Darjeeling: Leaders keep fingers crossed

ASHISH PRADHAN & SANKHA GHOSH, SNS, Darjeeling/Siliguri, 16 April: The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland and a desire for change high on people’s minds, Darjeeling constituency goes to the polls on 17 April, and unlike in the previous elections when a dominant party held sway, people this time around expect the fight for the Lok Sabha seat here to be ‘different’ and more interesting.

While political observers say that with five ‘good’ candidates in the fray ~ SS Ahluwalia (BJP), Bhaichung Bhutia (AITC), Mahendra P Lama (IND), Saman Pathak (CPM), and Sujay Ghatak (INC) ~ the around 14,15,168 voters will have a tough time choosing the right man, leaders of parties contesting the Lok Sabha election are now keeping their fingers crossed. With the entire state watching the Darjeeling battle with more interest this time, the trend of the dominant party in the Hills pulling it off easily may end this time, observers feel. Earlier, it was the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) that had a hold in the Hills for two decades, while it is the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) that has been calling the shots for the past few years.

The GJMM, with the agenda of a separate state, has supported BJP, and its candidate, SS Ahluwalia, has assured that the party would ‘sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas.’ The Trinamul Congress, on the other hand, has fielded former Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia for the constituency. While the GJMM is focusing on the ‘Gorkha identity’ issue, the Trinamul is stressing on development and resistance to ‘forces that are trying to split Bengal.’ The GNLF, led by Subash Ghisingh, which ruled the Hills for several years in the past, has thrown its weight behind the Trinamul, and political watchers say the re-emergence of Mr Ghisingh can help the Trinamul as “the GNLF is a force that cannot be looked down upon.”

On the other hand, noted academic and Independent candidate Mahendra P Lama is likely to take away a good portion of the GJMM votes. The All India Gorkha League (AIGL), Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) and some prominent members of civil society in the Hills are supporting Mr Lama. The CPI-M is also expected to get a good number of votes, especially from the plains. With the Sixth Schedule agenda for the Darjeeling Hills, it has fielded former Rajya Sabha member and senior CITU leader Saman Pathak in Darjeeling. The Congress, meanwhile, has fielded Sujay Ghatak, while the party has focused on development and resistance to what it calls efforts to bifurcate the state.

While parties ended their campaign on Tuesday, people in Darjeeling, mostly the young generation, say they need change and basic amenities and a freedom to exercise their franchise. While they say people have been voting all these years as per the diktat of a dominant party, it will not be so this time. “We need positive changes and basic facilities like drinking water and good roads. We should be given a free hand while voting and parties should not compel us to vote for them. I personally will choose to vote for the much-needed change in Darjeeling. Enough of the tyranny and the same old issues and promises,” a young man listening to a party leader speak at Chowk Bazaar in Darjeeling said.

A total of seven Assembly segments fall under the Darjeeling constituency ~ three in the Hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, and the remaining four in the plains of Siliguri, Matigara-Naxalbari, Phansidewa and Chopra.

Political analysts say that while the GJMM may have the last laugh in the Hills after all, the Trinamul is likely to improve its party’s tally in Siliguri, as many people there are happy with the way the chief minister has stood against the division of Bengal, and Bhaichung Bhutia’s star image, people feel, will surely be a factor.

Riding high on the fact that it has captured several rural bodies and launched some development projects, especially for the Matigara-Naxalbari and Phansidewa segments, the TMC is expected to bag a good number of votes in the plains. The Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance won in these two constituencies in the last Assembly elections in 2011.

The Congress and the CPI-M are focusing on the Trinamul’s move to “illegally capture the elected rural bodies in segments where that party hardly had any elected representative.”

In Chopra, voters feel left out and ignored. According to them, Chopra remained ignored over the years, while all the attention went to the Hills. “Political parties remember Chopra only during elections, otherwise this is just another small and insignificant area for them, while the elected MPs only focus on the Hills for all development,” a Chopra resident, Mustaq Alam said.

Back in Darjeeling, people do seem to be looking for a change, but analysts again feel the change that a section of the voters want may not be had this time around.

And among many other factors, if this comment given by a senior GJMM leader and a GTA councilor is anything to go by, it is the dominant party that will once again have the upper hand. “The campaign has ended, and so has our survey and assessment. The GJMM will bag 60 percent of the total votes in the Darjeeling Hills comprising three Assembly segments, while the other parties will divide among themselves the remaining 40,” he said.

However, according to mainstream political leaders, around 60 per cent of the votes belonging to the anti-Left bloc in the plains, comprising four Assembly segments, will be divided among the Trinamul, the BJP and the Congress. The CPI-M will be able to bag a major share of the remaining votes, they said.