Trinamool backs former Gorkha strongman Bimal Gurung for Darjeeling foray, BJP sniffs an opportunity

 In October 2017, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh was chased through the streets and partymen accompanying him thrashed allegedly by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists in Darjeeling. Cut to February 2021 and he has had a much peaceful visit to the Hills this time, with only a handful of GJM workers waving black flags at him.

The BJP has been winning the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency since 2009 riding on the Gorkhaland sentiment. In assembly elections though, this district, along with Kalimpong which was carved out of it in 2017, has remained a GJM stronghold. With Darjeeling expected to go to polls in the first phase, Ghosh was in the district to chalk out the election strategy with party workers. But what might complicate matters for him is the return of firebrand Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung to Hill politics.

 

Gurung, who was earlier with the BJP, went underground in 2017 after Gorkhaland supporters indulged in violence for over 100 days demanding a separate state. He was slapped with more than 100 cases, including under the stringent UAPA. Now, he is back to the Hills, and again demanding a separate state, but this time, as an ally of Mamata Banerjee, and with the state government withdrawing some of the charges against him.

In Gurung’s absence, Mamata stitched up an alliance with the Binay Tamang faction of GJM, and BJP with the powerful Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF). In the 2019 by-election to Darjeeling assembly seat, GNLF’s Neeraj Zimba, who contested on a BJP ticket, defeated Tamang by a hefty margin. And Dilip Ghosh prefers to keep it that way, hoping to capitalise on Trinamool’s U-turn on Gurung.

 

Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts account for six assembly segments Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Matigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri and Phansidewa. Though Gorkhas are a majority in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, other communities such as Lepchas, Bhutias, Bengalis and Adivasis also comprise a sizeable portion of the population. Mamata has constituted 16 cultural boards for different Hill communities, including Gorkhas, Lepchas and Bhutias, to woo them.

Kalimpong and the hilly areas of Darjeeling, which are popular tourist destinations, come under the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, a semi-autonomous body under the Bengal government. Though the Gorkhas of the two districts have their origin in Nepal, they believe themselves to a different community.

 

The Trinamool has never won any of the Hill seats and neither does it have a popular face in the region, but it hopes to better its performance riding on Gurung’s appeal. Gurung though has embarrassed a section of the party leadership with his demands for a separate Gorkhaland at public rallies.

The BJP is sniffing an opportunity here. In different parts of North Bengal, it is campaigning that while on one hand, Gurung has the blessings of the Trinamool; on the other, he is demanding a separate state.

However, another section of the Trinamool believes that Gurung is incapable of launching a statehood movement on his own and his utterances are merely to capture the pulse of the electorate. Gurung is still smarting from losing his position to Binay Tamang and wants to regain his leadership among the Gorkhas.

 

In fact, other North Bengal districts such as North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar also have a sizeable Gorkha population, and the Trinamool hopes Gurung’s influence on the community will help it electorally. The BJP had performed exceptionally well in these districts in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Trinamool’s internal calculation is that Gurung could be a deciding factor in at least 15 assembly seats in North Bengal. With BJP going all out against the state government for withdrawing charges against him, the Trinamool counters it saying Gurung was once helped by the BJP.

(The author is a senior journalist based out of Kolkata) 

https://www.indiatoday.in