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Gurung’s re-emergence, alliance with TMC raises questions unanswered

Hindustan Times, Kolkata/Siliguri | ByTanmay Chatterjee and Pramod Giri | Edited by Abhinav Sahay
Oct 23, 2020 07:51 AM IST

Political parties in Bengal seem to be assessing how Gurung’s return from exile will play out before the assembly election in 2021.

After Darjeeling’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung, one of the most wanted fugitives in Bengal, surfaced after three years to announce that he was walking out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to help Mamata Banerjee win the assembly polls in 2021, crucial questions were raised by political parties across the board.

Although the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) welcomed Gurung’s decision through a couple of tweets on Wednesday night, its leaders were hesitant to speak on record on how a man charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) can be a formidable ally for the polls due in six months. Gurung has been in hiding since 2017.

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Gurung appeared before the media in Kolkata but rumblings were heard as far as in the hills, where he helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019.

“Mamata Banerjee is also the home minister. She will surely look into the legal aspects and consult experts about the charges Gurung faces. We are sure the leadership weighed the pros and cons before welcoming his decision,” a senior TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.

The leader, however, did not have any answer when asked whether the Binoy Tamang faction of the GJM, which is now in control of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) as an ally of the TMC, would welcome Gurung with open arms.

Anit Thapa, chairman of the board of administrators of the GTA, said, “It would have been better if Gurung had realised the truth three years ago and helped stop the killings and destruction to public property. Binoy Tamang took a big risk and restored peace in Darjeeling in 2017. The peace should continue.”

Thapa and Tamang joined hands with the chief minister when the Gorkhaland movement was at its peak. They even suspended Gurung and his followers from the party after they went into hiding.

Thapa’s reference to peace appeared highly relevant. While talking to the media at a hotel in central Kolkata on Wednesday, Gurung said in unequivocal terms that he was not giving up the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland and a permanent political solution to the issues raised by the community decades ago.

“There are no foes and friends in politics. Our demand is Gorkhaland and a permanent political solution. We will see which party addresses our issues and then decide our strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said Gurung in an apparent bid to keep the option of returning to the NDA open.

The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), the BJP’s ally and the second largest party in the Darjeeling hills, has slammed Gurung.

Mahendra Chhetri, the GNLF spokesperson, said, “Gurung has betrayed Gorkhas around the world. We firmly believe that the BJP is capable of delivering a permanent political solution before the assembly election. The Centre must take this sudden development very seriously.”

Having treated Gurung as an ally for more than a decade, Bengal BJP leaders took exception to his reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah in his statements before the media. Yet, they did not attack the Gorkha leader. The BJP used the opportunity to target the chief minister instead on the issue of the demand for a separate state carved out of north Bengal districts.

“It appears that Banerjee has promised Gurung that Gorkhaland will be formed. People of West Bengal would certainly like to know whether she will be splitting the state of which Darjeeling is considered the crown,” said Bengal BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu.

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Taking a jibe at Banerjee, he added, “This is not the first time the chief minister has used rebels facing criminal charges for electoral advantage. She used Maoist leader Kishenji against the Left Front government before the 2011 assembly polls and got him killed in a police encounter after coming to power.”

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The Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, a small outfit in Darjeeling that supported the BJP in 2019, reserved its comments. Govind Chettri, the CPRM spokesperson, said, “We are reading between the lines.”

Gurung’s trusted lieutenant Roshan Giri, who signed the tripartite GTA accord in July 2011on behalf of the party, refused to comment. He too faces charges under UAPA and was seen beside Gurung on Wednesday.

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