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Sachnews Jammu Kashmir
Srinagar, April 16: Reacting strongly to the claims made in former RAW chief A.S. Dulat’s latest book "The CM and the Spy", National Conference President and former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah dismissed several assertions in the book as “completely false” and “deeply inaccurate.”
In an interview, Dr. Abdullah expressed disappointment over the contents of the book, particularly given his past relationship with Dulat. “If Dulat sahab really considered me a friend, he wouldn’t have written such things,” he said as per Sachnews Jammu Kashmir.
Refuting a key claim in the book that he had sought Dulat’s advice on who to appoint as ministers when forming the government in 1996, Abdullah said, “That is entirely false. Why would I ask him? I had the full authority to run the government. He writes that I asked him whom to make a minister, if that were the case, why did I appoint 25 ministers, which was my quota?”
Abdullah further criticized repeated suggestions in the book that he consulted Dulat on every decision. “A Chief Minister does not consult anyone outside the cabinet. Cabinet meetings are confidential even when I was a minister under Dr. Manmohan Singh, this was the protocol,” he emphasized.
Responding to another controversial claim in the book that the National Conference was ready to ally with the BJP — Abdullah rejected it outright. “Why would we join hands with the BJP? We were jailed when Article 370 was abrogated. The Home Minister himself said in Parliament that I was free, yet my daughter had to come and tell me I was free. Only when I went to speak to the media, I was slapped with PSA that same night.”
He also refuted the allegation that he betrayed Article 370. “If I had betrayed it, why would I have passed a resolution with a two-third majority in the Assembly to safeguard it? He says we fought the election at his suggestion, that too is incorrect,” Abdullah said according to Sachnews Jammu Kashmir.
Recalling events leading up to the 1996 elections, Abdullah shared a conversation with then-U.S. Ambassador Frank Wisner. “He told me, ‘Farooq, your people are in deep trouble. You have one window open take it. That window will become a door, and the door a house. Don’t be afraid.’ I took that advice. Though many of my colleagues initially disagreed with contesting, others stood with me. We fought, we won, and we tried our best to reduce the people's suffering.”
Taking further exception to the book's narrative, Abdullah questioned the suggestion that other political parties were visibly active in the 1996 elections. “Where were their flags? Where were they back then?”
Concluding his remarks, Abdullah said he was saddened by the book's tone and portrayal. “There are too many inaccuracies to even list. I’m disappointed. If he considers himself my friend, this is not how friends write about each other. Many things in this book are simply untrue.”
Echoing Queen Elizabeth’s famed remark in response to controversial royal memoirs, Abdullah added: “Recollections may vary.”