Between autonomy and statehood: can GTA polls change politics of the hills?

Political observers feel that the GTA polls and the success of parties favouring the State’s ruling party may only be a speed breaker as far as the issue of Gorkhaland is concerned.

One of the biggest surprises of the recently concluded Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections was the impressive performance of the Trinamool Congress.

The ruling party in West Bengal contested 10 of the 45 seats and won five. The Trinamool has been ruling the State for the past 11 years and established its political dominance in almost all the regions, but the hills have always voted against it. In fact, in the past three decades, the party which has been in power in West Bengal has not been able to make significant electoral gains in the Darjeeling hills. 

Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) which won 27 seats in the 45-member board is also perceived to be close to the Trinamool. 

While Mr. Thapa has said that he would work closely with the West Bengal government, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the very day the GTA results were declared called Mr. Thapa as one of her own.

According to the Chief Minister, except the eight seats won by the Hamro Party, the remaining 37 sabhasads (members) are in support of the Trinamool. The peaceful polls to the GTA amid opposition from parties such as the Gorka Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come as a shot in the arm for the Trinamool and the West Bengal government.

About 59% people exercised their franchise in the elections that was held on June 26. Those who stayed away from the GTA polls raised questions on the relevance of the regional autonomous body.

The GTA was set up in 2012 after years of violent agitation on the demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland. The West Bengal government, the Government of India and the GJM were signatories to the GTA agreement, which was aimed at granting autonomy to the people of the hills.  In the first polls to the GTA in 2012 , the GJM won all the seats without much contest. Between 2009 to 2017, the GJM and its president, Bimal Gurung, dominated the politics of the hills.