With Subash Ghisingh - whose political writ ruled over the Darjeeling hills for more than two decades till nearly three years go - breaking his silence in the plains of north Bengal last week on developments in the hills, the forthcoming talks between representatives of the Centre, the West Bengal Government and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leadership has suddenly assumed added significance.
Mr. Ghisingh, supremo of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), had been virtually forced to leave Darjeeling and go into political exile in July 2008 by his one-time protege, Bimal Gurung, the president of the GJM that dominates today's political landscape in the hills. Over time the two leaders have become arch rivals
New twist
Even as the GJM prepares for the political-level talks scheduled to be held on March 18, Mr. Ghisingh's warning that the entire hills “will face a volcanic situation” if the Centre, the State Government and “any political party of Darjeeling” settle for anything less than Sixth Schedule status for the region has given a new twist to political developments in the region.
His remarks come ahead of the talks and at a time when the buzz is that Mr. Gurung has sent a proposal to the Centre for an interim administrative arrangement till 2011 as a step towards the creation of a separate “Gorkhaland” state to be carved out of Darjeeling district and certain areas contiguous to it in north Bengal. The question doing the rounds in local political circles is whether the GNLF is staging a comeback in a region where it has been marginalised ever since the ascendancy of the GJM whose leadership includes several once closely associated with Mr. Ghisingh.
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