Former R&AW chief Dulat’s book leaves Farooq Abdullah in trouble over Article 370 claims
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Srinagar: The former R&AW chief A S Dulat said in his book ‘The Chief Minister and the Spy’ that former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was pained by the manner in which Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, The Indian Express reported.
Dulat claimed Abdullah to have told him that if the Centre had talked to him he could have helped the abrogation passed in the Assembly.
Revealing the inside drama from those days, Dulat said the Centre entrusted him to talk to Abdullah while the latter was under house arrest.
It was him to convince Abdullah not to raise issue of Article 370 or mention Pakistan upon his release.
The book reportedly claims that Abdullah agreed to only speak in Parliament.
While profusely praising Abdullah’s leadership and his personality, calling him ‘brilliant’ and ‘great’, the book talks at length about a conversation Dulat had with Abdullah when the latter was under house arrest after abrogation of Article 370.
Just as the Opposition parties in the Union Territory accuse Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government of compromising on restoring Article 370, the new revelations are apparently a headache to the Abdullahs.
Calling the claims in the books as inaccurate, Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that ‘a friend can’t write like this’, referring to Dulat adding ‘He has written such things which are not true’.
‘He has written that we (NC) were ready to join hands with the BJP. This is inaccurate… If we had to betray (Article) 370, why would Farooq Abdullah (pass a resolution on autonomy) with a two-thirds majority in the Assembly?’ Abdullah asked.
Meanwhile, Dulat told The Indian Express that he would request Farooq Abdullah to read the book rather than paying attention to ‘controversies in the press’, adding that ‘This book is an appreciation of Dr Farooq Abdullah and not his critique.’
Referring to Abdullah Dulat said ‘Doctor Sahab will always be my friend. I am sure when he comes to Delhi day after tomorrow, he will visit my sister who is bedridden for three weeks’.
Dulat claimed in the books that Abdullah during the house arrest after abrogation of Article 370 told him that the National Conference ‘would have helped’ passed in the Legislative Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, asking ‘Why were we not taken into confidence?’
Dulat claims in the book when he told Abdullah not to speak to media about abrogation nor mention anything on Pakistan, the latter agreed saying ‘No, I won’t speak to the media. Whatever I say, I will say in Parliament. The matter is sub judice now. Let the court decide. I have confidence in the courts’.
