CALCUTTA: Political Savvy is something GNLF chief Subash Ghising has never possessed, The common public image of him has been that of a desperate rabble rouser, Of late, however, he seems to have realized that style and strategy are crucial for mischief making.
Having initiated his fiery supporters in the art of burning copies of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act of 1988 throughout the hills, he cooly distanced himself when the, formal. Incendiary exercise began recently.
However, sensing the absurdity of the situation, he preferred instead to spend the afternoon supervising the breaking of a huge boulder near Lal Kuthi, his Council headquarters. He is even reported to have lamented that acts like setting the Act afire were not exactly in accordance with the spirit of the DGHC accord, and left a bad taste in the mouth.
That Ghising had begun to acquire the first vestiges of astuteness was evident from the way in which, for the first time at a public meeting on July 21, he said enough to repeatedly elect a Marxist Government when Marxism had become a dirty word the world over.
Such a declaration, he knew, could win him the empathy of all who dreaded the color red.
Driving his point firmly home, he wondered how in the hell could Marxism co-exist in the land of the Goddess Kali. Could that be the reason for West Bengals bankruptcy and backwardness? He continued in the same vain and said, perhaps, the Bengalis did not know that the red flag would never lead them to heaven, since even dogs hated that color, he added, the last bit being the only touch of crudity.
To rub the argument home, the GNLEF chief said that even Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had the intelligence to form a more efficient and autonomous council for the Jharkhandis, compared to the DGHC Act which was riddled with loopholes.
And then came the parting “unfortunately.” Bengalis no longer made good politicians. After Dr. B.C. Roy, no one of that stature has emerged.
Most Bengalis themselves would not challenge such a view. This Ghising knew, By denying rumors that the GNLF had any plans to burn effigies of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu he tried to show that he could rise above the petty and populist stances.
What then was the reason behind Ghising sudden decision to train his guns on Bengali political leadership, and more importantly in equating it with their outdated Marxist notions Could such leaders be expected to understand the Gorkha mindset, and the need for a separate Gorkhaland, when in their own state they were nothing more than square pegs in round holes, anachronisms all, he seemed to ask. Soul searching was what, he said, he expected and wanted the Bengalis to subject their minds to. A far cry from his hitherto absurd attempts to raise dust over Darjeeling’s legal status.
Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 7, 1992
