Ghisingh spent force: Gurung - Morcha chief’s barb comes on day GNLF announces revival of hill committees

Darjeeling, April 18: Bimal Gurung today called Subash Ghisingh a “spent force” in the hills, hours after the ousted hill leader’s party GNLF said it would be revive its branch committees soon. It is not known whether Gurung, who heads the autonomous GTA Sabha, had knowledge of the GNLF’s decision to revive its branch committees, which were once powerful bodies in the hills, but sources in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said the party was watching the GNLF keenly. At a gathering of the Morcha-affiliated Janmukti Asthai Karmachari Sangathan at the Gorkha Rangamanch Bhavan, Gurung said: “I get to hear that some people are trying to organise themselves in various parts of the hills but there is nothing to worry about.” He said: “Ghisingh is a spent force and even his age is against him. Even during the 1986 agitation, 40 per cent of the hill population was with the CPM.... Even then the CPM could do nothing and at this moment, the GNLF too can do nothing in the hills.” In the last few weeks, around 200 Morcha supporters have moved to the GNLF, which has been inactive in the hills since 2008. The numbers may not worry the Morcha but the GNLF’s effort to regroup is a cause of some concern. A senior Morcha leader, on condition of anonymity, said: “Our party president’s speech is a clear indication that the re-emergence of the GNLF is not a comfortable situation. The party has to be on the vigil even though we don’t see the GNLF as an immediate threat.” That the GNLF managed to muster around 5,000 supporters in Simulbari for its foundation day on April 5 would not be lost on the Morcha. Gurung today said Ghisingh practised the “politics of lies”. “We are in the hills now (as a political force). Even though no political person can claim to last forever, we are not like Ghisingh who would only believe in the politics of lies. He dropped the demand for Gorkhaland but continued to say ‘we want Gorkhaland’. The Morcha, has not dropped the statehood demand,” he said. “You (GNLF supporters) could be practical and move with the times.” Hours before Gurung spoke, M.G. Subba, recently appointed the Darjeeling convener of the GNLF, said the party is ready to revive its branch committees in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong within a fortnight. “Many of our supporters are coming out in the open. We have decided to revive the party’s branch committees in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong within a fortnight,” he said here. At the Gorkha Rangamanch Bhavan, Gurung today lamented the lack of work culture among GTA employees but also promised to regularise jobs of the 6,000-odd GTA employees. “If you need work, I too will demand work from you. In these eight months (of running the GTA), I have realised that the work culture is extremely poor...,” he said. “We will soon form a subordinate selection board and we will regularise your jobs.” But administrative sources said that regularising a 6,000-strong work force would not be easy as financial sanction for salaries would have to come from the state.