Black flags greet BJP team in hills - JAP backs Tamang supporters in protests

Black flags being shown at the BJP team in Kalimpong

RAJEEV RAVIDAS and AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Oct. 4: Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh and some other party leaders were greeted with black flags by supporters of the Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Jana Andolan Party in Kalimpong today.

Yesterday, Morcha president Bimal Gurung had appealed to people to welcome the BJP delegation - on a three-day trip to the hills - for the sake of Gorkhaland.

A day before, disgruntled Morcha leader Tamang had asked the BJP to make its stand clear on the statehood issue or risk facing protests from the public when the delegation reaches the hills.

Political analysts said the protests - Ghosh was shown black flags at three places in Kalimpong - indicated the fading influence of Gurung and the rise of Tamang in hill politics.

"For the first time since the Morcha was formed 10 years ago, Gurung's appeal to the public went unheeded. Not a single party supporter turned up to welcome Ghosh," said a Kalimpong resident.

A Morcha leader noted that since 2009, BJP leaders had almost always been welcomed in the hills.

"After the BJP and the Morcha forged an electoral understanding ahead of the Lok Sabha polls of 2009, leaders of the saffron party always enjoyed the support of the people in the hills. Today was an exception," he said.

The moment Ghosh reached Kalimpong, along with state BJP vice-president Jayprakash Majumdar and other party leaders, they ran into protests. The JAP supporters put up black flags and plastered posters, asking the BJP team to go back. Another poster wondered where the BJP's Darjeeling MP, S.S. Ahluwalia, was during the unrest in the hills.

"We want to ask why they have come now. People have suffered, 11 people have lost their lives. After maintaining silence for all these days, what is the purpose of their visit now?" asked Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the JAP president.

The second round of protest was spearheaded by around 50 Tamang backers, who had gathered outside a community hall near 10 Mile, where Ghosh was attending a party event.

Today's protests also marked the beginning of a battle between the BJP and Trinamul to win the hill people's hearts, political analysts said. While Trinamul is endorsing the Tamang faction of the Morcha, the BJP is supporting the Gurung lobby.

Told that Tamang had asked the BJP to spell out its stand on Gorkhaland, Ghosh said: "I am not supposed to answer to someone who is working at the behest of the state government. Putting someone in a post doesn't imply that he enjoys mass support."

Ghosh alleged that the state government had framed Gurung in false cases.