By IANS,
Darjeeling : With the Election Commission keeping a close watch, the “fear” that affected most parties’ campaigning in the 2009 general elections seems to have dissipated as the picturesque Darjeeling hills in northern West Bengal gear up for the assembly elections April 18.
Campaigning is on in full swing, with the major parties organising rallies, road shows and door to door canvassing for their candidates in all the three hill constituencies – Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
The tourist town of Darjeeling, with its majestic mall that draws people from the world over, is bustling with activity as posters and banners dot the landscape.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, there were allegations that the hills’ pre-dominant pro-Gorkhaland outfit Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) had created a fear psychosis which prevented other parties from launching an all-out campaign to woo the voters.
Leaders of opposition parties, who had fled from the hills apprehending atrocities by the Bimal Gurung-led GJM, are now returning to Darjeeling and carrying on election campaign “without any hindrance”, with the Darjeeling district administration keeping vigil to prevent any untoward incidents.
Even Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief Subash Ghising, who fled the hills about three years back for the plains of neighbouring Jalpaiguri district following threats from the GJM, returned to his Darjeeling home last week.
Ghising held a public rally in Mirik Saturday and is slated to address a meeting in Darjeeling town Wednesday.
“A separate state is not the solution to the problem of the hills, the only solution is the Sixth Schedule,” he said, virtually speaking against Gorkhaland, a cause the GJM espouses strongly.
GNLF candidate from Kalimpong constituency in Darjeeling sub-division, Prakash Dahal said he was able to campaign for his party without any fear.
“Earlier, there was an environment of fear but now the situation has improved. The fear psychosis is now receding. No one is creating any hurdles in our campaign in Kalimpong,” Dahal told IANS during canvassing.
“People are supporting us. Our sole demand is the Sixth Schedule,” he added.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate from Darjeeling K.B. Wattar said: “We are campaigning door to door. We are demanding restoration of democracy in Darjeeling. It should be given an autonomous council with more powers. But if Darjeeling comes under Sixth Schedule, then we have no problem. Gorkhaland is not the solution to the problem of the hills.”
“We are conveying our demands to the people. Nobody is causing any trouble,” he added.
Bharati Tamang, widow of slain Akhil Bharatiya Gokha League (ABJL) president Madan Tamang, said: “We are demanding Gorkhaland and punishment for those who murdered Madan Tamang.”
Bharati, who has succeeded her husband as party chief after he was stabbed to death allegedly by GJM supporters May 21 last year, is in the fray from Darjeeling.
She also said that she was facing no problem while carrying out the campaign.
But there is a feeling that the hills may again return to chaos and unrest after April 18.
The apprehension stems from Gurung’s threat that the people of the hills will again force Ghising to leave his house after the polls.
“Ghising has a visa to stay in the hills till April 18, the day of polling here,” Gurung said, addressing a meeting at Mirik Sunday, the morning after the GNLF chief’s rally.
Darjeeling district Left Front has demanded Gurung’s arrest for allegedly threatening Ghising.
CPI-M state committee member Jibesh Sarkar said the party will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission soon.
The GNLF has already filed a complaint against Gurung with the district magistrate of Darjeeling.
The GNLF had spearheaded the demand for Gorkhaland from the mid-1980s to early 2008, when it was sidelined by the more militant GJM.