Srinagar/New Delhi, Apr 16 (UNI) A political storm has been triggered in Jammu and Kashmir following a claim by former head of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) A.S. Dulat that National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah had privately endorsed the abrogation of Article 370 and even expressed readiness to "help" in the process if he had been taken into "confidence".
Dulat, in his new book 'The Chief Minister and the Spy', quotes Abdullah as saying during a private conversation: “We would have helped (pass the proposal). Why were we not taken into confidence?”
Abdullah, however, dismissed Dulat’s claim as a “cheap stunt” aimed at boosting book sales.
Claiming that the contents of the book were "figments of imagination" of the author Dulat, he insisted that NC would never have supported the abrogation of Article 370.
Abdullah, a former Chief Minister of J&K who enjoys very close relations with Dulat, had publicly slammed the revocation of Article 370 on August 4, 2019, a sudden move by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which had taken everyone by surprise.
Hours before that development, Farooq Abdullah and other top political and other leaders of Kashmir were put under house arrest and the detentions continued for several months.
Interestingly, a few days before Article 370 was scrapped, Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Modi in Delhi.
"What transpired...nobody will ever know," the former spy chief writes in the book.
The controversial excerpts of Dulat's book were published by The Hindustan Times newspaper and the former spy chief confirmed the crucial elements later in an interview to Karan Thapar.
In the interview, he said that Abdullah told him that if he had been “taken into confidence”, "we could have found ways of overcoming this without having to send extra troops and scaring everybody and making it difficult for Kashmir to accept this, without everybody being upset and it would not have required locking up everyone."
When asked whether Farooq Abdullah would have helped Delhi abrogate Article 370 which granted special status to J&K, Dulat said, "Not abrogate 370. You are putting it very bluntly. Obviously, he was against the abrogation of 370. Every Kashmiri was against the abrogation. It's just that, what he was saying at that point of time, is that we could have helped in doing it more smoothly if it had to be done”.
On whether Farooq Abdullah trusts Delhi, the former RAW chief said, “More than the Kashmiri people, Farooq does not trust Delhi at all. But he was still willing to help them. That trust has to be created by Delhi and Delhi has not been able to create that trust... Despite that, he always wanted to be on the side of Delhi and always wanted to help Delhi."
Dulat\\\\'s claims prompted sharp reactions from NC's political opponents, who alleged "betrayal" by the former CM.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti said it is clear that Farooq Abdullah chose to stay in Kashmir instead of Parliament to “help normalise gutting of J&Ks constitution & subsequent betrayal.”
Iltija, who is the daughter of PDP supremo and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, posted on X: “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."
PDP legislator Wahed Parra accused the NC of staging outrage and fiery rhetoric while quietly facilitating the disempowerment of Jammu and Kashmir.
“This is the same NC that watched silently for decades as Article 370 was gradually hollowed out - posing as protectors while doing nothing to actually protect. Their legacy is not one of resistance but of convenient silence dressed up as statesmanship,” he said.
“This well-rehearsed charade has only one purpose: to normalise the abrogation of 370 and 35A, and the climate of fear and intimidation unleashed post-August 5, 2019 - under the convenient label of a ‘popular government’.”
Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chairman Sajad Lone said he was not surprised by the disclosure.
Taking to social media, Lone described Dulat as the “closest ally” and “virtually the alter ego” of Farooq Abdullah, thereby lending significant weight to the former spymaster’s assertion. “Coming from Dulat sahib makes this revelation very credible,” Lone wrote on X.
The PC chief went further to suggest that the National Conference may have been rewarded in the 2024 electoral cycle for its cooperation in 2019.
“…I can visualise Farooq sahib saying — Humey roney deejiye— Aap apna kaam karein— hum aap kay Saath hain (you just let us cry. you do your work, we are with you) —- It now seems 2024 was a prize for services rendered in 2019. Of course in national interest,” he wrote.
Former NC leader and Ex-Mayor of Srinagar Junaid Mattu also took a dig at the NC.
“Something seems to have fallen out of NC’s bag YET AGAIN and it does seem to be a cat. Commiserations to the vulnerable, gullible people of Kashmir!,” Mattu said.
Farooq Abdullah's daughter Safia Abdullah posted on X: "I have never trusted Dulat as far as I could throw him. He was always a spy whose loyalty was only to himself. He never cared who he threw under the bus with his previous books."
She goes on to add: "I have read this book and he has played a fast and loose with the truth once again."
National Conference chief spokesman and legislator Tanvir Sadiq said the book contradicts itself and Dulat wants to make it controversial.
“…It (the book) says that for seven months, the Centre was trying to gauge the sense of Farooq Sahib. If that would have been true, would Farooq Sahib run the PAGD (People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration) after seven months (when he was released)?” he asked. UNI MJR AKK RBE SSP