Ending ten years of its association with the BJP-led NDA, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Binay Tamang has informed West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of his party’s preparedness to join a ‘third-party’ alliance, The Telegraph has reported.
In a letter to the chief minister, the party sought to ‘officially communicate’ that it was pulling out of its association with the NDA and of its willingness to combine with the third-party alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in May.
Such a move can affect the outcome of the results in north Bengal, in at least four seats, including Darjeeling. Tipped as a seat which can only be won with the Morcha’s backing, it has allowed the BJP a foothold in the region since 2009.
The newspaper quoted a source reflecting the sentiments of the people, saying that the BJP had failed to deliver. It has let down the ‘hill people’ and had stayed ‘silent during the last agitation’. Though the workers in tea and cinchona gardens have lived in the plantations they work in for more than a hundred years, they do not enjoy any ‘patta’ or land rights. The Morcha wants such land rights to be granted to the workers. Should the chief minister take up the matter, the third-party alliance will stand to gain not only in Darjeeling but also in Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Raiganj.
Other demands of the Morcha includes ensuring tribal status for eleven communities, linguistic minority status for Nepali language and access to benefits from the Union ministry of development of northeastern region (Doner).
Recently in Kolkata to attend the Brigade rally with the Morcha general secretary Anit Thapa, this move of the Morcha distancing itself from the NDA has not come as a surprise to many – especially with the change in its leadership with Binay Tamang becoming the party president.
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