Dulat's claim on Article 370 troubles Farooq Abdullah

In his forthcoming book The Chief Minister and the Spy, Dulat has said though Dr Abdullah publicly condemned the abrogation of Article 370 by the Centre in August 2019, he privately struck a different note and asked him: “We would have helped (pass the proposal). Why were we not taken into confidence?”
The former R&AW chief’s startling revelation has stirred up a hornet’s nest in Jammu and Kashmir and beyond, with the Opposition parties and leaders in the state ripping into Dr Abdullah and his party, accusing them of betraying the people of the erstwhile state. Dr Abdullah has not reacted to Dulat’s claim so far, but the NC, which has been caught on the backfoot, has termed it as “a piece of fiction”.

Dulat also writes in his book that, days before J&K was stripped of its special status envisaged in Article 370 and split up into two Union territories, Dr Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and “what transpired… nobody will ever know”. After the abrogation, Dr Abdullah was detained for seven months. He says that, during this period, the Centre discreetly probed his stance and “wanted him to accept the new reality”.

The Abdullahs’ political bête noire quickly took to the social media platforms to berate them. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti wrote 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 There were already doubts about what transpired between the Abdullahs & the PM days before J&K’s special status was revoked”. She added: “With this it’s clear that Farooq Sahab chose to stay in Kashmir instead of in Parliament to help normalise gutting of J&K’s constitution & subsequent betrayal.”

Her party MLA Waheed Ur Rehman Parra said that Dulat’s revelations “rip off the last remaining mask”. He said: “The fiery speeches, the staged outrage, the carefully crafted image of ‘fighting the BJP’ -- it was all theatre. A performance designed to mislead the people of J&K into believing that the NC was standing guard over their rights”.

He added: “In truth, they were complicit -- quiet facilitators of our disempowerment… The truth is harsh but undeniable: generation after generation, the NC has built its political fortunes on the back of our dispossession. Dulat’s disclosure is not a shock -- it is confirmation. A mirror held up to decades of hypocrisy, opportunism, and moral collapse”.

J&K People’s Conference chairman and MLA Sajad Gani Lone said that coming from Dulat, makes this revelation very credible. “Dulat Sahab is the closest ally of and friend of Farooq Sahab. Virtually his alter ego. Incidentally, Dulat Sahib is the famed Uncle of the infamous Uncles and Aunties Brigade of Delhi. Of course, the NC will deny it. Call it yet another conspiracy against NC,” he said in a post on X.

Lone also said that he personally is not surprised at this revelation. “The August 4, 2019 meeting of CM Sahab and Farooq Sahab with the PM was never a mystery for me. I can visualise Farooq Sahab saying -- Humey roney deejiye -- Aap apna kaam karein -- hum aap kay Saath hain (let’s moan -- you do your work, we’re with you) -- It now seems 2024 was a prize for services rendered in 2019. Of course, in the national interest.”

Many people on Wednesday also took to social media platforms to criticise the Abdullahs. One of them, Meer Faizan, said: “As a Kashmiri, I never truly trusted the Abdullah family. Their history is not one of sacrifice for the people -- it is one of strategic survival, often at the cost of Kashmiri aspirations”. However, many others accused Dulat of concocting stories to stay relevant.

Farooq Abdullah’s daughter Safia Abdullah Khan alleged that Dulat has tried to play with the truth in his book. She wrote 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. I have read this book, and he has played fast and loose with the truth once again.” Responding to her post, NC social media and digital platforms in-charge Ifra Jan said: “Honestly, how desperate can a person be to stay relevant?”

NC chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq rejected Dulat’s claims and said that these were contradictory and aimed at creating controversy. “If you look at the book and what he writes in it, he contradicts his own words. He writes that the Government of India waited for seven months to see Farooq Abdullah Sahab’s reaction when he was in custody. If that was the case, then why did he promote the PAGD (People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration) after coming out?” he was quoted as saying by local news agency KNO.