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.

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.

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 A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

leader Sachin Pilot, but they divorced in late 2023.

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 from

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

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 Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

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. He subsequently moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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. 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

. Abdullah joined the

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

government as a

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

of New and Renewable Energy. Abdullah contested the

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 A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Abdullah got 48,555 votes and defeated PDP candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan by 10,700 votes. 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. He was released from house detention under the PSA after seven and a half months on 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.

370 Hearing

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

References

External links

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Farooq 1937 births Living people 20th-century Indian Muslims 21st-century Indian Muslims Jammu & Kashmir National Conference politicians Farooq Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir Chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Kashmiri politicians Chief ministers from Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Leaders of the opposition in Jammu and Kashmir 20th-century Indian medical doctors India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 2009–2014 Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir India MPs 2014–2019 Medical doctors from Jammu and Kashmir India MPs 2019–2024 Members of the Cabinet of India Jammu and Kashmir MLAs 1987–1996 Jammu and Kashmir MLAs 1996–2002 Sawai Man Singh Medical College alumni Kashmiri Muslims Tyndale Biscoe School alumni Jammu and Kashmir MLAs 2008–2014 Jammu and Kashmir MLAs 1983–1986