CLASSIC CASE OF LOST IN TRANSLATION, SAYS DARJEELING MPHill threat to blacken Ghosh's face over comments

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 17 Jan 2020, Darjeeling: The comments of BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, who got another term at the helm on Thursday, ruled the political discourse in the hills as leaders of both the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the BJP got into a war of words over the interpretation of what Ghosh had said.

A day after issuing a strong statement against Ghosh for drawing a parallel between the deaths of Gorkhas during the 2017 statehood agitation and those killed during the protests against the amended citizenship law in some states, the Binay Tamang camp of the hill party on Thursday burnt effigies of the state BJP chief at Darjeeling Chowk Bazar and elsewhere in the hills.

During the protest event, Alokkant Mani Thulung, president of Morcha's Darjeeling sub-division committee, said: "If Dilip Ghosh comes to Darjeeling, we would blacken his face"Even if the administration arrests us, we will blacken Dilip Ghosh's face if he comes to Darjeeling," added Thulung before urging other political parties from the hills to "speak for the community".

Although the BJP won from the Darjeeling seat, Ghosh doesn't have fond memories of the hills. Back in October 2017, Ghosh, state BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Mazumdar and other leaders of a five-member state BJP delegation were chased and manhandled by angry agitators at Chowk Bazaar area in Darjeeling.

On Thursday. several eminent hill citizens of the hills this correspondent spoke to said that Ghosh's comments were insensitive and linked it to his lack of understanding of the Gorkha community and their concerns.

As Ghosh's statement be- came the talking point in the hills and triggered protests, Raju Bista, BJP MP from the region, got into the act to contain the damage.

In a written statement, the first-time MP first stressed that "if anyone paints the Gorkhas in bad light or belittles our sufferings", he would be the first to feel hurt. Then he went on to add that "this (controversy) has happened mostly due to lack of context or coherence on the part of certain sections of media and opposition".

The Darjeeling MP said that for him, "this is a classic case of lost in translation. Bista also posted video of Ghosh's speech delivered on December 24, 2019 during a pro-CAA rally in Siliguri to clarify that the state party president was essentially highlighting the atrocities committed by the state government.

"From what I could understand, Dilip Da was stating the fact that the Mamata Banerjee government had killed 11 Gorkhas during the 2017 andolan and cited "damage to public property" as her excuse," said Bista, adding: " He was merely telling the journalist to compare and contrast the reaction of media to their absolute silence in Darjeeling vs their hue and cry today." Tamang was quick to counter. 
"First, I would like draw the attention to the MP that Dilip Ghosh who is currently the BJP President of West Bengal gave his comment about 11 Gorkhas were shot down for destroying public property in a talk show in NDTV where he reiterated his statement that people who destroy public property could be shot down just like dogs.Tamang stated that Ghosh's statement "seems like Dilip Ghosh very much approved the killing of our brothers for Gorkhaland in 2017.".