The panchayat polls are more than two weeks away but the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) on Thursday organised a victory celebration in Darjeeling.
The BGPM felicitated the party’s 51 gram panchayat members and 10 panchayat samiti members who won their seats uncontested in the hills.
There are 879 gram panchayat seats and 232 panchayat samiti constituencies in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) area where the two-tier rural polls are scheduled for July 8.
The celebration was grand. All the 61 members were invited to the stage at the packed Rink Hall of Darjeeling Gymkhana Club. Each of them was garlanded and gifted a memento for the win. There were songs and dances, too.
BGPM general secretary Amar Lama said the event had been conceived just a day ago. “Before we all go out for campaigning, we thought of meeting centrally and also felicitating our candidates who won uncontested,” said Lama.
Observers, however, believe that given the scale of the celebration on Thursday, the event was a well-thought-out strategy by the BGPM. “The programme was definitely a mind game. The way the celebration was organised and the winners felicitated will definitely play on the minds of the public. Moreover, the party also controls the GTA,” said an observer.
Speaking at the event, BGPM president and GTA chief executive AnitThapa played on the BJP’sperceived stand against regional interests.
“I request Ajoy bhai and Bimal daju to save regionalism. We might be contesting against each other but we are all local parties. The BJP is trampling upon regionalism...,” said Thapa.
The Hamro Party helmed by Ajoy Edwards and the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have joined hands with the BJP to take on the BGPM and the Trinamul Congress which are in an unofficial alliance for the rural elections.
Thapa was taking a dig at the BJP, a party which fielded most candidates among the constituents of the United Gorkha Alliance.
“The BJP is only trying to occupy our political space. If the BJP states in the manifesto that the party will grant Gorkhaland if it wins the panchayat elections, I will ask all my candidates to pull out of the contest,” said Thapa, adding that the BJP had converted the Gorkhaland demand into a “permanent political solution” over the years.
The BJP had promised a “permanent political solution” for the hills in the manifesto for the 2019 general election.
Thapa also reached out to the GNLF. “This is the land of Gorkhas, for which Subash Ghisingh’s contribution is immense. We need to protect our land,” said Thapa.
The BGPM leader admitted that his party was working closely with Trinamul but added that the ally respected regionalism. “It is also a fact that Trinamul is respecting regionalism. They never interfered in the seat-sharing issue or election decisions,” said Thapa.
Edwards said: “We all know how they (BGPM) managed to win the seats uncontested.... They are in alliance with a party that trampled upon Gorkhas. You (Thapa) leave Trinamul, we will then work together.”