Were Abdullahs on the same page with PM Modi on Article 370; ex-RAW chief says 'yes'

Former RAW chief, A.S. Dulat in his recent book, ‘The Chief Minister and the Spy’, has generated a storm in the tea cup for the ruling National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir by writing that the ‘former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah was secretly on board when Article 370 was removed’.

The ruling National Conference (NC) has dismissed Dulat’s assertion by saying that ‘this is a figment of fiction’, but all the same, political leaders in J&K have already started debating and questioning the stand purportedly taken by Dr Farooq Abdullah, as Dulat asserts.

Referring to Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi days before the 370 abrogation, Dulat writes: “What transpired during the meeting, nobody will ever know. Farooq has certainly never mentioned it.”

For Dulat, Farooq Abdullah’s house arrest in 2019 was the “saddest story in Kashmir” as the NC patron questioned his detention during a conversation with the former spy chief.

“When he spoke to me about the abrogation later, he was forthright, ‘Kar lo agar karna hai (do it if you want to) he said, somewhat bitterly. ‘Par yeh arrest kyu karna that? (but why arrest us?)',” he writes in his book.

Dulat also talks about how Farooq is different from his son Omar -- both having served as Chief Ministers of the erstwhile state, with Omar Abdullah currently serving as the first CM of the union territory. Farooq Abdullah, he writes, has always sought to be on Delhi’s right side, but not on Delhi’s terms, unlike Omar Abdullah, who goes out of his way to please Delhi.

“He (Farooq) always looked for a level playing field and, in the end, did it his way, which Delhi could never comprehend. For instance, after his release from detention in March 2020, Delhi expected him to come and meet the prime minister. But he took his time on the excuse that he needed cataract surgeries in both his eyes. He came to Delhi only in July 2020.

“That is the difference between Farooq and Omar. When Omar says he wants a good relationship with Delhi, he goes out of his way to please Delhi. Farooq does what he thinks will go down best with his people. Dulat says Delhi has “almost always” missed the bus with Farooq as he goes on to narrate a 2014 phone call he got from IB headquarters.

“I was holidaying in Goa when I got a call from IB headquarters in Delhi, ‘Do you have Doctor Sahib’s London telephone number?’ ‘I do,’ I replied. ‘But I hardly have it here on the beach! Baat kya hai? Ab aap phone karna chah rahe ho, but it’s too late now.’(What is the matter? If you want to call him now, it’s too late.) ‘Nahi, nahi, we just wanted to enquire about his health.’ ‘Well, even there you’re too late.’ It was another indicator of how tall a leader Doctor Sahib is. It was an indicator, as well, of how, try as Delhi might to dismiss him, it can never ignore Farooq", Dulat writes.

"He is the face not just of his party but of the Valley in modern India,” the book reads.

Sajad Gani Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC) has said that he is not surprised because the Abdullahs (Farooq Abdullah and son Omar) met the PM on August 4, and as such, Dulat’s revelation is no news for him.

Sajad Lone said on X, "Dulat sahib has revealed in his upcoming book that Farooq Sahib privately supported the abrogation of Article 370. Coming from Dullat sahib makes this revelation very credible. Dullat sahib is the closest ally of and friend of Farooq sahib. Virtually his alter ego. Incidentally Dullat sahib is the famed Uncle of the infamous Uncles and Aunties Brigade of Delhi”.

He said the NC will deny it. They will call it yet another conspiracy against NC.

“They have perfected playing the victim card. Uncle and Aunties will take cognisance of my tweet and other such tweets and implore upon BJP to teach such tweeters a lesson. Out here, their MLAs will privately visit LOP Sunil Sharma and tell him that they are brothers separated at the Kumbh Mela. That the theatre they enact in Assembly and outside assembly is in national interest. I personally am not surprised at this revelation. The August 4 2019 meeting of CM sahib and Farooq sahib with the PM was never a mystery for me. I can visualise Farooq sahib saying — Humey roney deejiye— Aap apna kaam karein— hum aap kay Saath hain— It now seems 2024 was a prize for services rendered in 2019. Of course in national interest," Sajad wrote.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader, Iltija Mufti, said that it is clear that Farooq Abdullah chose to stay in Kashmir instead of the Parliament to help normalise gutting of J&K's constitution and subsequent betrayal.

"Dulat sahab an ardent Abdullah supporter has shared how Farooq sahab agreed with Delhi’s illegal move of abrogating Article 370. There were already doubts about what transpired between the Abdullahs & PM days before J&Ks special status was revoked. With this it’s clear that Farooq sahab chose to stay in Kashmir instead of the Parliament to help normalise gutting of J&Ks constitution & subsequent betrayal," she wrote on X.