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| The day when Sheikh died | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 8: Around 7.25 P.M on September 8,1982 when a news bulletin from Radio Kashmir announced the demise of Sheikh Abdullah, the then Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir shopkeepers downed their shutters in the entire Residency Road and Lal Chowk area. Large groups of people started trekking towards the residence of the Lion of Kashmir. Most of the women were seen wailing and weeping. It was chaos and confusion in Srinagar.
Confusion compounded when the same Radio Kashmir started broadcasting, repeatedly, that Sheikh Abdullah was alive. The Government spokesman denied the UNI report that Sheikh Abdullah had died. Soon after the UNI disclosure that Sheikh Abdullah was no more other journalists were also seen rushing towards the central Telegraph office for filing the stories on Sheikh's demise to the newspapers but the repeated Radio broadcasts, denying the UNI report, held them back. It was after half an hour that the UNI had to withdraw the story. Well the UNI man in Srinagar was not totally wrong. When he filed the story the Sheikh was a few minutes away from death. If one reads the medical bulletin one would say that the UNI was not totally wrong because the bulletin has said that Sheikh Abdullah died at 7.53 PM.
People, who had loved and worshipped Sheikh Abdullah for 50 years,kept on surging towards the Maulana Azad road for having the last "deedar" of their beloved leader. The state authorities and senior National Conference leaders ultimately decided that the Sheikh's body should be brought out of the house and kept in the adjacent pologrounds. Accordingly, a huge dais was built within an hour or so and shamianas and tents were pitched to allow people to pay their respects to the departed leader. Imagine when the Sheikh's body was being removed to the pologrounds several thousand people, including women and children, had already reached the site to pay their homage. For the entire night people thronged the grounds. They wailed. They wept.
It can happen only in the lives of political leaders. Even before Sheikh's body was removed to the polo grounds the succession issue was being discussed within the Abdullah family. Reports had revealed that the son-in-Law of Sheikh Abdullah, GM Shah, would be installed as the Chief Minister. His supporters were goading him to get ready for the swearing in ceremony on the next day. This very report was sent to the centre. Lo and behold Sheikh Abdullah's trusted ministerial colleague, Devi Das Thakur, received a message from the Prime Minister's office directing him to carry Farooq Abdullah to the Raj Bhawan for getting him sworn in as chief Minister. Though Farooq Abdullah was the President of the National Conference he had no ambition, at least at that stage, of succeeding his father as Chief Minister. He also did not want to pick up a feud with his brother-in-law. But Thakur persuaded Farooq and the two drove to the Raj Bhawan at 11 in the night where the Governor had already been sounded by Delhi to make arrangements for the swearing in ceremony. The oath taking ceremony was kept a secret and Gul Shah came to know about it around the midnight.
And what an irony. The Congress that scuttled Gul Shah's chance of getting installed as Chief Minister in 1982 was able to fulfill his dream in 1984 when the same congress engineered defections in the National Conference.
When Sheikh Abdullah's body was taken out of the pologrounds for the last rites over a million people walked miles together to pay homage to their beloved leader. It took the massive funeral procession more than seven hours to reach Hazratbal from the Pologrounds. Top leaders from the centre including Indira Gandhi were present.
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