Darjeeling Hills remain Gorkha land

Amitava Banerjee, HT, 20 May 2016, Kolkata: While it was the Trinamool Congress holding sway in Bengal, it was the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) retaining the three hill seats in the Darjeeling district. The GJM, while quick to label the victory as a “mandate for Gorkhaland”, did not fail to extend a hand of friendship towards Banerjee and an invite to the state government to forget past differences and work together.

In the Hills, the battle for Kalimpong had turned into a prestige fight for GJM chief Bimal Gurung and his men. Gurung, who is currently camping in Kalimpong, thanked the voters and dubbed the victory as a mandate for Gorkhaland. “People have voted for Gorkhaland. We also congratulate Mamata Banerjee on her victory. We can now work together forgetting past differences,” Gurung said.

The political journey, henceforth, will be tricky for the GJM with Mamata Banerjee’s return to power with a thumping majority. It is now a political compulsion for the GJM to build a cordial relation with the state in order to fulfill their own objectives, feel political observers. In the recent past, relations between Gurung and Mamata hit all-time low with the former time and again accusing the state government of interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an autonomous administrative council. He even called Mamata a conspirator working towards dividing the Gorkha society in order to nix the Gorkhaland movement.

While the Trinamool had pitted candidates against the GJM in Darjeeling and Kurseong, they had supported the candidature of Jan Andolan Party (JAP) president Harka Bahadur Chettri in Kalimpong.

In 2011, Chettri won the Assembly elections from Kalimpong on a GJM ticket. However, a few months back he had fallen out with the GJM and floated his own party.

Though the GJM managed to retain all three hill seats, the margin of victory was not as resounding as was seen in the 2011 polls, especially in Kalimpong and Kurseong. However, Darjeeling remained a Morcha bastion. As anticipated, Kalimpong witnessed a very close contest. GJM had pitted Sarita Rai against Chettri. Rai secured 67693 votes defeating Chettri who had bagged 56262 votes.

In Kurseong, GJM’s sitting MLA Rohit Sharma bagging 86947 votes defeating Trinamool candidate and three-time MLA Shanta Chettri. Chettri garnered 53,221 votes. In Darjeeling, GJM candidate Amar Singh Rai bagged 95386 votes and defeating Trinamool candidate Sarda Subba who garnered 45,473 votes.

Interestingly, in the 2011 elections in the three hill constituencies, all the candidates except the three winning GJM candidates had forfeited their security deposits. The three GJM candidates in 2011 won by a margin of more than 90,000 votes each, considered the highest recorded in the state. Taking all responsibility for the defeat, Chettri said his party would introspect and find out flaws, if any. “However, we are overwhelmed with the huge public support. Our party is just a few months old yet people showed their trust in us. We will take part in all future elections and will work for the all-round development of the masses,” Chettri said.

Chettri’s party contested the polls on the promise of upgrading Kalimpong sub-division into a separate district. The GJM, on the other hand had pitched for Gorkhaland. “Though the GJM and Gurung claim that they were the ones to first raise the demand for upgrading Kalimpong sub-division into a district, it is clear that they are not sincere to the cause. If they are sincere, the GJM MLA who has now been elected from Kalimpong should ensure that Kalimpong is upgraded into a district,” Chettri said.

Political observers feel that the growing anti-incumbency factor could reflect in future elections causing major dents in the GJM’s political armor. The four Hill municipalities (Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik) are scheduled to go to polls at the end of this year.