Mohammad Amin Shah
Sunil Sharma’s ascent as the first BJP Leader of the Opposition reflects not merely an individual journey from militancy-era Kishtwar, but a structural realignment of power across Jammu and Kashmir’s political geography. When the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly convened in Srinagar following the historic October 2024 elections, the visual and political architecture of the House had irrevocably changed. For seven decades, the leadership of the legislative opposition in Jammu and Kashmir had alternated almost exclusively between the dynastic custodians of the Kashmir Valley, the National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), or the Congress party. In November 2024, when Sunil Kumar Sharma rose from the front row opposite Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, he embodied a profound geographical and ideological shift.
On November 3, 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature party unanimously elected the 47-year-old legislator from Padder-Nagseni constituency as its leader, formally making him the first-ever BJP Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Union Territory’s Assembly. Crucially, the party chose neither a familiar face from the Hindu-majority plains of Jammu nor an urban tactician, but an assertive grassroots organiser from the rugged, ecologically fragile highlands of the Chenab Valley.
The crucible of the Chenab
To understand Sunil Sharma’s political temperament, one must examine the rugged terrain that shaped him. Born in village Hatta in Kishtwar district to Bansi Lal Sharma, Sharma spent his formative years in a region perched precariously between Jammu’s foothills and Kashmir’s Pir Panjal range. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Chenab Valley, encompassing Kishtwar, Doda, and Ramban, served as a conduit for cross-border militancy and suffered recurrent bouts of communal friction. Completing his early education at Boys Higher Secondary School Kishtwar, Sharma was drawn into youth activism during an era when nationalist politics in the Chenab highlands carried immense personal peril. Affiliating with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he mobilised youth and organised relief during times of conflict. His formal foray into electoral politics occurred around 2007–2008. He contested the 2008 Assembly election from Kishtwar under the BJP banner. Although lost the election in that initial outing, he utilised the subsequent six years to build party cadre across isolated mountain habitations where the BJP had previously maintained negligible presence.
The 2014 breach and ministerial record
The watershed moment in Sharma’s trajectory arrived in December 2014. In an election marked by an unprecedented surge for the BJP across the Jammu region, Sharma produced a notable upset by defeating National Conference heavyweight and former minister of state for home Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo in Kishtwar. The victory breached a historic regional bastion and signaled that the Chenab Valley was no longer insulated from broader political realignments. Inducted into the subsequent PDP-BJP coalition government under Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and later Mehbooba Mufti, Sharma served between 2015 and 2018 as Minister of State with Independent Charge for Transport, while simultaneously holding crucial portfolios in Public Works (Roads & Buildings), Revenue, Rural Development, and Agriculture. In April 2018, he was elevated to Cabinet rank as the Minister for the Power Development Department (PDD).
During this administrative phase, his priorities were dictated by the acute developmental deficits of mountain communities:
● Infrastructure and Connectivity: Channeling funding through the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the Central Road Fund (CRF), Sharma prioritised fair-weather road links to historically isolated pockets such as Marwah, Warwan, Dachhan, and Padder.
● Pilgrimage Governance: He spearheaded infrastructure development for the arduous Shree Machail Mata Yatra in Padder, overseeing track widening, mobile connectivity, safety stations, and civic amenities to handle the burgeoning influx of devotees.
● Rural Electrification: In the power department, he focused on bringing grid electricity to remote hamlets while advocating for local employment quotas within the major hydroelectric projects dotting the Chenab river basin.
● Tribal Advocacy: Recognising simmering grievances over tribal status, Sharma led delegations to New Delhi demanding parity for mountain populations, contributing directly to the Parliament granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Paddri tribe, Gadda Brahmins, and Kolis of Padder.
Grassroots chemistry and the anatomy of leadership
Beyond ideological positioning and administrative portfolios, Sharma’s sustained popularity within the party hierarchy and the wider electorate springs from a distinctly grounded, people centric leadership style. Widely acknowledged across political divides as an accessible and unpretentious figure, he maintains an organic, everyday connection with ordinary citizens and booth-level karyakartas. Unlike leaders secluded behind layers of security and protocol, Sharma is renowned for his encyclopedic familiarity with ground workers, regularly Recognising village cadres by name and remembering family lineages across the Chenab Valley. His constituency offices and residence function virtually as open houses where people from diverse backgrounds bring issues ranging from health emergencies to administrative delays, assured of a patient hearing and direct intervention. This accessibility is matched by distinct leadership qualities: a hands-on crisis instinct that sees him reach disaster-struck mountain hamlets within hours of landslides or cloudbursts, tireless physical stamina for mass public outreach, and a rare capacity for consensus-building that diffuses intra-party frictions. Fiercely protective of the dignity of grassroots workers yet pragmatic in resolving community disputes, Sharma balances the combativeness of a legislative crusader with the approachable warmth of a community guardian.
Reorganization, delimitation, and the 2024 mandate
Following the constitutional alterations of August 5, 2019, Sharma became a pivotal organisational bridge for the BJP high command. Operating as a general secretary and regional coordinator, he was entrusted with establishing functional party networks across districts in the Kashmir Valley. His proximity to central decision-makers, particularly Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who campaigned for him with the evocative promise, “Make him an MLA, and we will make him a big man” solidified his standing within the party apparatus. The 2022 delimitation redrew the electoral map of the Chenab region, carving out the newly delineated Padder-Nagseni constituency. Relocating from Kishtwar, Sharma contested a tough campaign against National Conference candidate Pooja Thakur. In a high-turnout election exceeding 80%, Sharma prevailed by a margin of 1,546 votes, underscoring his cross-community standing among Pahari and tribal voters.
Parliamentary sparring in an altered assembly
As Leader of the Opposition commanding 28 legislators, Sharma has introduced a confrontational style of opposition politics to the Srinagar legislature. Rather than adopting an accommodating stance, he has turned the assembly floor into a primary forum for nationalist ideological contestation. When the treasury benches introduced resolutions addressing Article 370 and special status, Sharma led the pushback, maintaining that Parliament’s abrogation is a settled constitutional reality that a Union Territory legislature possesses no legal competence to reopen. Simultaneously, he has pushed the Omar Abdullah administration on administrative delivery, transparent recruitment processes, security vigilance against resurgence in terror incidents, and the equitable allocation of budgetary resources between Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
The road ahead
The elevation of Sunil Sharma marks the end of an era where J&K’s political narrative was driven solely by the binary between Srinagar’s political elite and Jammu’s commercial heartland. By elevating a leader steeped in the complex socio-religious realities of the Chenab Valley, the BJP has installed a voice adept at navigating mountain development alongside ideological defense. For the Omar Abdullah government, Sharma represents an energetic and vocal adversary; for Jammu and Kashmir’s evolving democracy, his leadership guarantees that parliamentary debates in the House will remain robust, contentious, and thoroughly engaged.
(The author is BJP State Executive Member, Jammu and Kashmir, and a former broadcaster at All India Radio (AIR), Srinagar. With experience in broadcasting and public communication, he has an interest in social, political, cultural, and contemporary issues. Through his writings, he seeks to share perspectives, encourage informed discussions, and highlight matters of public interest.)
