In 2017, the Trinamul Congress had scripted history in the Darjeeling hills by bagging the Mirik municipality riding on the land rights issue.

It was the first time that Trinamul won any election of significance in the hills.

Six years down the line, Trinamul leaders are enthusiastic that they will replicate the success in panchayat elections by taking forward the same issue.

Trinamul is in alliance with Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BPGM) and the two parties are expected to jointly fight the rural polls that are scheduled to be held in the hills this year after a gap of 20 years.

BGPM president Anit Thapa, who is also the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), had announced on Thursday that the Bengal government would start the process of conducting land surveys to provide pattas to workers of tea gardens in the hills. Thapa made the announcement a day after he had met chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta.

“The decision to grant land rights to workers of tea estates is a big political achievement for Trinamul in the hills. This is more than the achievement of any development project,” said L.B. Rai, the administrator of Mirik municipality and also the chairman of the Trinamul Congress (hills).

Nearly 70 per cent of the hill people do not have land rights.

It was under Rai’s leadership that Trinamul bagged six of a total of nine wards in 2017. Rai was also elected the civic chairman. After the municipality’s term ended, Rai has been serving as the administrator.

Leaders of both Trinamul and the BGPM are confident that once the state government starts distributing land rights to tea garden workers, the alliance will gain momentum in rural areas. “I would like to advise that we conduct a detailed land survey so that not a single family is left out. It does not matter if two to three months are taken to complete the survey,” said Rai.

GTA chief Thapa had said pattas would be distributed to eligible people very soon. Sources said efforts were being taken to make sure that some pattas were delivered to hill tea garden workers when the chief minister would visit Siliguri on February 21.

“The hill population is by and large discussing now the efforts to grant land rights. It is indeed a huge achievement. You can notice that rival political leaders have not come up with any response to the announcement (of starting the land survey),” said a BGPM leader.

All hill-based political parties have been demanding land rights for the past two decades. “Most parties are aware that the land rights issue could have a major political impact on the coming rural polls and hence, they are treading carefully on the issue,” said an observer.

Trinamul had won the Mirik civic body in 2017 though the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had coined the “Gorkhaland versus Bengal” slogan for the elections. The Morcha was the dominant force in the hills then.

“Of the nine wards in Mirik, residents of only two wards had land rights then,” said the observer.

Trinamul had promised land rights to all eligible people in the elections and the party fulfilled the assurance.