SRINAGAR: Ex-RAW chief A S Dullat, in his upcoming book The Chief Minister and the Spy, revealed that former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah privately backed the Centre's decision to scrap Article 370 despite publicly opposing the move. People's Conference chairman and MLA Sajad Gani Lone remarked on this matter, saying that it "now seems 2024 was a prize for services rendered in 2019."
On August 5, 2019, the Centre scrapped Articles 370 and 35A which granted special status and privileges to J&K residents, and downgraded the erstwhile state into two Union Territories: J&K (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature).
Lone, in a post on social media platform X, said that the revelation sounds credible as Dullat is the source. Lone noted that Dullat is the "closest ally and friend of Abdullah."
Dullat claimed that National Conference (NC) president Abdullah backed the Centre's decision to scrap Article 370 to gain political power.
"Incidentally Dullat sahib is the famed Uncle of the infamous Uncles and Aunties Brigade of Delhi. Of course NC will deny it. Call it yet another conspiracy against NC. They have perfected playing the victim card," Lone wrote on X.
"Uncle and Aunties will take cognisance of my tweet and other such tweets and implore upon BJP to teach such tweeters a lesson. Out here, their MLAs will privately visit LOP Sunil Sharma and tell him that they are brothers separated at the Kumbh Mela. That the theatre they enact in Assembly and outside assembly is in national interest," he said.
The National Conference won the first J&K Assembly polls held after the Article 370 abrogation. NC won 42 seats in the 90-member house and formed a coalition government with five MLAs from Congress, four independent, one from AAP and one more from CPI(M).
Omar Abdullah took over as first elected chief minister of J&K Union Territory on October 16 , 2024.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti commented on Dullat's revelations in a post 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 There were already doubts about what transpired between the Abdullahs & PM days before J&Ks special status was revoked.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,” Iltija wrote.