Darjeeling parties play up 'Son of the Hills" theme as they prepare for 2024

 As candidates concentrate on local sentiments and people have an option to choose someone coming from their background

SNS & AGENCIES, KOLKATA, 17 DECEMBER 2023 : The present political situation in the hills of aided ing, Kalimpong and Kurseong is such that almost all political forces are forced to bring some synergy in the themes of their songs regarding the selection of candidates for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency for the 2024 polls.

And the common theme is nominating any "son of the hills" as the candidate so the contest is concentrated on the local sentiments and the people have an option to choose someone coming from their background.

The sentiment has been kindled by the influential and estranged Trinamul Congress leader Binay Tamang joining the Congress.

As of now there are enough indications that Tamang will be the Left Front- based Congress candidate from Darjeeling in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, since both the Congress and the CPI (M) might opt to utilise the influence of Tamang among a section of the hill voters.

And if that happens, feel political observers, Tamang will not miss the opportunity to gain mileage by exploiting the "son of the hills" sentiments of the local people.

Anit Thapa, the founder of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), an ally of the Trinamool Congress in the hills, seems to have realised the effectiveness of exploiting the local sentiments for the 2024 polls.

Last week Thapa sent some loaded but extremely significant messages to the Trinamul Congress leadership about the choice of the candidate for the alliance for the 2024 polls.

"Let there be the Trinamul Congress symbol in the hills but not the party leaders to that extent”— was the message from Thapa last week. Thapa's signal was clear that the Trinamool Congress might field its candidate in the hills in 2024 but the BGPM's preference in candidate selection should be honoured by the ruling party.

Political observers feel that if the Trinamul Congress accepts the logic of the BGPM and honours the latter's preference in candidate selection, then it is natural that Thapa too will prefer a confidant and "son of the hills” as the TMC candidate.

Trinamul Congress insiders said that preliminary discussions with the BGPM leadership have already started on this count.

Political observers said that these recent developments of Binay Tamang joining the Congress and then the significant observations by Anit Thapa, will also force the BJP to rework its strategy for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat which has gifted the saffron camp the winning BJPs for three consecutive terms since 2009.

If both the Congress as well as the Trinamul Congress BGPM alliance go all out in exploiting the hills sentiment by fielding "sons of the soil," as their candidates, then the saffron leadership might also be forced to adopt the same tactic.

In that case, feel political observers, the BJP will have to make an extremely calculated move in the choice of its candidate for the hills considering that the three elected BJP Lok Sabha members from Darjeeling Jaswant Sinha in 2009, S.S. Ahluwalia in 2014 and the current BJP Raju Bista in 2019-are not hill people.

The BJP sailed through in three consecutive polls mainly through the backing of the Bimal Gurung founded Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM), which at that point of time enjoyed a virtually unchallenged political monopoly in the hills.

However, currently the situation is not that comfortable for the saffron camp. First, Gurung's popularity in the hills has eroded substantially over a period of time. Secondly, Gurung himself of late has started accusing the BJP of not fulfilling its promises regarding a permanent political solution to the problems in the hills which include the issue of a separate Gorkhaland state.

In such a situation, feel political observer, the BJP also adopt the same "son of the hills" policy to regain the confidence of the GJM and other small and scattered political parties whose activities are limited to the hills.