Preempting a Revolt: Inside Mubarak Gul’s 3-Day Fall as NC General Secretary
Tawqeer Hussain
When National Conference president Farooq Abdullah named Mubarak Gul General Secretary on October 27, it looked like damage control. However three days later he was stripped of his post citing the Ladakh elections as a reason. But was this the real reason or just a cover-up?
Mubarak Gul, the six-time Eidgah MLA had just been left out of Omar Abdullah’s cabinet expansion. Disgruntled and disheartened, he expressed his disappointment within minutes. Per reports, NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah immediately reached out to him and gave him the organisational post.
The compromise did little to calm tensions. Gul’s supporters demanded that he reject the appointment and resign from the party altogether.
The disappointment over non-inclusion in the cabinet was seen across the party spectrum. On October 30, about 19 aggrieved legislators met at the residence of MLA Qaisar Jamsheed Lone in Srinagar and passed a resolution demanding a cabinet overhaul and the removal of two Abdullah confidants. Gul attended. Hours later, Abdullah removed him, and Ali Mohammad Sagar, who had gone into the cabinet, kept the post.
The party’s public explanation was administrative. A party leader said Sagar’s continuation was needed for the Kargil local body elections, because the general secretary is authorised to nominate candidates on the party’s mandate forms.
Sources familiar with the party’s internal deliberations tell a different story. They say the Ladakh polls were a convenient backdrop rather than the real reason. In their account, the general secretary’s post is among the most influential in the party, and top leaders feared that Gul, by then aligned in spirit with the disgruntled MLAs, could use it to back or issue a resolution against the leadership. Such a move, coming from the party’s own general secretary, would have embarrassed the NC publicly. The decision to remove him quickly, the sources say, was meant to close off that possibility before it could materialise.
The NC has not confirmed this account officially. The party has rejected reports of widespread discontent and a possible rebellion. Gul’s supporters protested at party headquarters after his removal.
Gul has said he will break his silence. He plans to reveal details about developments within the party at a press conference on November 4.
