Binay Tamang has been appointed as the general secretary of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) and the “in-charge of the hills”, which clearly shows the party’s intent to make a comeback in Darjeeling politics after lying low for several years.
“I express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to the entire Congress leadership for believing in me and appointing me as the general secretary of the WBPCC and the sole in-charge of the Darjeeling hills,” Tamang told The Telegraph over the phone from Delhi.
Tamang who left the Trinamul Congress and joined the Congress in November is currently in Delhi to meet leaders of his party.
The new roles of Tamang, a prominent leader from Darjeeling who had triggered a split in Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2017, shows a clear intent of the Congress to revive the party’s base in the hills.
“I discussed various issues related to Gorkhas with the Congress leadership. The region should get constitutional and political justice,” said Tamang.
The Congress was once a formidable force in the Darjeeling hills until the rise of Subash Ghisingh’s Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) which elbowed out all national parties from the core of hill politics.
Ghisingh started controlling the hill politics after he launched the Gorkhaland agitation in 1986. In 1988, Ghisingh accepted the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) when the Congress was in power at the Centre.
After the formation of the DGHC, the Congress shared a cordial relationship with the GNLF with both the parties throwing their weight behind an independent candidate Indrajit Khullar in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the 1989 general election.
In the 1991 Lok Sabha polls, Khullar was given a Congress ticket and won the Darjeeling seat for the second consecutive term with the GNLF's support.
Again in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Ghisingh had supported Congress candidate Dawa Narbula who won the Darjeeling seat despite its poor organisational strength in the hills.
“The Congress organisation is in disarray in the Darjeeling hills but with the induction of Tamang, the party is hoping to rebuild its base," said an observer.
Tamang said: “I request all my Congress friends to forget our differences and disagreements and let us unite to make the party strong and stable.”
He is an elected member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha.
Of late, Tamang has been highlighting the fact that it was the Congress-led central government that delivered for the Gorkhas.
“The DGHC was formed when the Congress was in power at the Centre. The GTA, too, was formed during the Congress rule. The language (Nepali) was recognised in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution when the Congress was in power,” said Tamang, hinting that the BJP which had won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat for three consecutive terms had failed to deliver on its promises.
