Jammu and Kashmir: INDIA bloc’s show of solidarity

Top INDIA bloc leaders, including the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, are in Srinagar to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Omar Abdullah as the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, 16 October.

Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party president Malikarjun Kharge arrived this morning and will represent the Congress' national leadership at the oath ceremony.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, CPI leader D. Raja, CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, DMK's Kanimozhi, NCP's Supriya Sule, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav had already arrived earlier for Abdullah's oath ceremony (several of them are seen in the image above with Omar as well as Farookh Abdullah, the National Conference chief).

Top leaders of all INDIA bloc parties had been invited by the NC to attend the ceremony of its government formation, which is taking place for the first time in 10 years — and for the first time since Jammu and Kashmir's special status was abrogated in 2019.

Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha has just begun administering the oath of office and secrecy to Abdullah at the at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC).

The stage was set for Abdullah to be sworn in as the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir once the National Conference–Congress alliance won the maiden assembly elections held after the abrogation of Article 370.

The oath of office and secrecy will also be administered to Abdullah's chosen ministers.

Some chief ministers and other representatives of various states and parties are also in attendance.

Amongst the invitees were former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (also an INDIA ally as AAP supremo), West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu's M.K. Stalin, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar. 

While the Indian National Congress was formally in alliance with the National Conference for the assembly elections, it is noteworthy that many of the other INDIA bloc parties represented have little to no presence in Jammu and Kashmir politically — or, in other words, neither political stake nor say — and were clearly present solely to signal solidarity and unity as a national alliance.

With PTI and IANS inputs