Ghisingh in hospital for a second time

THT, 25 October 2013, SILIGURI: Subhash Ghisingh was admitted to hospital for the second time in less than two weeks on Thursday, following complaints of low blood pressure and hypertension. 

The fresh health scare at a time when the veteran Gorkha leader and president of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has been making earnest efforts to recover lost political space in the Hills, has left his supporters deeply concerned. 

Once a champion for Gorkhaland who later switched to campaigning for inclusion of Darjeeling Hills in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, Ghisingh was admitted to the Neotia Getwel Healthcare Centre in Siliguri. 

Doctors attending to the 78-year-old said he has low blood pressure and hypertension and would be kept under observation over the next couple of days. Ghisingh, who led a violent struggle for Gorkhaland from 1986 to 1988, had been forced into political sanyaas after being hounded out of Darjeeling by the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in June 2008. 

However, he lately rallied his charges to mount resurgence in the Hills and vowed to revive the stir for Sixth Schedule status. He has been living at a rented flat at the Matigara area of Siliguri since being forced out of Darjeeling. The fresh health scare follows as earlier spell of illness before Durga Puja when the veteran Gorkha leader was admitted to the same healthcare facility. 

Ghisingh, a vegetarian, was discharged a day after the doctors ran a battery of tests on him. PD Bhutia, a senior physician attending to the ailing 78-yearold, said, “He has hypertension, is weak and was complaining of giddiness at the time of being admitted to the hospital. However, he has since being declared clinically fit.” 

He said more medical tests were likely on the veteran Gorkha leader over the next two days. With the Gurung-led outfit clearly at pains to hold its own in the face of growing unpopularity and waning mass support lately, Ghisingh sensed his chance to mount a comeback bid and impressed on supporters to mobilise a fresh struggle, demanding Sixth Schedule status for all three hill subdivisions-Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.