Last Updated on October 31, 2026 10:11 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Andalib Akhter
After years of speculation, Kashmir’s chief minister marries journalist Nidhi Razdan. Will she remain in the newsroom, enter politics like Begum Akbar Jahan, or become the keeper of the Abdullah family’s many Raaz?
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah finally has a Razdan at home. In a family whose story has unfolded across three generations of politics and personal histories, the arrival of a raazdaan — an Urdu word for a trusted confidant — adds another interesting dimension.
The 56-year-old chief minister married television journalist Nidhi Razdan, 49, on Friday, bringing a formal conclusion to a relationship that had been the subject of speculation in Delhi and Srinagar’s political and journalistic circles for years.
The couple announced their marriage on social media on Saturday, with Omar posting photographs and declaring, “A new journey began yesterday.”
Razdan, never one to miss an opportunity for a punchy television-style response, replied: “It’s done bro @OmarAbdullah.”
For a politician whose family has spent decades navigating Kashmir’s political storms, this was perhaps the shortest and most cheerful joint declaration in Abdullah family history.
According to reports, the ceremony was preceded by a private gathering in Srinagar, attended by Omar’s parents, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah and Mollie Abdullah, his sisters and other relatives. Razdan’s parents, veteran journalist M.K. Razdan and Sarla Razdan, were also present.
For more than two decades, Nidhi Razdan questioned politicians from the television studios of NDTV. Now she finds herself married to one of Kashmir’s most prominent politicians. Her new domestic arrangement raises an intriguing question: Will she continue asking uncomfortable questions, or will the chief minister now have to answer them over breakfast?
Will Nidhi follow Begum Akbar Jahan?
There is another intriguing historical parallel. Omar’s grandmother, Begum Akbar Jahan, wife of National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was no mere spectator in her husband’s political career.
She emerged as a political figure in her own right, mobilised support during difficult years and eventually served in Parliament. Could Nidhi Razdan follow a similar path?
The question is not entirely fanciful. She has covered elections, diplomacy and Kashmir politics for decades. She knows the language of power, the personalities behind it and the political landscape into which she has now married.
A journalist in Kashmir’s first political family
Razdan comes from a Kashmiri Pandit family with its own distinguished journalistic background. Her father, M.K. Razdan, served as editor-in-chief of the Press Trust of India. She spent 21 years at NDTV before leaving in 2020.
She returned to NDTV in 2022 before leaving again in 2023. Her marriage now places her at the centre of a family that has dominated much of Jammu and Kashmir’s post-1947 political history.
May Their union be filled with happiness, companionship, and lasting love.