I feel bad for AS Dulat—wrote a book to celebrate Farooq Abdullah, only to be disowned by him

File photo of Farooq Abdullah | ANI

Did Farooq Abdullah support the abrogation of Article 370? Had he reached some secret understanding with Narendra Modi at a private meeting? Were his subsequent statements about the abrogation — he called it a betrayal and has continued to condemn it — lies that were intended to divert attention from his true role in the plot to strip away Kashmir’s special status?

No. Of course not. There is no evidence at all to support such a view.

So why is the issue trending on social media? Why have Farooq’s political opponents in Kashmir seized on the claim to denounce him? Why has Farooq himself had to give a brief interview to PTI denying that he was ever informed about the abrogation in advance and condemning the allegations?

Good questions. And the answers tell us something about the times we live in.

The CM & the spy

Let’s start with the source of the allegations. AS Dulat is probably India’s most respected former spy. He rose to become Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) before going on to head the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW). After retirement, he became the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Kashmir.

Dulat is 85 now but still active. He keeps being tapped by the government to advise on Kashmir issues and to serve as an emissary. Plus, he has some role in Track Two diplomacy with Pakistan but like the super secretive spy that he is, he will not talk about his involvement in the shadowy world of espionage and secret diplomacy.

Over the last two decades, however, people in the spy world associate him the most with just one of his many roles: the Farooq Whisperer.

Dulat served in Kashmir when he was with the IB and developed a close relationship with Farooq Abdullah. Since then, Delhi has used him for secret negotiations and hand-holding with Farooq. The two men have become close friends.

So, when I heard that Dulat was writing a book about Farooq, the cynic in me wondered how much of a hagiography it would be. It did not help that the book was called The Chief Minister and the Spy: An Unlikely Friendship and was illustrated with photos of Farooq Abdullah and AS Dulat beaming on the cover. (There are many, many photos of the Dulats and the Abdullahs together in various informal settings inside the book.)

I was asked by Juggernaut, the book’s publishers, to conduct a conversation with Dulat and Abdullah at the launch function in Delhi on 18 April. Given that the two men were old friends I assumed that Farooq had read and approved the manuscript. (In fact, I am still pretty sure he did; or perhaps Farooq is not much of a reader and said he was okay with the book without bothering to read the whole manuscript. It’s possible.)

Then, on Wednesday, two days before the launch, all hell broke loose.

Social media reported that Dulat had written in the book that Farooq had been informed by Narendra Modi about the impending abrogation of Article 370, and had secretly supported it.

What Dulat wrote

Just as the storm was breaking, my advance copy of the book arrived. It was, as I expected, the sort of book a man writes about a close friend he admires greatly. But it was also a good read, full of insights about Kashmir politics over the last three decades.

Then, I came to the bit about the abrogation, which is being used to set off the storm.

“In the days leading to the abrogation itself, both Farooq and Omar met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Dulat wrote. “What transpired during that meeting nobody will ever know. Farooq has certainly never mentioned it.”

Okay, I thought to myself. Perhaps Dulat should have mentioned that the Abdullahs are on record as stating that Prime Minister Modi did not tell them about the abrogation. Omar Abdullah was categorical about that when I interviewed him last year.

But even so, it is hardly the same thing as saying that the Abdullahs struck some secret deal with Modi at that meeting, as social media suggested Dulat had claimed

A page later, after Dulat had written about how everyone condemned the abrogation of Article 370 and the arrest of the Abdullahs, came this bit.

“Farooq was terribly hurt. Just as the BJP had never hidden its intentions towards Kashmir as far as Article 370 was concerned so, too, had Farooq been extremely open about his willingness to work with Delhi. May be, he said, the NC could have had the proposal passed in the legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. ‘We would have helped’ he told me when I had met him in 2020. ‘Why were we not taken into confidence?’”

This is the paragraph that has caused the storm. It confirms that Farooq did not know what was coming (‘why were we not taken into confidence?’) and in no way does it suggest that he approved of the move in private while publicly condemning it.

Yes, it does suggest that Farooq was willing to work with Delhi to get legislation passed by the J&K assembly but that’s not what the social media uproar is about. To Dulat, Farooq’s remark indicated “his great practicality under the most appalling political and popular pressure”. But, as he added, “it also revealed how deeply hurt he was by Delhi’s arbitrary action.” On the other hand critics could say that Farooq did not rule out abrogation absolutely; he saw it as a matter to be discussed by the state assembly.

Does any of this suggest that Farooq Abdullah conspired with Narendra Modi to abrogate Article 370 and then cheerfully lied about it?

Of course, it doesn’t.

As the posts on X gathered traction, I went off to interview Dulat for a previously scheduled interaction for ThePrint. He seemed startled by the uproar. He had never written any of the things that were being attributed to him, he said. The book wasn’t even on sale. Where were people getting all this from?

I explained to him that in the age of social media, it did not matter what you actually wrote. What mattered was what people claimed you had written.

By that stage, the pressure from the Abdullahs’ political opponents had gotten so intense that even members of the Abdullah family had begun denouncing Dulat. He seemed especially hurt by this. Given that that book was a paean of praise to Farooq, this seemed like the unkindest cut.

Dulat did not believe that the social media uproar was completely spontaneous. He thought that someone “was making mischief”. I asked him on camera if he thought people in power were behind the campaign. After all, it suits the ruling establishment to discredit Farooq Abdullah and to portray him as a stooge who lies to his own people. Dulat equivocated.

Okay, I said, did he rule that possibility out?

No, he said, he did not.

By the time we had finished shooting and I got home, Farooq had joined the fray – not just denying the allegations but also throwing his old friend under the bus. He claimed that Dulat had exaggerated his own role in the events in Kashmir, and insisted that he had never consulted him on anything.

I don’t know where this will end. Most social media conflagrations burn themselves out in a couple of days especially if there is no truth at the centre of the blaze. But it would be a shame if this manufactured controversy diverted attention from the book itself and the many insights it contains.

And I feel bad for Dulat, who wrote a book to celebrate a friend—only to be disowned by that friend. Times change. Journalism moves on, alternative facts take the place of the truth, and social media creates its own fake reality.

And poor old Dulat, the greatest and shrewdest spymaster of his generation, seems bemused by this new world. Like George Smiley trying to understand cyber warfare.

Vir Sanghvi is a print and television journalist, and talk show host. He tweets @virsanghvi. Views are personal.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)