Farooq Abdullah

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Farooq Abdullah
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
Abdullah in 2011
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 2024
Residence(s)Gupkar Road Srinagar, Kashmir
Alma mater Tyndale Biscoe School
Occupation Politician

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

Contents

Farooq Abdullah stands between prime minister Manmohan Singh and president of India Pranab Mukherjee with vice-president of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari on far left at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India in 2013. 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
Farooq Abdullah stands between prime minister Manmohan Singh and president of India Pranab Mukherjee with vice-president of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari on far left at the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India in 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. [2]

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, who was a member of the Lok Sabha and was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Sara was married to Congress leader Sachin Pilot, but they divorced in late 2023. [3]

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. [4] 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. [5] [6] He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom. [7]

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. [8]

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. [9] Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.

Farooq Abdullah meets with Princess Astrid of Belgium in 2013 in New Delhi. 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
Farooq Abdullah meets with Princess Astrid of Belgium in 2013 in New Delhi.
Farooq Abdullah with the President of Mongolia Tsakhia Elbegdorj during his oath taking ceremony in Ulaanbaatar in 2013. 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
Farooq Abdullah with the President of Mongolia Tsakhia Elbegdorj 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. [10]

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. [11] He was released from house detention under the PSA after seven and a half months on 13 March 2020. [12]

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. [13]

370 Hearing

After his son Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah made his presence in the Supreme court of India in relation to Article 370 hearing.

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References

  1. ↑ "Members : Lok Sabha".
  2. ↑ "Farooq Abdullah Biography - About family, political life, awards won, history". elections.in. 21 October 1937. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  3. ↑ "Sachin Pilot and Sara Abdullah 'divorced', reveals poll affidavit". The Week. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  4. ↑ "TitlePage-VolI_LS99.PDF" (PDF). Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Koithara, Verghese (2004). Crafting peace in Kashmir : through a realist lens. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. pp. 61–62. ISBN   978-0-7619-3262-8. OCLC   237902298.
  6. ↑ Sabharwal, Gopa (2017), India Since 1947: The Independent Years, Penguin, p. 282, ISBN   9789352140893
  7. ↑ Dulat, Amarjeet Singh (2015). Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years. Harper Collins. ISBN   978-9-3517-7066-4.
  8. ↑ "Vajpayee reneged on promise to make Farooq V-P: Ex-RAW boss". 2 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Alphabetical List Of Former Members Of Rajya Sabha Since 1952". 164.100.47.5. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "Srinagar By-Election: Farooq Abdullah Beats PDP Candidate In Key Contest". Ndtv.com. 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "Farooq Abdullah, 83, Detained Under Tough Public Safety Act". Ndtv.com. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  12. ↑ "Farooq Abdullah's detention order revoked after seven-and-half months of captivity; 82-yr-old Srinagar MP was under house arrest". Firstpost. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  13. ↑ "Farooq Abdullah Declines To Be Opposition's Presidential Candidate". NDTV.com. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
1981–2002		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
2009–present		Incumbent
Lok Sabha
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Srinagar
1980–1982		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Srinagar
2009–2014		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Srinagar
2017–2024		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1982–1984		Succeeded by
Vacant Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1986–1990
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
1996–2002		Vacant
Title next held by
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
Preceded by Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy
2009–2014		Succeeded by
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