You know nothing, Omar Abdullah (except to tweet)

The best way out is always through. But former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah often discovers this on Twitter. You expect his physical outreach, and he goes the extra mile on the micro-blogging website. Clearly social networking provides an honourable exit to escapists.

Take the latest: The New Year brought along the controversy over the J&K flag. The division bench of the high court on January 1 stayed its previous orders directing the state’s constitutional authorities to hoist the state flag on official buildings and vehicles.

Omar’s response was instant, in tweets. Asserting that he fully supports the previous two-flag order, he accused the hospitalised chief minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, of failing to defend the state's dignity from the “nefarious plans of allies”.

"If Mufti Sayeed can't defend the State's dignity & flag from the nefarious plans of his allies he should step down & find someone who can!!!," Omar tweeted in a series of posts, hashtagged #TwoFlagsWillFly.

His party spokesman opened up another front asking followers, including Omar, to change their display picture with the state flag, and to nominate five more persons.

A week on, NC is busy debating #TwoFlagsWillFly theory. But Omar didn’t even replace his picture with the “prestigious” red flag.

It’s not the first “pro-people” campaign the NC has left halfway. Last month, NC abandoned its pledge to fight the implementation of the “anti-people” National Food Security Act in the state. Prior to it, the opposition aborted campaigns including one against “unjustified fuel tax hike”.

Since the Assembly elections in 2014, when NC lost its stronghold Srinagar to the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party, Omar has been behaving like an escapist. Over a year on, he is yet to stage a rally in the summer capital, except for the traditional appearance at the mausoleum of his grandfather, Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, on his birth and death anniversaries.

In the city, which has been a game changer in the elections, the murky waters defined the boundaries of NC’s defeat. Out of the total of eight Srinagar constituencies, PDP won five, exactly where the Jhelum roared during floods in 2014.  

Initially, Omar had braved the situation. As per a Greater Kashmir news report, just a day ahead of the September 7 devastation, he and others spent the night overseeing rescue operations.

In the aftermath of the floods, he demanded a Rs 44,000-crore rehabilitation package from the Centre. But after losing the elections, he never pursued the case.

As of now, NC accuses regional rival PDP of “total failure” particularly the latter’s inability to rehabilitate the flood victims (whom Omar never visited after the poll debacle).

If the ruling PDP is weak, what about NC? Except for tweets and ritualistic walkouts from the Assembly, Omar’s role, as a strong Opposition, is debatable.

With more than a million followers online, he might have reasons to live in the simulated reality. But twitterly concerns are far from grassroots.

If Srinagar, the hotseat of politics, is any yardstick, Omar has zero presence on ground zero. But then he tweets: how sweet?