Munish Tamang, the Congress candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, started his election campaign on Thursday with a question that resonates across the hills.

“So Darjeeling, how did the past 15 years turn out to be, what did you achieve?” was the stirring opening remark of Tamang in his first public address in Darjeeling as a Congress candidate.

“Today, it is the time to think about it (the 15 years),” said Tamang, adding that the hills had patiently waited for the fulfilment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises but in vain.

Modi had in his previous election campaigns said the “dreams of Gorkhas were his dream” and the process to grant tribal status to 11 hill communities had started.

The BJP has won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat for three consecutive terms since 2009. This year, BJP candidate Raju Bista is being supported by several parties, including the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, the BJP had promised a “permanent political solution (PPS)” and tribal status to the 11 hill communities.

“During this term, the BJP could not even define the PPS. They could not even initiate talks on the issue,” said Tamang on Thursday.

The Congress is supported by the Left Front and Darjeeling-based Hamro Party (HP). Leaders of the INDIA bloc like Ajoy Edwards, who is the president of the HP, former CPM Rajya Sabha member Saman Pathak and Congress leader Shankar Malakar were present at P. Koti — the headquarters of the Hamro Party at Chowrasta — where Tamang addressed supporters before filing his nominations.

The Congress candidate has said the start is small but every big river has a small humble beginning. The Congress had last won the Darjeeling seat in 2004 but that was largely because of the support of the then-predominant party of the hills, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).

Tamang reminded the hill population that it was the Congress that was instrumental in addressing hill issues.

“It was during the Congress rule that the DGHC was formed, the Nepali language was recognised, the Sixth Schedule agreement was arrived at and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) came into existence. The BJP has done nothing,” said Tamang.