When it comes to general elections in the country, the Darjeeling parliamentary seat has always drawn attention in North Bengal. The area or constituency being a conglomerate of the plains and the hills, the voters divided over the demand of the Gorkhas vis-a-vis the Gorkhaland state to be carved out of West Bengal, this time too has been the seat which is most talked about.
Having said that in the last parliamentary election Jaswant Singh the BJP nomine for the seat managed an easy win and despite the CPIM giving a first-class fight, for the observers it had been an easy guess to them before the polls as to who would win. The BJP then had also promised to look into the Gorkha demand ‘sympathetically’. The voters convinced then showered blindly with their votes to Jaswant.
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Even before the first vote is to be casted, people here have got a reason not to believe the BJP and its ally the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The anecdote is fast changing with barely two weeks remaining for the region to go to polls. The politics of winning the game is fast changing with Bhaichung Bhutia meeting Subash Ghisingh, the king who once ruled the hills and turned the table with his gracious googlies.
The politics of double mouthing is what the hill voters are looking into and that could foil things for both BJP and its backing partner the GJM. The danger however interestingly for some could be that the king has come to the hills hungry to conquer its place of pride.
BY VIVEK GHATANI – Indian Gorkhas Exclusive
