Much logic in move of Bimal Gurung

With the BJP unquestionably leading the race for the formation of the next government in the county, an M.P. from the BJP is necessary to function as a bridge between Darjeeling and Delhi. 

Editorial, EOI, 2 April 2024 : There is much logic in the move of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President Bimal Gurung to extend support to BJP candidate Raju Bista in the Darjeeling LokSabha seat. In fact, there is little alternative. 

As Bimal Gurung has pointed out, only the Centre can ensure a permanent political solution to the problems of the hills of Darjeeling; whether it is a separate state of Gorkhaland or scheduled tribe status to 11-left out Gorkha communities. With the BJP unquestionably leading the race for the formation of the next government in the county, an M.P. from the BJP is necessary to function as a bridge between Darjeeling and Delhi. 

With the Congress yet to even name its candidate for the Darjeeling seat, it would not make much sense for GJM and other regional parties in the hills keen to solve the identity crisis of the Gorkha community to have placed their bet on the grand old party of India. 

The other strong candidate in the race is Trinamool Congress nominee Gopal Lama, but the candidate himself and his mentor Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha President Anit Thapa have made it clear that their priority is economic development of the hills; not the identity crisis of the Gorkha community.

Bimal Gurung could have contested himself with the support of all the other hill parties, or could have supported any other candidate from the hill parties.

When two phases of prolonged agitations launched for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland, one by Bimal Gurung himself in 2017 and one by Gorkha National Liberation Front President Subash Ghisingh in 1984, could not bring the desired result, it is most unlikely that the lone voice of an M.P. of a regional party in the corridors of Parliament will make much impact.

To be fair to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in each of his previous two terms the Centre has taken momentous steps in the area of reorganization of states. In his first stint as Prime Minister beginning in 2014, the separate state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh. In his second stint at the Prime Minister beginning in 2019, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was reconstituted into the Union Territories of Ladakh and the Union Jammu and Kashmir. 

Now with Prime Minister Narendra  Modi stating in a public meeting in Siliguri that the Centre had already reached close to a solution of the political problems of the hills of Darjeeling and Bimal Gurung himself being assured by top BJP leaders that the problems of Darjeeling were receiving the close attention of Delhi, there would belittle sense in jumping onto some other band wagon.

Sitting BJP M.P. Raju Bista, too, has assured that he is privy to information that he is not in a position to disclose now. There is not much reason in disbelieving him when in the past five years the M.P. has stood by the people of Darjeeling through the thick and the thin.

With successive governments in Kolkata not keen to yield to the Gorkhaland demand, it is not easy for Delhi to work out a solution readily. It will also have to take into account issues like the limited area of the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the proximity of these hills to the disturbed border with the Tibet region of China. 

The West Bengal assembly had passed in the days of the Left Front government a proposal for sixth schedule status for Darjeeling, but at that time Bimal Gurung himself had raised a valid objection that this could not be done till the left-out Gorkha communities were included in the scheduled tribe list. Now one has to wait for the results of the Lok Sabha election and the subsequent moves by the next government in Delhi.