Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has several firsts in politics. He announced his instant resignation when the opposition pointed fingers at his moral character in the assembly recently, sending a loud and clear message that his upright image is more important than power. And unlike traditional politicians, he is ready to accept the mistakes of his government, and has the moral courage to say sorry.

His candid admission last year that he should have quit the NDA government immediately after the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat was not only seen as a re-emphasis of his party’s secular credentials but a sincere apology to the people of Kashmir who had accused the Abdullahs of being opportunistic, ready to sacrifice everything to keep themselves in power.

In fact, Omar Abdullah had begun a fresh political journey as the new leader of National Conference after the party’s ouster from power in 2002, by a public apology for the mistakes of his father’s six year rule, especially regarding human rights violations. He continued apologising all through his opposition years. His first assembly session was no different. Mired by the controversies and the PDP’s belligerent politics, Abdullah’s approach was apologetic, sometimes even bordering on the defensive.

The Shopian fiasco changed it all. Realising that the case had hit a blind alley, the CM has sought to play politics over the issue to tide over the gathering crisis, rather than keep his government focused on the only issue at stake: the identity of the culprits and justice to the victims. When Abdullah visited Shopian for the first time recently (four months late through) to reach out to the people, he promised gallows for the culprits, saying “I will not be able to sleep in calm till the culprits are arrested”. But his law minister A.M. Sagar portrayed the arrest of the four policemen in a manner that suggested that the government had already found those who had committed the rape and murder.

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