As winter arrives in Darjeeling, the two pillars of the region’s economy, tea and tourism, are picking up the pieces after a 104-day shutdown from June to September led by the key hill party, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), for a separate state for Gorkhas. But politically, there are several loose ends which need to be tied up before peace can finally return to the hills, particularly the leadership issue of the GJM that is proving to be more than the proverbial storm in a teacup.
Tug of war
The GJM was founded by Bimal Gurung in 2007, soon after he and his trusted aide Binay Tamang helped a Kolkata Police constable Prashant Tamang win Indian Idol 3 by organising mass votes for the singer. The GJM was replacing the Gorkha National Liberation Front, whose leader Subhas Ghising found himself isolated in the hills, as the primary hill party. When Mamata Banerjee became Chief Minister in 2011, the GJM agreed to the formation of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA). Mr. Gurung became its chief executive. Cut to 2017. When the GJM called the blockade renewing the demand for Gorkhaland, it was led by Mr. Gurung. The announcement of ending the bandh also came from him, but by then, he was on the run from the West Bengal police, implicated in several cases from triggering violence to misappropriation of funds. Mr. Gurung is now fighting for his cause in the Supreme Court, with his lawyers arguing that the West Bengal government had “broken” the GJM.
But if the GJM is “broken”, it happened because a section of the party, led by Mr. Gurung’s aide-turned-adversary Mr. Tamang, showed an inclination to negotiate with the State government when the blockade showed no signs of ending. Ms. Banerjee moved in swiftly, naming Mr. Tamang as chairperson of a new board of administrators to head the GTA whose five-year tenure expired in July. After the vertical split in the party, Mr. Tamang, now GJM chief, has been consolidating the cadre, trying to fill the leadership void as Mr. Gurung, suspended from the party, finds himself in the same position as Ghising — in a corner and kept out of the hills.
Meanwhile, Ms. Banerjee has made inroads into the hills, clipping the GJM’s wings and making it apparent in no uncertain terms that she is against a division of the State. In such a scenario, can Mr. Tamang hold the GJM, whose raison d’etre is a separate State, together? Party cadre is divided. Mr. Tamang’s elevation was met with violence initially, but with Mr. Gurung in hiding, many supporters have veered towards the leader visible on the ground.
With the Chief Minister announcing that she will head to Darjeeling on December 27 for a tourism festival, she is sending a signal that the Bengal government has regained control over Darjeeling. But till the GJM can sort out the leadership tangle and redress the grievances of the people, no one leader can claim control over the hills.
