Why is North Bengal again becoming a political hotbed?

Kolkata: The northern part of West Bengal is one of the most beautiful regions in the state and India. This region has the magnificent Himalayas and also the picturesque Dooars, which are at the foothills of the mountains. This region also has a violent past with many protests, separatist activities, and politics. Currently, the north of Bengal is heating up and has become a hotbed of politics. In the past few months, Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the hills twice. Governor Jagdeep Dhankar, Assam Chief Minister Hemant Biswa Sarma, and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also visited the region last week. More importantly, national security advisor Ajit Doval also visited the Hills for five days. It was reportedly due to "family visits and vacations".

North Bengal is full of mountains, valleys, and beautiful tea gardens. But this region also has a unique culture, tradition, and indigenous people. This is why the culture and politics of this region are different from the other parts of the state. The hills of north Bengal are dominated by Gorkhas, Bhutias, and other communities. The plains are dominated by the Dalit Rajbangsi community. In the last several years, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the key force in this region. However, recently the trend has started to change.

Strategic importance of North Bengal for BJP

For several reasons, North Bengal is strategically crucial for the Bharatiya Janata Party. This region is the bottleneck that connects the entire of north-eastern India. The BJP, along with its allies, is in power in all the seven sisters of the North East. Starting from Tripura to Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, all these states are now under the direct or indirect control of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The state of Sikkim shares borders with Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal. This is why it is a crucial strategic state for India. Sikkim, like all the other northeastern states, is also connected with India through the bottleneck of North Bengal.

The BJP is not in a position to afford any tension in north Bengal and, according to the sources, the central leadership of the party, along with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is not satisfied with this region's excessively going out of the hands of the saffron party. 

Following the defeat in the 2021 Bengal assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its parent organization, the RSS, have been advocating for a separate state or union territory for north Bengal. In this way, the party will be able to have full control over the region. However, under the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the state government is completely against any such proposition of dividing Bengal. With the constant campaign against the idea of a Bengal division, the TMC has also gained political momentum in this region. To combat the situation, BJP national president JP Nadda had to warn the leaders not to raise the issue in public. 

Shift in hills politics

The past few months have been a kind of roller coaster ride in the politics of the hills of Bengal. In the past few months, two new political outfits have been formed in the region, and these outfits have now won elections too. The first is the Hamro Party led by Ajoy Edwards, and the second one is the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by its chief Anit Thapa. While the Hamro Party won the civic body elections in Darjeeling, Thapa has become the administrator of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration by winning the poll. The GTA elections were more significant than the civic elections as this body controlled the whole Kalimpong district, the Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-districts of the Darjeeling district, and some portions of the Sili­guri sub-division as well.

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, led by Bimal Gurung and a supporter of the Trinamool Congress, had opposed the GTA elections. Gurung participated in a hunger strike but had no political impact. The Trinamool is thought to be interested in keeping the new players, Thapa and Edwards, as Gurung's support is reportedly waning. BGPM, which was only introduced a little over a year ago, won the GTA elections by taking 26 of the 45 seats and 45% of the total vote share. The Trinamool Congress gained five seats in the GTA elections for the first time with a 5% vote share. The vote shares for the candidates from the Hamro Party and the Independents were 23% and 27%, respectively.

One of the main demands of all the political parties of the region has been the creation of a separate Gorkahland. Similarly, a significant section of the population in the plains of Bengal has been demanding a separate Kamtapur. The BJP tried to pitch a separate North Bengal by allowing these two sentiments to grow.

Significantly, the newly formed parties that won the hills do not have Gorkhaland as their topmost priority. Similarly, in the recent civic elections that took place in Siliguri (part of the plain land of North Bengal), the TMC won. These trends do indeed indicate a change in politics. 

Development is the new plank

The political turmoil with the demand for Gorkhaland in the hills and Kamtapur in the plains has a long history. Subhash Ghising of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) started the demand for Gorkhaland during the 80s when Bengal was under Left rule. Similarly, during the 90s, the plains of north Bengal witnessed violent protests and separatist activities under the Kamtapuri Liberation Organisation (KLO).

During these years, North Bengal witnessed a series of bonds, violent protests, killings and many more. When a section of the GNLF realised that their demand for a separate state for Gorkhaland was not being fulfilled by the party, Bimal Gurung split the party and established Gorkha Janamukti Morcha to carry forward the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. Nothing much changed under Gurung.

Meanwhile, in 2009, 2014, and 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party began to support the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha and one Darjeeling Lok Sabha election. The majority of hill parties backed the Bharatiya Janata Party because they believed the central government (2014 onwards) could meet the demand for separate statehood. However, the residents believe that the BJP betrayed them. According to the political observers, the Bharatiya Janata Party neither did anything about their original demands nor allowed any development work to happen in the hills. In 2017, Bimal Gurung led violent strikes and protests across the hills. The Bengal government booked Guru under UAPA and he went underground. Suddenly, before the 2021 Bengal elections, Gurung appeared and extended his support to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Political analysts and residents of North Bengal believe that now after the COVID pandemic, this region has faced havoc in terms of economic conditions. The north Bengal region is majorly dependent on the tourism sector, which got hit badly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series of strikes, protests and violence also affected the tourism sector earlier. In this situation, the people now here want real development to take place.

This is why a paradigm shift in the politics of the hills is taking place. People are going with the political outfits that are new and also have development as their key agenda. The demand for a separate Gorkhaland and a separate state will not fade away immediately, but with this shift in politics, the focus is indeed changing.

It is indeed not good news for the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP has always supported the separatist activities along with the demand for Gorkhaland in the region. Recently, after many years, the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation reappeared and openly stated that the BJP MPs and leaders of the region support their cause. 

The TMC and CM Mamata Banerjee have been pitching for development in the region. The Mamata Banerjee government has also taken up several development projects in the state. She recently assured the GTA oath-taking ceremony that she would continue these efforts and bring more development if violence did not re-emerge in the name of protests. The North Bengal region has become a hotspot of politics and only time will tell whether development takes place in the region or whether another rise in disruptive politics happens.