The BJP’s hill ally, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), on Sunday questioned
the sincerity of the BJP towards the Gorkhas after the party’s demand for a Padma award for the late GNLF founder Subash Ghisingh went unheard.

The GNLF has for long been demanding a posthumous Padma award for Ghisingh who led the Gorkhaland agitation in 1986 and ruled the hills until 2008 as the “undisputed king”.

Union home minister Amit Shah had written to Neeraj Zimba, the GNLF secretary-general who had won the Darjeeling Assembly election on a BJP ticket, on January 6 acknowledging the GNLF’s demand for a Padma Bhushan for Ghisingh.

“I am in receipt of your letter dated December 20, 2024 where you have requested that Late Subash Ghisingh be conferred Padma Bhushan posthumously,” Shah’s letter to Zimba stated.

The letter had raised hopes in the region. However, when the awards were announced on the eve of Republic Day, Ghisingh’s name was absent.

“This is not just an insult to Subash Ghisingh but a disregard for the identity, contribution and sacrifices of the Indian Gorkhas as a whole,” stated Zimba.

Ghisingh is considered among the tallest leaders of Indian Gorkhas to have raised the community’s identity issue.

“The BJP Government must introspect and answer: If You cannot honour the leader who laid the foundation of Gorkhas’ political aspirations, how can you ever claim to fulfill the promises made to our people?” Zimba’s written statement read.

From the Gorkha community, Gita Upadhyay, a Nepali author from Assam, and Naren Gurung, a folk artist from Sikkim, received the Padma Shri this year.

From Darjeeling, author and teacher Nagendra Nath Roy received the Padma Shri.