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Darjeeling unrest: Did Bimal Gurung misread people's patience?

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Arindam De
Arindam DeSep 21, 2017 | 20:46

Darjeeling unrest: Did Bimal Gurung misread people's patience?

It is not clear what exactly is happening in Darjeeling. Alleged GJM supporters attacked a school bus about a week ago, there were clashes after GJM supporters tried to enforce the bandh in the hill station.

Enforce? Did I say enforce? But is the demand for Gorkhaland not a very popular one? Are the locals totally not in favour of a separate state or area?

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Again the answer is yes. But realpolitik is a strange game with stranger rules. Popular support is one thing, and over three months of enforced shutdown is quite another issue. Normal livelihood gets affected, business suffers, incomes go down and people start to lose their patience. It has got nothing to do with the real cause getting alienated, at least not in the short-term.

The cause is close to the heart of the Gorkhas and it is a fight for identity rather than any concerted attempt to divide. But public patience has a limit, probably the GJM leaders didn't calculate it.

Perhaps the West Bengal chief minister did. Sometimes doing nothing is the best you can do. Certain situations demand political patience. Probably Mamata Banerjee was right in light of the emerging scenario. She had let the enforced shutdown to play on the patience of the people. The lack of aggressive response from the state police and administration and keeping the doors open for negotiations has not done her popularity any harm.

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Image: PTI photo

The negotiations have eroded Gurung's standing - competitors have emerged from within his organisation. Some tea gardens have restarted production on the back of assurances given by the state government. Probably Gurung got the economics behind his politics wrong.

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The hills are witness to negative politics for the past three-odd decades. They have seen life coming to a grinding halt at the merest suggestion of their leaders. The public toe the line - partly due to political agreement and partly due to fear. This type of politics has severely damaged the two main pillars on which the economy of the hills rest - tea gardens and tourism.

Did Bimal Gurung misread people's patience?

How should this situation be handled? One line of thought is that the pressure on the GJM leaders should be maintained, especially the more radical ones. Negotiations should remain open and the state should show real understanding of the issues facing the public at large. This is a golden chance for Mamata Banerjee to, once and for all, end the negativity cultivated in the hills about the plains and the political and administrative circles in Kolkata.

There is a chance for the state to emerge as the champion of the people, a strategy that both Subhas Ghising and Gurung had once used to claim the hills. Is it time to reclaim the hills? Probably yes.

Will the state show pragmatism? Only time will tell.

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Last updated: September 22, 2017 | 11:53
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