J-K MLAs oath: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday (October 21) took oath as a member of the legislative assembly in the Kashmiri language. The 54-year-old Leader of the House was the first MLA to be administered the oath by pro-tem speaker Mubarak Gul.
Omar Abdullah, son of Farooq Abdullah and his British wife Mollie Abdullah, has often been criticised for not speaking his native language. While the third-generation politician from the Abdullah family was fluent in English, his proficiency in Hindi, Urdu, and Kashmiri was initially weak when he began his political career in the late 1990s.
However, during his first tenure as chief minister from 2009 to 2014, Omar Abdullah took lessons to improve his fluency in these languages. On Monday, he took the oath as an MLA in Kashmiri.
J-K MLAs administered oath
The newly elected members of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly were administered also oath today. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary took oath in English.
The oath-taking ceremony of the MLAs marks the end of a six-year legislative hiatus. Among the new members, there are 51 first-time legislators, including Shagun Parihar, the BJP MLA from Kishtwar, who at 29 is the youngest member. On the other hand, the oldest is 80-year-old NC veteran Abdul Rahim Rather, the MLA from Chrar-e-Sharief.
Rather and party colleague Ali Mohammad Sagar (MLA Khanyar) have been elected to the assembly for a record seven terms. While Sagar has been a member of the Legislative Assembly since 1983, Rather started his long stint as a legislator in 1977. However, the former finance minister lost the 2014 assembly elections.
Jammu and Kashmir elections
The National Conference (NC) emerged as the single largest party in the assembly polls held in September and October.
The oldest political party of Jammu and Kashmir has formed the government with external support from the Congress, which has six MLAs.
Five independent MLAs, one MLA from the AAP, and the CPI(M) have also extended their support. The BJP with 29 seats is the second-largest party -- its best-ever performance in J-K.
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