GNLF Chief Subash Ghisingh, the grand old man of
hill politics as some prefer to describe him, today celebrated his 80th birthday even as he asserted he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
The president of the Gorkha National
Liberation Front, who has been battling with health issues for a while
now, re-entered the hills on March 19(Read Subash Ghising back in Darjeeling) of this year after nearly four
years in exile. He stayed at a rented house in Jalpaiguri for most of
those four years and shifted closer to the hills in Matigara only
recently before climbing uphill.
This morning, the maverick leader in his
trademark attire comprising a tweed jacket and a leather bag clutched
in one hand, waved to supporters who had gathered outside his house on
Dr. Zakir Hussain Road on the upper fringes of town. Speaking over a
public address system, Ghisingh said, “I am still here and have not
finished yet. You are celebrating my birthday today and I thank you for
that but it is not the appropriate time to talk about politics. I will
definitely discuss it soon, but from Chowk Bazaar.”
Ghisingh formed the GNLF in the 1980s
and started his 28-month Gorkhaland statehood agitation that left more
than 1,200 people dead. The agitation ended after the signing of an
accord between the state and central governments and the GNLF and the
formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988.
Although he did not state it explicitly,
the GNLF chief did hint at reviving the Sixth Schedule status demand,
his party’s agenda for this year’s general election and the reason for
the tie-up with the Trinamool Congress.
“We must celebrate occasions according
to our culture and traditions and not follow Western ways as is the
trend nowadays,” he said, and exhibiting a glimpse of his well-known
eccentric character, asked the supporters gathered braving the drizzle
to offer ‘Boju Devta’ (a tribal deity) seven types of flowers and seven
pieces of ‘sel roti’ (Nepali bread) for good things to happen.
The GNLF ran the writ in the Darjeeling
hills for more than 22 years until 2007 when Ghisingh failed to gauge
the general sentiment against the Sixth Schedule issue he had propagated
since 2005. A bill on this was even placed in Parliament, but had to be
shelved given the strong opposition by the BJP.
The present political dispensation – the
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha – took advantage of the anti-Sixth Schedule wave
that was further fueled by the people’s resentment at Ghisingh over his
reluctance to back Prashant Tamang, a local youth participating in a
national reality singing show, who eventually emerged victorious.
The GNLF subsequently saw its support
base dwindling rapidly and several senior leaders including Ghisingh
were forced out of the hills in 2008 after a shooting incident that
killed a GJM supporter. The 2011 assembly election did provide Ghisingh
the opportunity to return to the hills but his stay was short-lived and
he went back to the confines of his rented lodgings in the plains.(EOIC)