Subash Ghisingh, one of the tallest leaders of the Gorkha community, was united with his wife a decade after he breathed his last.

The late leader could also bring most of the hill leaders on a common platform on Wednesday, which is a rare sight in hill politics.

The Gorkha Pita Subash Ghisingh Samadhi Nirmal Samiti, avowedly an apolitical forum, unveiled a memorial for Subash Ghisingh and his wife Dhan Kumari Subba (Ghisingh) on Wednesday on the 10th anniversary of Ghisingh’s death at his ancestral place in Manju near Mirik.

Leaders cutting across political lines, right from CPM veteran Asok Bhattacharya and BGPM leader Anit Thapa to TMC leader L.B. Rai and Morcha leader Kishore Bharati, were present at the event.

Ghisingh died on January 29, 2014, at age 78. His wife Dhan Kumari died on August 16, 2008. But workers of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, then Ghisingh’s rivals, had stopped Dhan Kumari’s body from being brought up to Darjeeling from Siliguri for the burial.

The incident was a glaring example of the political animosity that existed in the hills right from the mid-80s until recently.

On Wednesday, Mann Ghisingh, the leader’s son and president of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), the party founded by his father, spoke of the day when he was not allowed to bring his mother’s body to Darjeeling.

GTA chief Anit Thapa and Maan Ghisingh (right) at the memorial ceremony of Subash Ghisingh at Manju Shri Park in Mirik on Wednesday

“I could not bring her to her land. There were questions in my mind on whether I had failed to fulfill my duty as a son. I do not know if the last rites were performed properly in the plains,” said Mann. “The important thing is today she got a place near my father.”

Ghisingh’s last rites were performed at the Manju Park, where the memorial has been set up.

Mann further added: “I had to take my mother’s body back from Zero Point (a place in Kurseong). Only those who have faced such a situation can feel its gravity.”

He added that he felt that his parents had got a “proper respect” on Wednesday.

Ghisingh was forced to leave Darjeeling on July 26, 2008, a day after a Morcha activist was shot dead. The bullet was allegedly fired from the house of a GNLF leader in Darjeeling.

Ghisingh returned to the hills on April 8, 2011, to campaign for GNLF-backed candidates in the Assembly elections but decided to leave Darjeeling in May that year after alleged GNLF supporters killed a Morcha activist in Sonada.

Ghisingh then visited his home in the hills only on March 19, 2014, before the Lok Sabha polls that year.

Despite not letting Ghisingh enter the hills for long periods, Bimal Gurung, the president of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had declared a holiday as a mark of respect after the GNLF leader died.

“As a mark of respect for the late Gorkha leader, Shri Subash Ghisingh, all offices under the GTA will remain closed on Saturday, January 31, 2015,’ Gurung, the then GTA chief had announced.