Come July, three significant developments of Kashmir’s recent history pop up. Distant in time, their respective impact has shaped the course of events both, qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
By far the most significant of the three is the ‘July 13’ 1931, embedded deeply in Kashmiri psyche, as Youm Shuhada (Martyrs Day) and sought to be erased in the post-2019 reconstruction of our history, it remains emotionally etched as a landmark in shaping our sociopolitical identity.
Next, in importance, comes ‘July 9’ 1977, the day Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was sworn in as the duly elected chief minister of erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, (24 years after having been dethroned as the prime minister of a far more autonomous state on Aug 9, 1953). That Assembly election was the first ever genuinely free and fair poll held in the state.
The third and the last event in this calendar occurred on July 2, 1984 when Ghulam Mohammad Shah, heading a breakaway faction of the National Conference dethroned and replaced Farooq Abdullah as the chief minister. Shah’s government was propped up by the Congress party.
Leaving the first two events to be dealt with on their respective due dates, I would, today, briefly touch upon the last one as it happened this very day 41 years ago.
Overthrow of the duly elected government of Farooq Abdullah, this day in 1984, had two distinct features: It was the manifestation of simmering succession battle within the Sheikh family and (2) it was also Mrs Indira Gandhi’s revenge against Farooq Abdullah for having ‘betrayed’ her trust.
The story goes back to 1979 when Mirza Afzal Beg, Sheikh Saheb’s popularly perceived ‘natural’ successor, was unceremoniously ejected from the National Conference. Most of the NC legislators gravitated towards G M Shah, presumably because he had been amongst most of them for most of the time even after Farooq had been installed as the NC president.
Devi Das Thakur was Farooq’s man Friday during behind-the-scene succession race until the latter was sworn in on September 8, 1982, following Sheikh Saheb’s demise. Within a few days, Farooq literally stunned not only Thakur but Shah and many others.
Addressing a public meeting at Iqbal Park, a few days after he had taken over the reins, he made a sudden announcement that he had decided to immediately drop all his ministerial colleagues and form a fresh team of his own. The atmosphere was electrified even as ashen faced axed ministers seated on the rostrum did not know how to react. Many in the NC ascribe this unusual proposition to Maulana Mohammad Sayeed Masoodi who at that time was seen getting closer to Farooq Abdullah.
This dramatic development brought together Devi Das Thakur and GM Shah who, till then, had been in opposite camps within the NC fold. Shortly, the NC split and a rival group emerged under the leadership of Begum Khalidah Shah, wife of G M Shah.
Sheikh Saheb had all along kept himself aloof from the opposition politics at the national level. But something went to Farooq’s head and, in a moment of weakness, he plunged into what his father had seen as a political minefield. Farooq involved himself with opposition stalwarts like Jyoti Basu and NT Rama Rao and hosted a conclave in Srinagar at which, expectedly, the target was Mrs Gandhi and her Congress party.
That event turned out to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. Mrs Gandhi decided that it was time to show Farooq his place. It took a few more months and replacement of a ‘reluctant’ Governor BK Nehru with an ‘obliging’ Jagmohan to see the back of Farooq Abdullah and install his estranged brother-in-law GM Shah as the new chief minister of J&K.
What made it easier for Mrs Gandhi was that a carefree/careless Farooq he had allowed grass to grow under his feet. Till the moment Jagmohan summoned him to Raj Bhavan in the early hours of July 2, 1984, Farooq was blissfully ignorant of defection of over a dozen of his MLAs.
Irony did not end there. After Mrs Gandhi’s assassination on October 31, 1984 and the succession of Rajiv Gandhi the wheel in Kashmir began to move again and almost turned a full circle. GM Shah tersely turned down the Congress demand for a share in the ministry. Shah resigned on March 6, 1986 after his meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi.
There was an interesting prelude to Shah’s unceremonious exit. It is said that the Congress leadership toyed with the idea of replacing the Shah-headed NC (Khalidah) government in J&K with one of their own.
Grapevine has it that the idea fell through as the then PCC chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed declined to step into Shah’s shoes on the condition that he ‘initiate legislation’ to further dilute the Art 370 of the constitution of India.
Mufti pleaded that as the Sarkaria Commission was then engaged in working out a model for devolution of powers from centre to states any move to dilute J&K autonomy under Art 370 would amount to swimming against the current. The idea fell through in limine. The rest, as they say, is history.
Have you liked the news article?