ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN DARJEELING
Big B, Big Brother and the Big Fight...
By Sandip C Jain, Editor, Himalayan Times
There aren’t any prizes for guessing who finally will wear the thorny crown for being the winner in this edition of the West Bengal Assembly elections from the Darjeeling Hills with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) appearing to be still on its honeymoon period.. But I dare not blurt out the names of the winners just yet with Big Brother (the omnipresent Election Commission) keeping a hawk’s eye over the proceeding. The GJM candidates from the Darjeeling Hills, three in total, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong constituencies, look set for a stint at the Assembly House at Kolkata but the fight seems to be heading for a good round of excitement though not necessarily for an exciting finish.
These are exciting times, the Polls in India always are, and with the “Big B” (Bimal Gurung) now acting the “Visa Issuer” in the Hills, the times are even more exciting. After Bimal having said in a Public meeting at Mirik that the visas to the Hills of Subhas Gheshing and his not so merry men, would expire on the 18th of April (Poll day), it appears that the last set to this game will definitely be played only after the finals are over.
Now with the GJM supremo making it obvious that the presence of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leaders and supporters in the Darjeeling Hills would not be tolerated after the Polls, the interest of the poor citizens of these beleaguered Hills lies more on what will happen after the Assembly Polls rather than what will happen in it. While the common man waits with fastened heart-beats and racing pulses, the GNLF leaderships is now left with very very few options- ideally they would like to win at least one seat that it is contesting but this at the moment appears a farfetched dream hence ( Sorry Big Brother but I swear I am not implying in any way that the GNLF will lose this election or that the GJM will have a cake-walk – I am just saying it’s a farfetched dream and we all know that after all any dream can turn into reality, however farfetched it may be…. well at least on paper) the GNLF is left with no options but to throw all its trump cards in one go and come up with a credible show. They seem to have three scenarios staring down their faces- 1. Secure less than 5% of the total votes and in such a case, scramble back to Siliguri with their tails between their legs. 2. Secure 15% or above on the total votes cast in which case we can consider them to have put up a credible show and as having a sizable support base in the Hills. This will probably entitle them to stay back in the Hills and come back into main stream politics. The worse scenario for the Hills would be if the GNLF polls 5% to 15% of the total votes. This would neither be a mandate for them to stay back nor would it be a total rejection of them. This would be when the blood bath will start. The very thought of such a scenario brings back to mind those dark spine chilling few months of 1988 when the GNLF and the Gorkha Volunteers Cell (GVC) were in conflict. No one wants a repeat of the mayhem and mindless loss of young lives that was witnessed during those few months.
These elections will have a far reaching effect on the future of the Darjeeling Hills- its fate hangs by the results of these elections. An overwhelming victory for the GJM will give it the mandate to take unilateral decisions with regards to the future course of action. It will give it the confidence to negotiate with the new State Government and the Central Government as the sole political power in the Hills. It could, with renewed self belief, take a call on whether or not accept the “Interim Council” or whether to persist with the demand for a separate state. On the other hand , anything less that 80% of the total votes would give its opposition as well as the State and Central Government a stick to beat them up with. The stick would definitely turn into an iron rod it the GJM candidates win only by a slender margin, and a battering ram if it loses even a single seat.
This much for the Political parties battling it out in the Hills- now on us the hapless souls living here- Our options are limited too. Vote overwhelmingly for the GJMand ensure the victory of their candidates- not because it’s the lesser of the two evils, not because the quality of candidates they have put up is better, not because they deserve one chance, not because they have the so called “Intellects” with them, not because the “profess” Gandhism (not necessarily practicing it though) and definitely not because Bimal Gurung is handsome but because their victory, it appears, offers peace a better chance. We know for sure that Bimal Gurung and company are no bunch of Saints but then Politician or Political party in India is???? Show me one and I am willing to press the EVM button for them all day…..
And Sorry Big Brother, this article is not canvassing or campaigning for any Political party, least of it the GJM, so I hope some medium level bureaucrat, presently under you, buoyant with the sudden emergency powers bestowed upon them by you, does not call me up threatening to cancel my license to write.
But if someone still insists I am campaigning for someone or something then yes, I am… I am campaigning for peace and normalcy to return back to these beautiful Hills…