party work.^[9]

On 23 June 2002, he became the President of the National Conference party, replacing his father, Farooq Abdullah.^[19] He lost his Ganderbal seat in the Kashmir assembly elections held in September–October 2002.^[20] Abdullah was re-elected as the National Conference party's president in 2006.

In March 2006, much to the disapproval of the centre, Omar Abdullah had a one-on-one meeting with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharaf, in Islamabad. This was the first meeting of its kind between a mainstream politician from Jammu & Kashmir and the Pakistani government, thereby re-enforcing Omar's growing commitment to the solution of the Jammu & Kashmir cause. Omar received a rousing reception by thousands of Kashmiris upon his return.

On 22 July 2008, Omar gave a speech during the 2008 Lok Sabha vote of confidence,^[21] which was praised and won him fans on the internet.^[22][23]

After the 2008 Kashmir Elections, the National Conference won the maximum number of seats, and formed a coalition government with the Congress party, and Omar was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 January 2009 at the General Zoravar Singh Auditorium in the University of Jammu, Jammu, raising hope amongst the people of Jammu and Kashmir who had been reeling under insurgency and violence since 1989.^[24]

In 2009, Omar Abdullah was accused of covering up the rape and murder of two young women in Shopian, which was allegedly perpetrated by Indian Paramilitary Forces.^[25] Many regarded this as Abdullah's first failure, as even moderates felt Abdullah had bowed to pressure from New Delhi.^[26]

In 2014 Jammu & Kashmir Assembly election, Omar Abdullah lost in Sonawar assembly constituency in Srinagar. Abdullah lost the Sonawar seat by 4,783 votes. However, he won the Beerwah seat in Kashmir by a brisk margin of 940 votes, a lowest for any sitting CM.^[27] On 24 December 2014, he resigned from the position of the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.^[28]

References

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website