This is an election of many firsts in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It is the first parliamentary election after the State of J&K was bifurcated into the two Union Territories, and its special constitutional status scrapped, on August 5, 2019. This is also the first election in which the next generation of influential families in the region — the Abdullahs, Muftis, and Azads — are plunging into politics, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to attack the practice of dynastic politics, a strategy which it hopes will help it keep these political families in J&K at bay.
The reins of the National Conference (NC), a party which was founded by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1939, has remained firmly with the Abdullahs for more than nine decades despite the efforts by rivals, both within and outside the party, to dislodge them. The name Abdullah remains the pivot of the party.
However, successions have never been a cakewalk. Sheikh Abdullah’s son, Farooq Abdullah, succeeded him as the leader of the party in a formal ceremony on August 21, 1981, at Mujahid Manzil in Srinagar’s downtown area. But given the souring of relations between the Abdullahs and the Gandhi family then, there were apprehensions that the Congress-led Centre would remove Sheikh Abdullah as J&K’s Chief Minister.
Since the 1980s, there has been no formal succession of the Abdullahs in J&K. Dr. Farooq Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah saw a subdued entry into politics in 1998, at a time when J&K was in the grip of militancy. Mr. Omar Abdullah became India’s youngest minister at the age of 29 and held the portfolio of Minister of State, Commerce and Industry, in 1999 under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The NDA believed then that only the Abdullahs could save Kashmir from separatists and militants.
Cut to 2024. Zahir and Zamir Abdullah, Mr. Omar Abdullah’s sons, were conspicuous at the NC’s iftar party thrown for local journalists. The two of them joined the evening prayers and helped their father place traems, copper plates from which four persons eat — a marker of traditional Kashmiri hospitality. Both the sons hold law degrees and have begun expressing their political views. Commenting on a recent speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jammu, promising to restore Statehood, Mr. Zahir Abdullah wrote on social media, “Yet again, vague and ambiguous timelines (from the PM).”
When People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president, Mehbooba Mufti, who is the daughter of former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was jailed on the eve of August 5, 2019, in Kashmir, her daughter Iltija Mufti became the face and voice of the party. Ms. Iltija Mufti’s plunge into politics is complete now. She has been visiting residents and getting feedback on various issues in the remote areas of south Kashmir, where her mother is taking on political stalwarts such as the NC’s Mian Altaf and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party’s Ghulam Nabi Azad. By speaking about issues faced by rural women and employing social media to connect with the youth, Ms. Iltija Mufti is clearly preparing to take up a bigger role within the party.
Similarly, Mr. Azad’s son, Saddam Nabi Azad, has been canvassing for his father online and offline.
These developments have brought the dynasty debate into focus once again. The reason the BJP is unable to make a dent despite its accusations of dynasty rule resonating with voters is that the party has failed to bring in a new crop of politicians to take on these families. The leaders propped up by the BJP through the panchayat and municipal elections in the past five years have failed to infuse new blood into the party or emerge as alternatives to these families.
On the other hand, the Abdullahs and Muftis have captured the discourse by defending J&K’s intra-regional identity and fighting for the restoration of autonomous status to J&K. This has struck a chord with the people and diffused the BJP’s dynasty narrative. The only worrying sign for them is the murmurs within their parties about the need to create a more competitive and democratic space for non-family members.
Responding to accusations of dynasty politics, Dr. Farooq Abdullah recently said, “Dynasts may be the case in Bollywood and business. In politics, people and votes propel a leader... A leader has to connect with the people and garner support to win elections.”
