Fate of Binoy Tamang.... Hills now talk Tamang odds, post-poll scenario

MANAS R BANNERJEE SNS, 11 May 2019, Siliguri: Around a year and a half after he called off a 104-day shutdown in the Hills and took charge as the chairman of the Board of Administrators for the Gorkhaland Territoial Administration, controversy still surrounds Morcha leader Binoy Tamang, while leaders now wonder what his fate will be if he fails to perform well in the upcoming by elections. Mr Tamang, who has stepped down as the GTA chief, is contesting the elections as an independent candidate for the Darjeeling Assembly seat that has been left vacant after MLA Amar Singh Rai quit to contest the Lok Sabha elections in the Darjeeling Parliamentary seat.
A section of the Hill people and leaders have accused Mr Tamang of betraying the people by calling off the Gorkhaland agitation and joining hands with the Trinamul Congress-led state government.
Ever since the election process in the Hills began, Mr Tamang has been the centre of discussions among people who were already taken aback when Mr Tamang, who had burnt copies of the GTA agreement earlier and led the statehood movement in Darjeeling, suddenly started supporting TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
Presently, as speculations rise as to who will have the last laugh in the Hills as votes arc counted on 23 May, the common people, leaders and even government officials have started to talk Mr Tamang's fate after the results of both the Lok Sabha and by-polls are out. It may be in mentioned here that Anit Thapa,the vice-chairman of the GTA Board, has been made the chairman after Mr Tamang quit.
Nine candidates are in the fray for the by-polls that will be held on 19 May the main ones being Mr Tamang, who is backed by the Trinamul Congress and his faction of the Morcha, and GNLF leader Neeraj Zimba, the BJP candidate who is backed by his party and the Bimal faction of the Morcha. Some officials and leaders in the Hills, who are avid readers of the Statesman and who have been following a series of news reports on Hill politics in the recent past, today said they all wondered how Mr Tamang would fare in the entire poll process and after that.
"A man's fate is not sometimes in his hands. He may have the seat for now. If he wins, he gets a ministerial berth. If people still do not vote for him, then welcome to...," a senior government official said.
Morcha leader of the Gurung camp, Roshan Giri, claimed that Mr Tamang will not win the elections. "Binoy Tamang will not win at any cost as he is disliked by the people because he sold the Gorkhaland statehood agitation in 2017," he said in a WhatsApp message.
A Hill resident and a political observer said the Darjeeling by-elections will reflect the voters' mind - "whether people of Darjeeling are looking for development or greater political solution."
"Binoy Tamang, if he wins, will create a strong base for the 2021 Assembly elections by focusing on development. But if he loses, he has to rethink his political career and strategy," the observer said.
However, chairman of the National Gorkhaland Committee (NGC), an apolitical body of the Gorkhas, Major General (Rtd) Shakti Gurung,said on a "personal level" that whoever wins the by-elections must work on an over-drive to prove himself/herself, so that s/he can be reelected two years later.
"If Binoy Tamang wins, he will have to fulfill all the promises he has made, which may be simpler for him than for any one else from the opposition parties," Maj Gen Gurung said, adding: "This is because the state government would still be that of the TMC (after the by- elections).
"Why I am saying easier for him is because all the promises he has very cleverly made are within the jurisdiction of the state government—be it land rights, minimum wages etc. What he will not be able to do is to work for Gorkhaland as it is against the very basic ethos of the party on whose support he is fighting. If he loses, the verdict of the people would have been delivered to Mamata Banerjee, who, the shrewd woman that she is, would not shed him but would keep him as a frontline party worker for the Darjeeling belt and use his services in the Assembly election two years later," he said.
According to him, Mr Tamang may not replace Anit Thapa at the GTA again. "Mamata Banerjee too would not like to have a person who has lost the elections as the chairman of the BoA thereafter," he said.
Maj Gen Gurung also said that Mr Tamang would have no choice but to stay on in the Trinamul Congress as "no other party is going to trust him if he falls to put up a good show in the polls."
"These are all conjectures and I don't wish bad for any-one. Binoy may be doing whatever he is doing with a purpose in mind. Perhaps, the way he is doing it may or may not be acceptable to the people. But then this is what politics is all about," he said, however, adding,'But we should wait and watch till 23 May."
Phone calls made to Mr Tamang for his comment went unanswered today.