ABSTRACT
The dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah and his subsequent arrest (August 1953) was a dramatic development, even more so coming as it did only a couple of months after the death in detention of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee. B. N. Mullick, the Intellegence Bureau Chief, the man who infact only months earlier had written a long note in support of Abdullah, played a major role in his removal. The Praja Parishad’s side of the story was published in a booklet that charged Sheikh Abdullah with closing the Sanskrit Institute in Srinagar; dividing Udhampur and a Hindu majority district by joining some Muslim areas. For some reason Nehru had believed until the last weeks that he could bring Abdullah around. The Urdu press in Srinagar also highlighted the proceedings of the Cabinet meeting as one of the causes for the removal of Abdullah but also added an important twist.
