Farooq Abdullah

Farooq Abdullah
فاروق عبد الله
Farooq Abdullah at Ghulam Ali Concert
Minister of New and Renewable Energy
In office 28 May 2009 – 26 May 2014
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Vilas Muttemwar
Succeeded by	Piyush Goyal
Constituency	Srinagar
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
In office 8 September 1982 – 2 July 1984
Preceded by	Sheikh Abdullah
Succeeded by	Ghulam Mohammad Shah
In office 7 November 1986 – 19 January 1990
Preceded by	President's Rule
Succeeded by	President's Rule
In office 9 October 1996 – 18 October 2002
Preceded by	President's Rule
Succeeded by	Mufti Mohammad Sayeed
President Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Incumbent
Assumed office 1981
Personal details
Born	21 October 1937 Srinagar district, Kashmir, British India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Spouse(s)	Mollie Abdullah
Children	Omar Abdullah, Safia Abdullah, Hinna Abdullah, Sara Abdullah
Residence	The Gupkar Road Srinagar, Kashmir
Alma mater	Tyndale Biscoe School
Religion	Islam

Farooq Abdullah (Urdu: فاروق عبد الله‎, born 21 October 1937 in Soura, Jammu and Kashmir, British India) is the son of veteran statesman and National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah and has served as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982. He is also a medical doctor. He is married to Molly, a nurse of British origin. Their son Omar Abdullah is also involved in state and national politics, and has been a member of the Lok Sabha and was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

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 and heir of Sheikh Abdullah. After his father's death in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of the state. In 1984, the Abdullah government was dismissed by the governor and replaced with a pro-Congress government under Ghulam Mohammad Shah. In 1986, that government was dismissed 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 from Pakistan and incidents that included the kidnapping of the daughter of the Union Home Minister. Subsequently, the Abdullah government was dismissed once again and the state was brought under President's rule.^[1] In 1996, Abdullah was once again sworn in as chief minister of the state, his fifth time. In 2002 Abdullah was elected to Rajya Sabha from Jammu and Kashmir for his first six-year term. He was subsequently re-elected in 2009.^[2] Abdullah joined the United Progressive Alliance government as a Cabinet Minister.

References

1. 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.
2. "Rajya Sabha members". Retrieved 2009-12-31.

External links