February 23, 1998

Srinagar   Jammu and Kashmir
Electorate: 7.9 lakh
Main Rival: A S Mehdi (Congress)

Politics is easy. Give up your real-estate job, bring home a suitcase full of designer suits, invoke your famous father's name repeatedly, and everything will be just fine. Omar Abdullah did just that. Except, he found -- at his first public meeting -- that everything was not just fine. At Charar-e-Sharief, people were reluctant to even accord him the normal courtesy of a salaam. But Omar, who has inherited powerful political genes, did not falter. "My father told me to even greet enemies and since we are not enemies, I greet you again." This time he elicits a response.

Only 28, the young Kashmiri is his target. "Give me your vote and I shall solve all your employment problems." It sounds trite. Perhaps that strikes him too, for he adds, "I am standing in front of the shrine so I won't tell you lies."

Brought up in England, language is his handicap. Omar says he can speak Kashmiri but fears making a mistake in front of the video cameras. Not all see it that way. Says Srinagar businessman Jalili Ahmed: "Yeh naam ka Kashmiri hai, kaam ka nahin (He's a Kashmiri only in name)."

-- Suresh Nandi

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