Srinagar, April 16 — National Conference (NC) president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has strongly denied claims made by ex-R&AW chief A.S. Dulat that he had privately supported the scrapping of Article 370. Dulat’s assertions, Abdullah said, are mere attempts to draw attention to his upcoming book, The Chief Minister and the Spy, releasing April 18.
Dulat has reportedly claimed in his book that the NC might have backed the move to revoke J&K’s special constitutional status if the party had been consulted. Farooq Abdullah rubbished the suggestion as “fiction,” asserting that such ideas were rooted in imagination, not reality.
“At the time Article 370 was revoked on August 5, 2019, both I and my son, Omar, were under detention. Our firm opposition to the decision was well known, which is exactly why we were detained,” Abdullah said.
He emphasized that his party, far from endorsing the move, had taken proactive steps to resist it, including the formation of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)—a coalition aimed at safeguarding Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Abdullah criticized the logic behind Dulat’s claims, pointing out that the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was already dissolved in 2018. “There was no assembly in place, so how could any resolution have been passed?” he asked, further adding that even if an assembly existed, the NC would never have supported such a move.
The NC leader also dismissed parts of the memoir where Dulat allegedly portrays himself as an advisor whose counsel was routinely followed. “I make my own decisions. I’ve never been anyone’s puppet,” he said firmly.
Abdullah highlighted several factual inaccuracies in the book, including a claim that Dulat had once advised him to maintain a smaller cabinet in 1996. “I had 25 ministers sworn in back then. That wasn’t a small cabinet,” he clarified.
He also rejected Dulat’s suggestion that the NC had sought a closer relationship with the BJP. “That’s completely false,” he said. “I would never align with a party that seeks to destroy what the National Conference stands for.”
Expressing his disappointment over Dulat’s statements, Abdullah said, “It’s painful when someone you consider a friend makes such baseless claims just to generate buzz for a book. As the saying goes, wounds to the heart don’t heal easily.”
