Anit Thapa led an impressive 16km-plus parivartan (change) rally on Saturday from Sonada to Darjeeling and announced that he would not seek votes on the Gorkhaland issue ahead of Bengal polls.

At a public meeting at Darjeeling Motor Stand, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Binay Tamang faction leader said: “It needs courage to say this, but I will not seek votes on the Gorkhaland slogan.”

However, Gorkhaland has been the most important slogan in hill politics for not just Lok Sabha and Assembly elections but also civic polls.

Bimal Gurung, who heads the rival and older Morcha faction, has been rallying for Gorkhaland ever since he started making public appearances recently. Both Morcha factions, however, are now alliances of ruling party Trinamul that is opposed to Gorkhaland.

Thapa stressed the need for “politics of reality” and said hill leaders should stop seeking votes in the name of Gorkhaland.

“If elections are to be won for Gorkhaland we should by now have had 10 Gorkhalands,” said Thapa stressing that elections won on Gorkhaland promises had yielded nothing since late 1980s.

The Morcha leader, however, did a balancing act to say that the “demand (for Gorkhaland) is dear to the hill people” but should be pursued by apolitical and intellectuals.

“Gorkhaland is our mother and we should not allow leaders to auction this demand during elections...apolitical people and intellectuals must pursue this demand with the state and Centre,” Thapa asserted.

Thapa, who has been creating an image of an upfront leader in recent years, said his slogan for elections would be “hamro ghar, hamro matt” (our vote for our houses) which was an attempt to indicate that their election issue would centre around granting land rights for tea garden and cinchona plantation workers. More than 70 percent of the hill population do not have land rights.

“I was, am, and will be working closely with the state government,” added Thapa.

The Tamang-Thapa faction of the Morcha made “naya soch, naya bichar” (new thoughts, new ideas) their theme. Thapa in particular has refrained from attacking rivals in his speeches. But on Saturday, Thapa launched a vitriolic attack against Gurung.

“He (Gurung) can do nothing to me in Kurseong. From today, I will be staying in Darjeeling, I will be a guardian of Darjeeling and I dare Gurung to chase me out of Darjeeling,” said Thapa.

Many believe Thapa’s rally was to counter Gurung’s public meeting in Darjeeling last Sunday. Both drew large crowds.