Delhi Meet Seen as Gurung’s Soft Bid to Reactivate Gorkhaland Issue

Kolkata: A two-day convention organised in New Delhi on December 10 and 11 by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha with Gorkhaland as the theme has attracted widespread attention in the Darjeeling hills. It is an emotive issue in Darjeeling and has been the cause of violent agitations.

In between, peace has been getting a chance with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government promising a “permanent political solution (PPS)” and the Trinamool Congress-led state government offering sops in the form of development boards and Gorkha culture promotion outfits. However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has firmly ruled out “any further partition of Bengal”.

The only developments worth mentioning were Darjeeling municipal election at the end of February and the much-delayed election to Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) in end-June. A newly launched outfit, Hamro Party of Ajay Edwards, secured the majority in the municipality and Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) of Anit Thapa bagged GTA.

The New Delhi convention, an initiative of GJM leader Bimal Gurung, is politically significant. The stated purpose is to explain to a wider audience what the demand for Gorkhaland means. The unstated objective is to create a platform for Gurung, who now has a tenuous tie-up with TMC after GJM broke its nearly decade-old alliance with BJP. Indications are that he will resume his political activity and give a call for unity among political entities functioning in the hills. The upcoming panchayat elections, which in the case of Darjeeling, will be a hugely delayed exercise, will afford him an opportunity to reactivate GJM for fighting the rural polls.

The attendance at the New Delhi convention gives a clue for the shape of things to come. Edwards, who was before municipal elections with BJP’s ally Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), attended it. So did Binay Tamang, currently with TMC and earlier part of a breakaway faction of GJM. Gorkha representatives from some other states too attended it.  

Circumstances in the aftermath of the violent agitations Gurung had launched for Gorkhaland in the first half of 2017, had forced him to remain in hiding for over three years. Much weakened politically and financially, he resurfaced on October 21, 2020, in Kolkata and since then has been lying low.

Political quarters who keep track of hill politics see in the convention his first serious exercise to revive the Gorkhaland demand and work for a political realignment by being ready to join hands with any outfit of Gorkhas, except, perhaps, BGPM’s Thapa who is the chief executive of GTA and whom he considers instrumental for his decline. But, the GTA chief executive in a politically shrewd move has kept an option for a rapprochement open by getting GTA to adopt a pro-Gorkhaland resolution. The dislike is mutual between him and GNLF, whose alliance with BJP has not shown any sign of a crack. In fact, GNLF’s secretary-general Neeraj Zimba had won the last Assembly election as a BJP-supported candidate.

By all accounts, Gurung will seek to chart a new course after he formally severs GJM’s alliance with TMC. BJP, which generally seeks allies even where the party is reasonably organised, may not be averse to partnering with him again. But he has shut that door by aggressively targeting BJP for not honouring any of the promises, including a PPS, made in the party’s manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. There is a growing realisation in the hills that the TMC government is against allowing freedom consistent with parliamentary democracy to the Gorkhas. Funds are not released on time. There is too much interference by the secretariat, say Gorkha leaders.

The launch of the new format of a movement for a PPS will be timed to see that it gathers momentum before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. GNLF leader Zimba finds the BJP-led Centre more dependable, given “its serious efforts to solve, for example, inter-state boundary disputes and the Naga issues. There are people in the government who appreciate that Gorkhas have genuine identity problems”.

Central committee member of Hamro Party Dipu Thapa spoke about the long pending demand for according the scheduled tribe status to 11 tribes – Bhujel, Gurung, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai, Sunuwar, Thami, Yakka (Dewan) and Dhimal.

Recently, the defection of some Hamro Party councillors to BGPM has put a question mark on the future of the Darjeeling municipality which was captured by Edwards’ party by bagging eight seats in the 32-member civic body. Mystery surrounds the number of councillors who have defected. Initially, BGPM, which had won nine seats,   claimed five Hamro councillors had switched sides. TMC and GJM had bagged two and three seats respectively. TMC’s support took BGPM’s numbers to 16, exactly 50% of the house strength. At this stage, BGPM queered the pitch by claiming the support of one more Hamro councillor and the majority mark of 17. The stalemate persists. Allegations of malpractices on the part of BGPM to lure councillors and destabilise the municipal administration have surfaced. The role of TMC is also suspect in political circles as it is known for manoeuvring defections to expand its area of political influence.

The responses to the queries by NewsClick suggest that practically all parties, big and small, will take part in the upcoming panchayat elections, which will be a two-tier exercise in Darjeeling – gram panchayat and panchayat samiti. Since the days of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council with Subhas Ghising as its chief, zilla parishad election had to be discontinued as the top tier, if constituted, would make DGHC irrelevant. The Zilla parishad election in Darjeeling can be resumed only with a constitutional amendment clarifying the position of GTA. The confusion has persisted through the years.

General secretary of BGPM Amar Lama confirmed to NewsClick that his party would be in the fray. Asked if TMC would be its partner, Lama said, “Not necessarily; our understanding does not have within its purview a joint fight in all elections.”

Roshan Giri, general secretary of GJM, confirmed participation in the elections and said that the party would try to “rope in the small political outfits in the hills to promote political unity for bigger causes in future”. Hamro’s central committee member Dipu Thapa too confirmed to NewsClick that the party would field candidates. Tie-ups would be decided at the appropriate time.

Tamang of TMC naturally is not in a position to comment as the decision would be that of Mamata and her nephew Abhishek. But, it was apparent from his observations that he is not happy with the way the party is functioning in the hills. “It had to open a counter; it has done just that,” he added.

Darjeeling district secretary of CPI-M Saman Pathak said the Left would fight and seek to join hands with other secular, democratic forces including the Congress. “Mark my words – money would be a big factor with both BJP and TMC turning out to be sponsors of groups in the battle,” Pathak told NewsClick.