But it's been a relationship tinged with warmth as well as mistrust and mirrors the rocky ties between Srinagar and New Delhi.
Nehru's legendary love for the land of his ancestors and his belief that Kashmir had to be part of India cemented his relationship with Abdullah. Nehru even took on Dogra ruler Hari Singh in 1946 to defend incarcerated Abdullah and wanted to go to Kashmir two weeks before Independence. In fact, when the Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, tried to dissuade him from going to Kashmir, saying he could not be spared for 18 days before he was to become prime minister, Nehru told him that given a choice between his people and "being PM, I prefer the former". Singh dreamt of Independence due to Nehru's antagonism over Abdullah. However, a Pakistan-backed tribal raid eventually forced the Dogra ruler to sign the Instrument of Accession which wouldn't have been possible without Abdullah's support.
In fact, the historic Lal Chowk rally of November 1947 remains the most enduring image of their friendship. Here, Abdullah embraced Nehru and recited a Persian couplet, "Mantu shudam tu manshudi man jah shudam tu tan shudi man degram tu degre (I'm in you and you're in me, I'm the soul and you're the body)" as a stamp of approval of the Accession.
But the relationship soured so rapidly that Abdullah landed in jail as Nehru believed he was thinking of Kashmir's independence and was also in touch with Pakistan. Abdullah, on his part, feared resurgence of communalism after Nehru. Abdullah remained in jail without trial for the better part of the next decade. Pakistan had dismissed him as a "quisling" after he described it as an "unscrupulous and savage enemy" and ruled out Kashmir's independence.
Kashmir erupted over Nehru's betrayal. Though the unrest subsided, it marked the beginning of Kashmiri suspicion of New Delhi. Nehru and Abdullah buried the hatchet after the latter's release in 1964. "Nehru's attitude was a blend of guilt for having kept him in detention and concern at the consequence," Nehru's biographer Sarvepalli Gopal wrote in Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography.
When both met, it was an emotional reunion. "...I was glad to have convinced him that I was not disloyal," wrote Abdullah in his biography. But Nehru died while Abdullah was in Pakistan on his behalf to work out a solution. The Kashmiri leader was jailed shortly again for meeting Chinese leader Zhou Enlai and discussing Kashmir's self-determination.
Indira Gandhi tried to make amends after Abdullah's release in 1968 and seven years later signed the Kashmir accord to pave his return to power. However, when Farooq Abdullah took over after his father's death, he angered Indira by declining an alliance ahead of the 1983 elections. Farooq won by a comfortable majority and annoyed Indira further by discussing regional autonomy with leaders of other states. She had Farooq dismissed in July 1984.
The two then launched scathing attacks at each other. Farooq said Indira's "paranoia was such that she wanted one to be totally servile", while she called him "a totally untrustworthy boy" who "tells too may lies". The lure of power brought the two families together yet again in 1986 when Farooq and Rajiv Gandhi signed an accord that returned the former's National Conference to power. Farooq realised he had to be on the Centre's right side if he wanted to run a government in J&K. But Kashmir paid a price as the combine rigged the 1987 polls and laid the foundation for insurgency.
Farooq became CM again in 1996, and joined hands with the BJP-led NDA government. But he became a minister in the UPA-II government, even as Omar needed the backing of the Congress when he became CM in 2009.
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