Table of Contents
EARLY LIFE
- Farooq Abdullah was born on 21 October 1937 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.
- He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. They have a son, Omar, and three daughters, Safia, Hinna, and Sara. Sara is married to Congress politician Sachin Pilot.
POLITICS
- Abdullah was elected to the Lok Sabha unopposed from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in the 1980 General Election.
- He was appointed president of the National Conference in August 1981. 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.
POLITICS
- In 1986, C.M. Shah’s government was dismissed after communal riots in South Kashmir, and a new National Conference–Congress government was sworn in with Abdullah as the chief minister.
- A new election was held in 1987 and the National Conference–Congress alliance won the election amid allegations of fraud.
- 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 Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
POLITICS
- Subsequently, Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest after the Gawkadal Massacre, and the state was brought under Governor’s Rule. He subsequently moved to the United Kingdom.
- 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.
POLITICS
- 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 a coalition government headed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took office.
- He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in May 2009 and won a seat in the Lok Sabha from Srinagar. Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister of New and Renewable Energy.
POLITICS
- 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.
- On 16 September 2019, Abdullah became the first mainstream politician to be detained under the controversial Public Safety Act. The act has provisions for detention without trial for up to two years. Prior to this, Abdullah was under house arrest since the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution of India.
WhatsApp