Hopeful, Gurung camp begins to regroup

One such meeting will be held on 8 November at the Kurseong Motor Stand and people will get to see how much support we have in that meeting

REZA PRADHAN, SNS,  DARJEELING. 30 OCTOBER 2020 : Amid criticism and concerns from various quarters on Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha Bimal Gurung's announcement of an alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress, the faction of the party has claimed that it still has a strong support base in the Hills.

According to leaders of the party, people would see the Gurung faction's strength in a peace rally and public meeting they plan to hold in Kurseong on 8 November.

Following the appearance of Mr Gurung in Kolkata recently after three years in hiding, the party has also started regrouping, holding party activities and reconstituting its different units in the Hills. The new Kurseong town committee of the party was formed today.

"The way people turned up today in the indoor meetings we held in Kurseong shows that we still have good response from the people and a strong base in the hills. Internally, work is going on to form unit levels, with the Town Committee of Kurseong formed today after the Nari Morcha of the Kurseong subdivision was formed a few days earlier," Central Committee leader of the faction, Saran Dewan, said.

Though the party existed in the Hills, there has been not much activity after Mr Gurung had to leave the Hills. After he resurfaced in Kolkata, the party flag having Mr Gurung's face was hoisted at Chowk Bazaar in Darjeeling on 24 October, followed by two indoor meetings held today in Kurseong.

Speaking about further programmes, Mr Dewan said, "We will hold public meetings at different places in the Hills before our president returns.

One such meeting will be held on 8 November at the Kurseong Motor Stand and people will get to see how much support we have in that meeting."

He, however, said that the date of Mr Gurung's return to the Hills has not been fixed as yet "but he could come back in the first half of November."

"We have also been getting feelers from many belonging to other parties that they want to join our party, but we have kept that on hold at present," Mr Dewan added.

According to the Gurung camp's Kalimpong district youth wing coordinator,Topden Bhutia, top rung leaders along with supporters want to come back to the party, but that the same will be done systematically.

"If we did not have a good support base, then we would not have been approached by the government. Some are maintaining that we do not have any support and those are all false claims. Different units are being formed in rural areas and the response is overwhehning," Mr Bhutia said.

On the reorganization of the party's different units, he said, "We were organised internally and we have been in constant touch with every one, so we only have to regroup. As for now, ground level meetings are being held in the local levels so that work on rejuvenating the party can be done. Apart from that, preparations are also on to welcome our president in a grand manner."

The Morcha's Binoy Tamang camp, however, rubbished such claims of the Gurung faction.

The Darjeeling sub-division spokesperson of the faction, Sandip Chettri, said, "Every political party claims that they have a good support base, but their leader Bimal Gurung announcing his support to the TMC in the 2021 elections only showed that our leaders were right from the beginning. We might have lost the last elections, but people are aware and have understood now what the BJP along with what Gurung is. This has only increased our support from the people.

(https://epaper.thestatesman.com/2874283/Siliguri-The-Statesman/31ST-OCTOBER-2020#page/2/2)