CALCUTTA, 6 May 2004 — In a sudden volte-face, Subhash Ghisingh, the uncrowned king of Darjeeling, has thrown his weight behind the Congress Party leaving the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the lurch ahead of the May 10 elections. Ghisingh’s turnaround followed a telephonic conversation with Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Five days before polling in West Bengal, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief has issued an official decree to hill voters to “press the button with the Congress’ hand symbol”.
Despite Ghisingh’s turnaround, it is impossible to predict the outcome of the contest between Congress Party’s Dawa Narbula and CPI(M)’s Moni Thapa for the prestigious Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. Since the formation of the autonomous Darjeeling Gorkhaland Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988, Ghisingh twice helped Congress-backed nominee Inder Jit to win in 1989 and 1991.
But in 1996, 1998 and 1999, Ghisingh helped CPI(M) candidates to win by asking his supporters to boycott the elections on one pretext or the other. Because of the boycott call, barely 12 percent of Darjeeling’s five lakh voters cast their votes in 1996, 1998 and 1999, highlighting the power of the GNLF in the Darjeeling seat.
The CPI(M) had taken victory of its candidate, Thapa, for granted until Ghisingh’s surprise as electioneering entered the most decisive phase in the Left Front-ruled state.
Ghisingh’s signed press release extending unconditional support to the Congress candidate recalls the “old relationship between the hill people and Congress Party”. Significantly, the release stated that GNLF still banked on the Congress for the creation of a “separate state of Gorkhaland”.
West Bengal Congress Party chief Pranab Mukherjee said that Ghisingh’s decree would ensure Narbula’s victory. “We welcome Ghisingh’s decision which is the outcome of his structured talks with senior Congress leader Buta Singh”, Mukherjee said.
Interestingly, when Buta Singh flew to Darjeeling recently, many thought that he was hunting for a safe seat for himself or for Priyanka Gandhi. Neither the Darjeeling unit of the CPI(M) nor the state leadership has reacted to Ghisingh’s volte-face.
The election, staggered over three weeks to allow security forces to move from one hot spot to another, has failed to fire the enthusiasm of many of 670 million eligible voters.
