Mamata Banerjee has taken a calculated risk by deciding to nominate star footballer Baichung Bhutia as the Trinamool Congress candidate in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. She did not consult Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung before the nomination. Predictably GJM has reacted sharply and refused to support Baichung. On the face of it, Baichung’s chances look slim as, ever since the rise of Subash Ghisingh in the hill areas of West Bengal, the Darjeeling seat has always gone to the candidate who has got the support of the dominant party in the hills, on the strength of votes in the three assembly constituencies in the hills, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
For the first time, however, GJM is facing the spectre of split votes in the hills. For, the Tamang Youth Association has announced its support for Trinamool. The Tamangs are a populous community and if the youth association can garner support of a section of them for the Trinamool candidate, the going may be difficult for GJM. Besides, as Trinamool has calculated, Baichung’s charisma would influence youths of Darjeeling, where he has held soccer coaching camps. Baichung is also likely to get popular support in the four assembly segments in Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat – Matigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri, Phansidewa and Chopra – in the plains which are dominated by Bengalis. Nearly 800,000 votes are in these four assembly seegments, as against 600,000 in the three segments in the hills.
It goes to the credit of Mamata Banerjee that she has won the confidence of communities like Tamangs and Lepchas by announcing development boards for them, but the realpolitik that she has engaged in may be a short-sighted move. It will leave GJM with little option but either to support BJP in the Darjeeling seat or to field its own independent candidate. It may think that aligning with BJP would help it in furthering the demand for Gorkhaland in future, as BJP’s chance to form the government in Delhi now looks bright. If it fields its own candidate, it would surely be on the statehood plank. Either way, the Bengal chief minister might again have to deal with the Gorkhaland demand after the polls
