Farooq Abdullah

{{Short description|Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (born 1937)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Farooq Abdullah

| native_name =

| image = Farooq Abdullah addressing at the presentation ceremony of the Cash Prizes to the best performing Regional Rural Banks and Certificates for extending loans for SPV home lighting systems during 2009-10, in New Delhi (cropped).jpg

| imagesize =

| smallimage =

| caption = Abdullah in New Delhi, 2011

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1937|10|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, British India

| office = Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha

| term_start1 = 30 November 2002

| term_end1 = 29 November 2008

| constituency1 = Jammu and Kashmir

| term_start2 = April 2009

| term_end2 = May 2009

| constituency2 = Jammu and Kashmir

| office3 = Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

| constituency3 = Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

| term_start3 = 16 April 2017

| predecessor3 = Tariq Hameed Karra

| term_start4 = 13 May 2009

| term_end4 = 12 May 2014

| predecessor4 = Omar Abdullah

| successor4 = Tariq Hameed Karra

| constituency4 = Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

| term_start5 = 6 January 1980

| term_end5 = 5 January 1983

| predecessor5 = Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah

| successor5 = Abdul Rashid Kabuli

| constituency5 = Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

| office6 = 4th Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir

| term_start6 = 9 October 1996

| term_end6 = 18 October 2002

| governor6 = K. V. Krishna Rao
Girish Chandra Saxena

| predecessor6 = President's rule

| successor6 = Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

| term_start7 = 7 November 1986

| term_end7 = 18 January 1990

| governor7 = Jagmohan Malhotra
K. V. Krishna Rao

| predecessor7 = Governor's rule

| successor7 = Governor's rule

| governor8 = Braj Kumar Nehru
Jagmohan Malhotra

| term_start8 = 8 September 1982

| term_end8 = 2 July 1984

| predecessor8 = Sheikh Abdullah

| successor8 = Ghulam Mohammad Shah

| office9 = Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India

| primeminister9 = Manmohan Singh

| term_start9 = 28 May 2009

| term_end9 = 26 May 2014

| predecessor9 = Vilas Muttemwar

| successor9 = Piyush Goyal

| office10 = President of Jammu & Kashmir National Conference

| term_start10 = 2009

| term_end10 =

| vicepresident10 = Omar Abdullah

| predecessor10 = Omar Abdullah

| term11 = 1981 – 2002

| predecessor11 = Sheikh Abdullah

| successor11 = Omar Abdullah

| nationality = Indian

| party = Jammu & Kashmir National Conference

| relations = Sheikh Mustafa Kamal (brother)

| spouse = {{marriage|Mollie Abdullah{{Cite web | url=http://164.100.47.194/Loksabha/Members/MemberBioprofile.aspx?mpsno=2654 |title = Members : Lok Sabha}}|1968}}

| children = {{hlist|Omar|Safia|Hinna|Sara}}

| residence = {{ubl|40, Gupkar Road, Srinagar|AB-9, Tilak Marg, Delhi}}

| alma_mater = Tyndale Biscoe School
Sawai Man Singh Medical College

| occupation = Politician

| signature =

| termend3 = 4 June 2024

| successor3 = Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi

| parents = {{ubl|Sheikh Abdullah|Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah}}

}}

Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who serves as current president of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982 till 2002, and as the union minister for New and Renewable Energy between 2009 and 2014. His father Sheikh Abdullah was the 1st elected chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, while his son Omar Abdullah is the current chief minister.

File:Pranab Mukherjee being greeted by the Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah.jpg Manmohan Singh and PoI Pranab Mukherjee with VP Mohammad Hamid Ansari on far left at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, 2013]]

Early life and education

Farooq Abdullah was born to the veteran statesman and National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah and Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah. He studied at Tyndale Biscoe School, and subsequently received his MBBS degree from SMS Medical College, Jaipur. He subsequently travelled to the UK to practice medicine.{{cite web | title=Farooq Abdullah Biography - About family, political life, awards won, history | website=elections.in | date=21 October 1937 | url=https://www.elections.in/political-leaders/farooq-abdullah.html/ | access-date=25 August 2020}}

Family

He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. They have a son, Omar, and three daughters, Safia, Hinna, and Sara. Their son Omar Abdullah is also involved in state and national politics, and is the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Sara was married to Congress leader Sachin Pilot, but they divorced in late 2023.{{Cite web |title=Sachin Pilot and Sara Abdullah 'divorced', reveals poll affidavit |url=https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2023/10/31/sachin-pilot-and-sara-abdullah-separated-what-his-poll-affidavit-reveals.html |access-date=17 December 2023 |website=The Week |language=en}}

Political career

=Entry into politics=

At that time his father Sheikh Abdullah was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Farooq

Abdullah was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed as a founding party member of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1980/Vol_I_LS_80.pdf |title=TitlePage-VolI_LS99.PDF |access-date=16 August 2018}} from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in the 1980 General Election.

=Chief Minister, 1982–1984=

Abdullah was a novice in the political arena of Jammu and Kashmir when he was appointed president of the National Conference in August 1981. His main qualification was that he was the son of Sheikh Abdullah. After his father's death in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of the state. In 1984, a faction of the National conference led by his brother-in-law Ghulam Mohammad Shah broke away, leading to the collapse of his government and his dismissal. Shah subsequently became the Chief Minister with the support of the Congress.

=1984–1996=

In 1986, G.M. Shah's government was dismissed after the communal 1986 Kashmir riots in South Kashmir, and a new National Conference–Congress government was sworn in with Abdullah as the chief minister, after the Rajiv-Farooq accord.

A new election was held in 1987 and the National Conference–Congress alliance won the election amid allegations of fraud and widespread election rigging by the National Conference. This period saw a rise in militancy in the state, with the return of trained militants in J&K and incidents that included the kidnapping of the daughter of the Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The period also witnessed the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir valley. Subsequently, Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest after Jagmohan was appointed the governor, and the state's assembly was dismissed.

{{cite book|last=Koithara|first=Verghese |title=Crafting peace in Kashmir : through a realist lens|publisher=Sage|location=Thousand Oaks, CA|year=2004|pages=61–62|isbn=978-0-7619-3262-8|oclc=237902298|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UISphQgbhJMC&q=%22Farooq%20Abdullah%22&pg=PA61}}

{{citation |first=Gopa |last=Sabharwal |title=India Since 1947: The Independent Years |publisher=Penguin |year=2017 |isbn=9789352140893 |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9gvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT282}}

He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom.{{cite book|last=Dulat|first=Amarjeet Singh |title=Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years

|publisher=Harper Collins |year=2015|isbn=978-9-3517-7066-4

|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9789351770664/kashmir-the-vajpayee-years}}

= Chief Minister, 1996–2002=

After returning to India, and winning the Legislative Assembly elections in 1996, Abdullah was once again sworn in as chief minister of the state, his fifth time. His government lasted for a full six-year term. In 1999, the National Conference joined the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led National Democratic Alliance, and his son Omar Abdullah was subsequently appointed a union minister of state for External Affairs.

= Subsequent political career=

In the 2002 Legislative Assembly elections, Omar Abdullah was chosen to lead the National Conference, while Farooq Abdullah intended to continue his political career at the Central level. The National Conference lost the election and a coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took office. On that year Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 promised to make Abdullah the vice-president, but later reneged on his promise because of Abdul Kalam's nomination to President and Krishan Kant's disagree.{{cite web | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/vajpayee-reneged-on-promise-to-make-farooq-v-p-ex-raw-boss/story-ALJXj8bjX4ElZBn3JVmVfP.html | title=Vajpayee reneged on promise to make Farooq V-P: Ex-RAW boss | date=2 July 2015 }}

Farooq Abdullah was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002 from Jammu and Kashmir and re-elected in 2009. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar.{{cite web|url=http://164.100.47.5/Newmembers/alphabeticallist_all_terms.aspx |title=Alphabetical List Of Former Members Of Rajya Sabha Since 1952 |publisher=164.100.47.5 |access-date=16 August 2018}} Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

File:The Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Princess Astrid of Belgium, in a bilateral meeting, in New Delhi on November 25, 2013.jpg in 2013 in New Delhi.]]

File:Farooq Abdullah with the Mongolian President, Mr. Tsakhia Elbegdorj, in Ulaanbaatar. Dr. Abdullah is in Mongolia to attend the oath taking ceremony of Elbegdorj.jpg during his oath taking ceremony in Ulaanbaatar in 2013.]]

Abdullah contested the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat again in the 2014 General Election, but was defeated by the People's Democratic Party candidate Tariq Hameed Karra. In 2017, Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the position, leading to a by-election for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Abdullah got 48,555 votes and defeated PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan by 10,700 votes.{{cite web|url=http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/srinagar-by-polls-2-voters-turned-up-for-re-polling-counting-today-1681640 |title=Srinagar By-Election: Farooq Abdullah Beats PDP Candidate In Key Contest |publisher=Ndtv.com |date=15 April 2017 |access-date=16 August 2018}}

On 16 September 2019, Abdullah became the first mainstream politician to be detained under the Public Safety Act. Prior to this, Abdullah was under house arrest since the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.{{cite web |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/supreme-court-asks-centre-to-respond-to-tamil-nadu-leader-vaikos-petition-for-farooq-abdullahs-relea-2101527?pfrom=home-topscroll |title=Farooq Abdullah, 83, Detained Under Tough Public Safety Act |publisher=Ndtv.com |date=16 September 2019 |access-date=16 September 2019}} He was released from house detention under the PSA after seven and a half months on 13 March 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/farooq-abdullahs-detention-order-revoked-after-seven-and-half-months-of-captivity-82-yr-old-mp-was-under-house-arrest-8148411.html|title=Farooq Abdullah's detention order revoked after seven-and-half months of captivity; 82-yr-old Srinagar MP was under house arrest|website=Firstpost|date=13 March 2020|access-date=13 March 2020}}

In 2022, before the election of the President of India, Mamata Bannerjee along with several other opposition leaders had proposed Abdullah's name as the Opposition's candidate. But Abdullah declined the offer stating that he wanted to remain in active politics for more years and concentrated on the Kashmir Union Territory issue.{{Cite web |title=Farooq Abdullah Declines To Be Opposition's Presidential Candidate |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/farooq-abdullah-declines-to-be-oppositions-presidential-candidate-3079031 |access-date=18 June 2022 |website=NDTV.com}}