The legacy of Subash Ghisingh brought about a rare bonhomie between hill arch-rivals, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF)

Senior GNLF leaders, including current Darjeeling MLA Neeraj Zimba and former Darjeeling MLA N.B.Chhetri, along with other central committee leaders, met Anit Thapa, the chief executive Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and the president of the BGPM, at Pintail village in Siliguri on Tuesday.

The GNLF wants to set up a memorial of their party leader Subash Ghisingh and is also looking at renaming Manju Park near Mirik after Ghisingh.

Ghisingh was born at the Manju tea garden on June 22, 1936, and died on January 29, 2015.

“We had a long discussion on this issue and the late Subash Ghisingh is an icon of our (Gorkha) community. If we do not safeguard our icon, who will?” said Thapa.

"Setting up a memorial and renaming a park is an administrative issue. I have given them (the GNLF delegation) a positive response. The memorial will definitely be constructed,” the GTA chief stated, hinting that the hill body is looking to taking forward the construction work.

The GNLF also reciprocated Thapa’s gesture.

"Our discussion with the Hon’ble chief executive was both meaningful and profoundly constructive, marked by mutual respect and a shared vision for the preservation of Gorkha heritage. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Shri Anit Thapa....” stated Zimba's written statement.

Early this year, during the birth anniversary celebrations of poet Bhanubhakta Acharya, Thapa announced that the hill body would give away an award to a prominent citizen named after Ghisingh during the leader’s birth anniversary from next year onwards.

Ghisingh is arguably one of the tallest politicians in the Darjeeling hills, whose brand of identity politics still controls the narrative in the region.

He had formed the GNLF on April 5, 1980, and raised the demand for Gorkhaland, thus bringing identity politics to the fore in the hills.

Following a violent 28-month-long agitation that started in 1986, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) was formed in 1988. This was the first such administrative body in India.

In 2001, Ghisingh started demanding the upgrade of the DGHC to a body under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. But his protégé Bimal Gurung opposed Ghisingh and the Sixth Schedule status. Ghisingh resigned from the DGHC in 2008.

The GTA has also named the Rohini Road, the most frequently used road to travel from Siliguri to Darjeeling, as the Subash Ghisingh Marg. However, it is more popular as Rohini Road.