It is a crown of thorns and may Allah help him fulfil the hopes of people, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Wednesday after his son Omar Abdullah took oath as the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Taking a cue from his grandfather, Zahir Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah's son, said the new government’s first priority is restoration of statehood.

“The state is full of challenges and I hope this government will do what it had promised in the election manifesto… It is a crown of thorns and may (almighty) Allah succeed him (Omar) and he fulfils the people’s hope. This is my message,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters after the oath-taking ceremony at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC).

“After statehood, our true struggle (for restoration of) Article 370 will start. Article 370 will always be our priority,” Zahir Abdullah added.

Omar Abdullah heads the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, when the erstwhile state was bifurcated into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

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