A.S Dulat’s Timed Art of Political Bombshells
AZHAR HUSSAIN TANTRAY
SRINAGAR, April 18: “The only thing straight in Kashmir is the poplar tree.”
— a remark famously recounted by Brajesh Mishra and quoted by A.S. Dulat in Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years. It appears A. S. Dulat imbibed this sentiment so thoroughly that his utterances and writings have grown so contorted enough to make the political landscape in the Valley go berserk.
This sardonic observation aptly characterizes not just Kashmir’s notorious political complexity, but also the web of intrigue Dulat himself has consistently woven through his books and public statements.
His latest offering, “The Chief Minister and the Spy,” continues this tradition of calculated revelations that arrive with precise timing to disrupt Kashmir’s political equilibrium.
The book’s release, accompanied by a series of provocative interviews, represents the latest chapter in Dulat’s long history of well-timed interventions in Kashmir’s narrative.
Far from coincidental, these media appearances carefully planted explosive claims about Farooq Abdullah’s supposed private support for the 2019 abrogation of Article 370—allegations the veteran National Conference leader vehemently denies. These revelations were clearly designed to unsettle established political dynamics in the Valley just as the book hit shelves.
This pattern of strategic disclosures has been Dulat’s modus operandi throughout his post-intelligence career. Consider his controversial claim of having offered separatist leader Shabir Shah the Chief Minister’s post, or his comparison of Shah to Nelson Mandela—assertions that simultaneously elevated one figure while subtly undermining others.
His portrayal of G.M. Shah’s tenure as a betrayal of Farooq Abdullah similarly reshapes historical narratives to favor particular interpretations. Even his candid remarks, that remain outrageous to people in Kashmir, on Late Mufti Sayeed’s personal habits reflect a willingness to sacrifice reputations at the altar of a compelling story.
The controversy surrounding “The Chief Minister and the Spy” perfectly exemplifies this pattern. By claiming Abdullah sought his advice on cabinet formation and governance—claims Abdullah flatly rejects—Dulat has once again positioned himself as the ultimate insider while creating political turbulence.
The National Conference’s dismissal of these assertions as “figments of imagination” and “cheap stunts” to boost book sales reflects the frustration of those who find themselves pawns in Dulat’s literary chess game.
The fallout has been both predictable and, one suspects, anticipated by Dulat himself. Opposition parties eagerly seized upon the book to accuse the National Conference of duplicity, with leaders from the People’s Conference and PDP claiming Dulat’s account “unmasked” the NC and confirmed long-held suspicions of secret deals with the BJP.
The controversy even prompted former Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur to withdraw from the book’s launch, citing the “political storm” and his association with the Abdullah family.
Most revealing, perhaps, was Begum Khalida Shah’s quiet refusal to grace the book’s formal launch. As Farooq Abdullah’s elder sister, her absence spoke volumes, a silent testament to the enduring fractures within a family long shadowed by political disagreements.
Dulat’s narrative, in many ways, resurrects those old fissures, echoing Farooq Abdullah’s acerbic judgments of his brother-in-law, former Chief Minister G.M. Shah — a figure Dulat casts, with little ambiguity, as an archrival within the family, immortalizing the rupture in a chapter pointedly titled 1984: The Coup.
The “Dulat model” for Kashmir, shaped during his tenure as RAW chief and advisor to Prime Minister Vajpayee, emphasized dialogue, backchannel negotiations, and engagement with local political actors and separatists.
Yet by Dulat’s own admission, “India has only been ‘managing’ Kashmir so far, and the situation could very well go out of control”—an inadvertent acknowledgment of his strategy’s limitations.
Critics rightly contend that this approach amounted to mere management of symptoms rather than addressing root causes. Despite Dulat’s interventions, Kashmir continued to experience cycles of unrest, radicalization, and violence, with intelligence operations producing short-term tactical gains but failing to resolve underlying conflicts.
Since the abrogation of Article 370, the Indian government has shifted to a more direct, security-focused approach. While Dulat acknowledges this new strategy appears to be “working” in reducing violence, he laments the cost to the “idea of India”—implying a loss of democratic values. Yet critics note that Dulat’s own model failed to deliver lasting peace, and his nostalgia may reflect reluctance to accept that his methods are increasingly viewed as outdated.
Dulat’s writings consistently blend personal anecdotes, intelligence insights, and political gossip, often at the expense of clarity and accuracy. This approach keeps him in the spotlight, leveraging insider status and controversial claims to maintain relevance even as Kashmir’s policy landscape has dramatically shifted since 2019.
The controversy around his latest book reveals a certain callousness in his method. By publicizing private conversations and unverified stories, he damages reputations and inflames tensions, seemingly prioritizing personal relevance and book sales over responsible engagement with Kashmir’s delicate situation.
While Dulat has indeed become a skilled chronicler of the Valley’s power games, his tenure and subsequent memoirs have contributed little to fostering the genuine stability and healing that Kashmir’s people desperately need. Rather than promoting peace and reconciliation, his interventions have typically added fuel to longstanding political intrigues.
The responsibility for addressing these fundamental issues now rests with contemporary leadership, regardless of how polarizing its perception may be. Perhaps what Kashmir truly needs is fewer crooked narratives and more straightforward approaches to its future.
