The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has decided to hold a public meeting in Darjeeling after a gap of three years with the promise to make it a “rally with a difference”.

Ajoy Edwards, president of the GNLF, Darjeeling branch committee, said that the party had last held a public meeting in Darjeeling on January 29, 2018, to commemorate the third death anniversary of their leader Subash Ghisingh.

“We are holding a public meeting in Darjeeling on January 31 after a gap of three years and are expecting a footfall of more than 10,000,” said Edwards.

On the “rally with a difference”, Edwards said: “We will adopt the servant politician philosophy.” Explaining it, he said party leaders would not be on stage but would be seated among supporters. Also, GNLF leaders are planning to stress on their “vision for Darjeeling” rather than attacking other parties.

The meeting at Darjeeling Motor Stand is scheduled at 10am and will start with a musical program with singers and musicians affiliated to the party performing.

Mann Ghisingh, the president of GNLF, Neeraj Zimba, Darjeeling MLA, Mahendra Chhetri, party general secretary and Edwards would be the keynote speakers at the meeting.

Other political parties and particularly two factions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which are headed by Bimal Gurung and Binay Tamang have been holding non-stop meetings in the hills for the past month.

GNLF, however, said it does not believe in public meetings. “Instead of lecturing the public, we prefer to spend time visiting people at villages and interacting with them, an exercise we are continuously conducting,” said Edwards. “Nevertheless, in electoral politics, it seems sometimes one has to engage in a show of strength,” he added.

Stressing on person-to-person interaction, Edwards said that the Darjeeling public meeting would not be followed by public meetings in Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik, as is the norm with other political parties. “Moreover we do not have huge funds to hold back-to-back public meetings,” said Edwards.

The party, which was the dominant force in hill politics from 1986 to 2008, is now trying to come up with a new image with a new set of leadership. The BJP counts it among its hill allies.

Many in the hills believe that in the present political atmosphere the majority of the hill people are silent in their preference.

“Our focus will be to reach the ‘silent majority’,” said Edwards. “We are also looking at mobilising more people from Darjeeling town.”