Morcha’s Rahapal joins Trinamul - Ruling party to capitalise on exodus for rural polls

July 8: Pravin Rahapal, who was a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha central committee member, has joined Trinamul protesting Bimal Gurung’s alleged move to dump the demand for Gorkhaland. Along with Rahapal, about 500 of his supporters from the Morcha also joined Trinamul.

Rahapal and most of his supporters are from Kalimpong, a place where Trinamul has been trying to gain a toehold because the Morcha’s grip on this subdivision is perceived to be weaker than in Darjeeling. The state’s ruling party has decided to mobilise Rahapal and all leaders, who have left the Morcha and joined Trinamul in recent months in the hills and the plains, to campaign for Trinamul candidates for the panchayat polls in the Dooars. Rahapal and his supporters joined Trinamul at a programme at Gairibas in Kalimpong subdivision yesterday evening. He had been a frontline leader of the Morcha since its inception in 2007. “During the Gorkhaland movement, Bimal Gurung and his leaders kept on saying they did not want GTA but a separate state. They, however, ditched the people of the hills by accepting the GTA Sabha and got their family members and relatives elected to the autonomous body. Given the degeneration of the Morcha and the recent lackadaisical attitude of the party, I have decided to join the ruling party of the state which has an agenda of development,” Rahapal said at the event. “My decision to resign from the Morcha and join Trinamul is a protest against the undemocratic functioning of the hill party,” he added. Gairibas is around 35km from Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri. At the programme, K.N. Subba, the vice-president of Darjeeling hill Trinamul, handed over a party flag to Rahapal. Subba, who left the GNLF to join Trinamul recently, said the Morcha president was trying to regain the lost ground in the Dooars by raising the demand for the inclusion of 391 more mouzas in the GTA. “The Morcha leaders have failed to work for the development of the Terai and the Dooars. Trinamul has acted in a consistent manner to expedite development in these areas, leading to the erosion of the Morcha base. A number of top leaders of the Morcha in the plains and the hills joined Trinamul,” he said. “In a desperate attempt to stem the flow of the Morcha supporters to Trinamul, Gurung was touring the Dooars and trying to create tension by raking up the demand to bring the mouzas there under the GTA. Trinamul leaders and the chief minister have made it clear that Darjeeling will continue to be a part of Bengal and there will be no further partition of the state,” Subba said. The Morcha has lost a number of leaders to Trinamul in recent months. Among them were Padam Lama, a central committee member of the Morcha and the convenor of the party’s Dooars committee, and Kalchini MLA Wilson Champramari. In Kalimpong, leaders like Namita Gautam deserted the Morcha and joined Trinamul. Rajen Mukhia, a Trinamul leader from Panighata in Kurseong, said: “The Morcha leaders have joined Trinamul after realising the sincerity of Mamata Banerjee to develop the hills and the plains alike. The Morcha, on the other hand, has failed to meet people’s aspirations through the GTA and is now renewing old demands like the inclusion of the plains mouzas in the autonomous body. Such attempts would not serve the purpose.” Trinamul has decided to capitalise on the influx of the Morcha leaders to its advantage in the rural polls. “North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb is canvassing for Trinamul candidates in the Dooars. The chief minister and other leaders of Trinamul will also campaign and convince the voters that Gurung is whipping up passions in the Dooars by harping on about the demand for the inclusion of 391 mouzas in the GTA. Leaders like Padam Lama, Pravin Rahapal, Rajen Mukhia, Namita Gautam and several others who have deserted Bimal Gurung’s party and joined Trinamul will campaign in the Dooars,” said Subba. The move, observers said, could be effective for Trinamul to win more votes. “First of all, there is a problem for Trinamul leaders with regard to language. A state minister from Calcutta can come and address the people in Bengali or Hindi, but a short speech in Gorkha by a former Morcha leader can prove more effective to woo voters in rural pockets and tea gardens,” said an observer. “Further, the ex-Morcha leaders can counter the claims of Bimal Gurung than anyone else.”