Hill political parties need to survive to protect the distinct identity of Darjeeling

SANDIP C JAIN, EOI, 11 July 2023: Let’s forget the panchayat poll results in the hills for a while. It was a foregone conclusion that the ruling Bharatiya Gorkha Prajarik Morcha would win the majority of the seats. This should not come as surprise to any one.

Also the fact that the independents will win quite a few gram panchayats shouldn’t be of any surprise, considering the widespread resentment against existing political parties in the region. But isn’t it surprising that suddenly the BJP has become the main opposition in the hills? 

What has happened to hill parties like Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Gorkha National Liberation Front, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Hamro Party and others who were supposed to be equal partners in the election alliance that was formed for the panchayat polls?

These heavyweight parties who used to lord over the hills during their respective days of glory seem to have been swallowed by the BJP in recent times. It really is so sad that the GNLF, which under the legendary Subash Ghisingh was the unchallenged political power in the Darjeeling hills has come to such a pass that it is hard to distinguish whether it is now an individual political entity or a subsidiary of the BJP. 

The same goes with GJM, which just a few years ago under the firebrand Bimal Gurung was the uncrowned king in the hills, is now just a shadow of its past and seems to have lost all relevance in hill politics. Its chequered relationship of love and hate with the BJP has turned the GJM into almost a spent force. It resembles a wet firecracker. Everyone expects it to blast with a bang, but it keeps fizzling out.

Let’s not speak of some of the other political parties which claim to be political parties but in actuality are just groups of wannabe leaders with no following worth mentioning.

There was a time when the hill parties set all agendas in the Gorkha dominated regions of north Bengal. The leader of hills, whether it was Ghisingh or Gurung, set the agendas and executed them. Their one word was the law which no one dared to disagree with. During the days of Ghisingh, not even the Chief Minister of West Bengal would enter the hills without the approval of the hill supremo. 

The Prime Minister or India or the Chief Minister of West Bengal was less relevant in the hills than Ghisingh or Gurung. Such was their absolute power within the hills of Darjeeling. But those were times gone by. What now? Are the hill politicians really setting the agenda in the hills now? 

The answer is surely a no. All major local political parties in the hills now let the national parties set the agendas while on the ground level these hill parties execute them. 

Local parties have almost become like puppets with their strings being pulled by national parties like the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. 

This panchayat election has proved that the large fishes living in the ocean have invaded the small pond and swallowed the little fishes, which till recently used to rule their tiny pond. How does this augur for the future of the hills of Darjeeling? What happens to the demand for a separate state? What happens to the distinct identity that the hills have cultivated over the ages?

One early casualty of this invasion of national parties in the hills is the fact that now the sentimental issue of a separate state has merged itself into the mysterious PPS. What PPS is, only the BJP and its partners can answer, but frankly I sometimes wonder whether even they know what the PPS is? 

For the common people, who have lost lives and property for the sake of a separate state and have been living in a state of permanent apprehension for the last four decades, PPS is as mysterious as an Unidentified Flying Object. 

The point is that strong regional parties like the GJM, the GNLF or the BGPM need to survive for the sake of a separate identity of the hills, which may well be lost if in the coming days all these regional parties lose relevance and the political agendas are set by national parties.

The problems that the hills of Darjeeling have are different, its aspirations are different, its demands are different hence the political parties in the hill need to be different so that these problems, aspirations and demands do not get suppressed under the weight of bigger agendas that the national parties have. 

Their survival is essential so that the issues of the Darjeeling hills do not die without being redressed. Their survival is essential so that Gorkhaland does not permanently change to the mysterious PPS. 

(The writer is the Editor of the Himalayan Times, Kalimpong)