Hamro Party a New Factor in Darjeeling

Kolkata: The scheduled formation of Darjeeling municipal board on Tuesday, March 15 may well prove to be the harbinger of a qualitative change in West Bengal’s hill politics,which has been marked by violence, intense rivalry and fragmentation all these years.

This will be possible because the election on February 27 to the 32-ward Darjeeling Municipality, formed by the British in 1850, was a neat affair and it produced after counting on March 2 a clear verdict for Hamro Party (Our Party) launched less than four months back on November 25, 2021, under the leadership of ex-Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader Ajay Edwards, who owns the fabled Glenary’s restaurant and bakery and who has a record of social service under the aegis of Edwards Foundation.

The Hamro Party bagged 18 wards. Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha won in nine wards. Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, which are in an informal alliance, secured three and two wards respectively.

Interestingly, Hamro Party’s founder Edwards lost in ward 22 to a GJM nominee by just five votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party and GNLF, which have a tie-up, drew blanks.

What should augur well for the Darjeeling municipal board is that Gurung and Thapa have gone on record saying that they accepted the people’s verdict; they would extend full cooperation to the Hamro Party to discharge its responsibilities and hope it will fulfil the promises it has made to the people. Significantly, TMC supremo and state’s chief minister has said “these hill politicians are our friends”. Interestingly, the state government’s support was also pledged by Gurung’s former aide and later a GJM faction leader Binay Tamang, who began the “third innings of his political career” by joining TMC on December 24, 2021.

Edwards, on his part, has said the Hamro Party means business. It will not tolerate corruption and disruption. It is committed to offering quality civic services to the people. In its way, the party will see to it that Darjeeling returns to responsible, peaceful political activity. And, as if to further clarify his political stance, he added after his party’s decisive victory: Hamro Party will stay independent of state and national parties in power.

NewsClick’s conversation with several sources on the electoral success of the Hamro Party revealed voters did take Edwards’ assurances seriously and his family-promoted Foundation’s record of social and welfare services had motivated them to give him a chance. He also told the people that if given a chance he would enlist the cooperation of other parties represented in the civic body for administering municipal affairs.

A founding member of Hamro Party Samir Sharma told NewsClick people were sick of the politics of defection, disruption and violence. There was a yearning for change. People took into consideration Edwards’ record of community services during the COVID-19 phase when treatment of about 100 persons in an isolation centre equipped with oxygen support was arranged by his Foundation. The party’s task at the moment is to select a chairman for the municipal board and distribute functional responsibilities.

Senior hill politician and chairman of Jan Andolon Party, Harka Bahadur Chhetri told NewsClick it would be interesting to see how Hamro Party, which is not yet a “regular party, as we understand it, conducts municipal affairs. People’s expectations are too high. Edwards is certainly known for social work but on that basis, it is difficult to predict how effectively the civic body will be run, Chhetri contended.

GNLF’s secretary-general Neeraj Zimba, who won the last Assembly election from Darjeeling on a BJP ticket, described the electoral performance as a collective failure of BJP and his party. Darjeeling secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Saman Pathak is of the view that the state government may seek to control the affairs of the municipality; it appears to be an outsourcing arrangement at the moment. Pathak informed that the Left Front partners together were able to improve vote share to 21% from 12% in the last Assembly election. BJPM’s general secretary Amar Lama said his party will certainly play the role of a constructive opposition. People are fed-up with violence; they want peace to prevail; they endured disruption for a long time. Political parties now have to respond, Lama told NewsClick.

Continuing decline in Gurung’s political fortune is evident from his party’s show at the municipal polls. GJM bagged three wards out of 22 where it had put up candidates. In 2017 it had won in 31 wards out of 32 wards that the municipality comprises. A softening of stance from his aggressive brand of politics may be read into in his post-result remark: ”It is an eye-opener for us; people wanted a new face, a new party in the expectation that they will work in their interest”. Significantly, Mamata has rejected the TMC Darjeeling unit’s demand that they should go it alone henceforth. TMC, which had contested in 10 wards, could bag two.

In 2017, it won in one ward. It seems she thinks with Gurung, Tamang and Thapa directly or sentimentally aligned with TMC, an independent plunge by her party into the tricky hill politics may not be warranted at this stage; more so because despite a weakening of base, BJP remains a force to reckon with in Darjeeling largely because of the party’s Lok Sabha member Raju Bista’s organisational capabilities. It remains to be seen whether and how much Tamang will help TMC in expanding its base in the Hills.

Darjeeling is set to be in election mode for some time to come. The chief minister has already announced her intention to hold long-pending panchayat elections which were last held in 2000. Also, elections are due for the Gorkha Territorial Administration as also for Mirik, Kalimpong and Kurseong civic bodies. The Hamro Party sees it as an opportunity to spread its wings. Sharma confirmed active participation in the upcoming polls. For BJP it will be a chance to re-energise its grassroots level workers. GNLF, its alliance partner, too will try to revive its dwindling political base.

For the Left Front and the Congress, it will be an opportunity to re-establish their presence to the extent possible. All in all, multi-cornered contests for two-tier panchayats and GTA, which for all practical purposes, like its predecessor Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, are the highest panchayat tier – zilla parishad.

It appears that GJM still has some doubts and reservations about GTA. This was evident when NewsClick asked GJM general secretary Roshan Giri about participation in the upcoming elections. Giri said: “We will certainly take part. We have some issues with GTA. We will hold a seminar on April 2 and come out with suggestions for resolving those issues politically to our satisfaction.” Time will show whether it’s a loaded observation.