The News Of Bimal Gurung Possible Return To Darjeeling Spread Like Wildfire On Thursday
Local Television Channels Flashed The News, Phones Buzzed With Whatsapp Messages, While The State Police Reacted By Detaining Two Of His Supporters From The Bagdogra Airport.
Absconding, Since The State Government Brought Numerous Criminal Cases Against Him In Connection With The 104-Day Agitation Between July And September 2017 That Left 13 Dead In The Ensuing Violence, Gurung Had Been The Unchallenged Ruler Of Darjeeling From 2008 To 2017.
His Absence, The BJP Argues, Allowed The Trinamool Congress To Engineer A Split In The Party He Founded And Since Then, His Close Aide Binay Tamang Has Sided With The BJP.
In Many Ways, Darjeeling Is The Final Conquest For Mamata Banerjee In The State. For The Leader Who Has Prime Ministerial Ambitions, This Remains A Seat She Has Never Won.
Even In The 2016 Assembly Election, Of The Six Seats That Constitute Darjeeling’s Lok Sabha Seat, The Banerjee-Led Trinamool Congress Won Only One, And Even That Was In An Adjacent District In The Plains.
Key To All Of This Is Gurung. And BJP’s Lok Sabha Candidate Raju Bista (Supported By Gurung’s Faction) Admitted That His Campaigning In The Hills Would Be A “Major Victory”.
For The BJP, Meanwhile, The Seat Is Equally Important. With The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)’S Support, 2009 Saw Former Cabinet Minister Jaswant Sinha Being Elected As MP, While In 2014, Union Minister SS Ahluwalia Was Voted In.
However, Ahluwalia’s Absence During The 104-Day Agitation, Combined With His Purported Comments About Residents Being ‘Born In Nepal’, Have Left The BJP Vastly Unpopular.
The Origins Of Bimal Gurung
In 1979, The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Led By Subash Ghising Launched A Struggle For Self-Determination And, At The Time, Didn’t Rule Out Full Secession From India If Self-Rule, Separate From West Bengal, Wasn’t Conceded.
The Decade-Long Struggle Eventually Led To The Formation Of The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) In 1988, Aimed At Ensuring Territorial Autonomy Over Three Sub-Divisions In The District With Ghising At Its Helm.
Born To Tea Garden Workers, Gurung Did Menial Jobs While Growing Up To Help Is Family Until Joining The Armed Struggle By The GNLF In 1986 And Becoming A Member Of The Gorkha Volunteers Cell As A 22-Year-Old.
Meanwhile, The DGHC Was Marred By Allegations Of Mismanagement And Corruption And It Was Eventually The Issue Of The Sixth Schedule — A Constitutional Provision For Fast Development Of Tribal Areas By Setting Up Autonomous Regional Councils Authorised To Take Legislative Decisions Independently — That Eventually Acted As The Catalyst For Gurung’s Rise.
He Was Expelled From The GNLF On October 7, 2007, Which In Turn Led Him To Form The GJM.
In His Book, “Gorkhaland: Crisis Of Statehood”, Journalist Romit Bagchi Argues That The “Singular Quality” That Allowed Gurung To Replace Ghising’s Leadership Was "His Invincible Loyalty To The Paramount Cause Of The Community" — The Demand For Statehood.
Gurung Argued, At The Time, That The Sixth Schedule Was Simply A Ploy To Weaken The Demand For Autonomy By The CPI(M).
The Winter Session Of Parliament Was Scheduled To Begin From November And The CPI(M), Through Its Minister Ashok Bhattacharjee And Rajya Sabha MP Suraj Pathak Issued A Statement Publicising That The Sixth Schedule Bill Would Be Placed And Passed In The Same Session.
On The Day The Session Began, The Newly Formed GJM Took To The Streets, Burning Copies Of The Memorandum Settlements Made Between The State Government, Union Government And Subash Ghising, The GNLF Chief At The Time.
A Team Of GJM Leaders Would Go On To Meet Sushma Swaraj, The Chairperson Of The Parliamentary Standing Committee, And Leader Of Opposition LK Advani.
Eventually, The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-Led CPI(M) Government Found Itself In A Fix Over The Bill After The BJP Refused To Back The Legislation, With Advani Reminding Home Minister Shivraj Patil That Cooperation Couldn’t Be Expected At A Time When Congress President Sonia Gandhi Had Described The Saffron Party As ‘Merchants Of Death’ In Gujarat.
Bhattacharjee, It Was Widely Reported, Had Rushed To Advani’s Residence To Try And Seek The BJP’s Support.
#Bimal Gurung Return
#BJP Support
#GNLF
Welcome To our channel Today News.
For all the latest and worldwide news, please do subscribe our channel.We promote any other brand or channel.
Growing by subscribe, like, comment & share.
TODAY NEWS WhatsApp Group Invite - https://goo.gl/twSLDv
TODAY NEWS Google Plus - https://goo.gl/dArpF5
TODAY NEWS Blogspot - https://goo.gl/VQxshV
TODAY NEWS Twitter - https://goo.gl/GRnFvG
TODAY NEWS Pinterest - https://goo.gl/XRLgQj
TODAY NEWS Instagram - https://goo.gl/YUUxGm
No comments:
Post a Comment