Hills dictator Subash Ghisingh dies in Delhi

TNN | Jan 30, 2015, KOLKATA: Subash Ghisingh — the founder of the modern Gorkhaland movement — died in a Delhi hospital on Thursday. He was 79. His body will be flown in from Delhi on Friday. 

Ghisingh, a former Gorkha Rifles soldier who later became a teacher, founded the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in 1980. He led the GNLF into a violent movement for carving a separate Gorkhaland out of Bengal, resulting in bloodbath in the Hills between 1986 and 1988. 

The Gorkhaland movement posed the biggest challenge to the unquestioned authority of Jyoti Basu. The statehood movement was tackled using force. Though Basu saved Bengal from getting divided, the Left Front had to strike a hard bargain with Ghisingh to buy peace in the Hills. 

The movement led to the ouster of Left Front from the Hills. Ghisingh's one-time aide Bimal Gurung set up the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in 2007. The next year, Ghisingh was ousted from the Hills. GJM even prevented Ghisingh from bringing his wife's body for cremation to the Hills. 

After Ghisingh's death, Gurung posted on Facebook, "The sad demise of Mr. Subhash Ghising is a political loss to the Hill people. 

His contribution towards the development of the Hills will always be appreciated. I extend my heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family and pray that God give them the strength to bear the loss."