Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has resigned following a sensational allegation by a senior PDP leader of his involvement in the 2006 sex scandal. With this resignation, a different breed of politicians who stand for dignity and morality in public life have emerged.

It didn’t take even a minute for Omar to announce his resignation. On hearing the allegation made in the State Assembly by none other than former Deputy Chief Minister and senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, an angry and emotional Omar announced his decision to resign then and there till he was cleared of the “blemish” and drove to Raj Bhawan and tendered his resignation to Governor N N Vohra.

Juxtapose this with the current breed of politicians who at any cost hang on to the chair. For an example, one does not go to too far. Take the example of JMM chief Shibu Soren which is still fresh in the memory of the people of this country. Even after he was convicted by a court, he wanted to cling on to power. He was later forced to quit is another story altogether. Lalu is another example. There is no dearth of such examples.

But, Omar’s exemplary act reminds me of at least two such incidents in the Indian politics when two highly revered Indian politicians, Lal Bahadur Sastri and AK Antony, resigned from the Union Cabinet taking moral responsibility. Way back in the early ‘60s, then senior Congress leader, who later became the Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Sastri resigned from the Union Cabinet as Railway Minister taking moral responsibility for a railway accident which claimed several lives. The entire world knows that the accident happened not due to the negligence of the Minister. But Sastri chose to resign to uphold morality in public life and politely quit the job.

More recently, Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet AK Antony resigned from his ministry just because his name was also figured just as a passing reference in a food scandal. Again the world knows Antony is one of the few incorruptible politicians in the country.

In Omar’s case too, everybody including PDP leader Beigh knows that 39-year old Omar is innocent. Even the PDP has now backtracked from its allegation saying Omar Abdullah was not an accused in the infamous Srinagar sex scandal of 2006. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has also given a clean chit to Omar on the sex scandal case.

Omar has showed courage. It bodes well for the Indian politics. A breed of young politicians of different class has emerged. Topped by Rahul Gandhi, the list include Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Naveen Jindal, etc.

I hope, for that matter all of us, that the list will swell in future.