Farooq Abdullah Was Willing to Help Abrogate 370 but Wasn’t Consulted; Apologies if This Upsets Him

Farooq Abdullah was willing to help abrogate Article 370 but wasn't consulted; I will apologize to him if revealing this has upset him: Amarjit Singh Dulat, former Head of R&AW, to Karan Thapar for The Wire

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In an interview to mark the forthcoming publication of his book on the 18th, ‘The Chief Minister and The Spy’, his personal account of his decades old friendship with Farooq Abdullah, Amarjit Singh Dulat, former Head of R&AW, has confirmed under persistent questioning that Farooq Abdullah told him in 2020, months after the abrogation of Article 370, that he would have been willing to help abrogate the Article if the government had taken him into confidence. “ ‘We would have helped’ he told me when I met him in 2020. ‘Why were we not taken into confidence?’ ”, Mr. Dulat has written in his book. However, Mr. Dulat argues that this needs to be seen in the context of Dr. Abdullah’s feelings of heartbreak when, after decades of service to the country, he was put under house arrest.



In a 45-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Mr. Dulat also said that he would be willing to apologize to Dr. Abdullah if he has upset him by making public what was originally a private conversation between the two of them.



In this interview, Mr. Dulat also speaks in some detail about the differences between Farooq Abdullah and his son, Omar, the present Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He says that whilst Farooq Abdullah is 100% Indian and more than 100% Kashmiri, Omar is 100% Indian but only 50% Kashmiri and 50% still the head boy of Sanawar. He says people in Kashmir view Omar as “too much of an Englishman … (and) too dependent on security”.



The book has details of how in 2002 Omar campaigned citing his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah’s example and by-passing his father altogether. “Farooq was bad news and Dada ji was everything”, Mr. Dulat says.



Mr. Dulat also reveals what he calls a “souring of relationship between father and son” after Omar’s marriage to Payal.



The interview has a detailed discussion about how Farooq Abdullah was ousted as Chief Minister at midnight in 1984, something Mr. Dulat says “left a scar on Farooq’s psyche that has never fully healed … I don’t think he has ever recovered from that. Nor do I think he ever will.”



The interview also discusses the 1987 election and the fact that Farooq Abdullah cannot accept it was rigged. Is he in denial, Mr. Dulat is asked.



The interview discusses the offer of the Vice Presidency made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani to Farooq Abdullah in 2002 and how they reneged upon it. Mr. Dulat said it was an attempt to tempt Dr. Abdullah and play games with him. The real object was to get him to step down as Chief Minister so that his son, Omar, could take over.



Mr. Dulat says Farooq Abdullah “is Kashmir” adding he also “is the National Conference”. Mr. Dulat goes further and says that Farooq Abdullah is probably “the tallest political leader in the country”.



I will stop there. I am only tempting you with the most interesting bits of the interview. There’s a lot more in the interview itself and all the details about the bits I have mentioned can be got by watching the interview. These are just a few of the headlines. Please watch the interview to find out the details.

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