GJM walks out of NDA, to go with TMC in 2021 Bengal assembly polls

In a major jolt to the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, the GJM led by fugitive Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung on Wednesday quit the NDA and aligned with TMC, saying the saffron party has "failed to find a permanent solution" for the Hills -- which had witnessed major unrest over demand for a separate state in 2017.

The BJP, which is still recovering from the setback it received last month when the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) pulled out of the NDA, said Gurung, who had been on the run since 2017, wanted to return to the Hills and had no option but to toe the line of TMC boss Mamata Banerjee.

The GJM, unlike SAD, has no MPs in Parliament.

Making a dramatic public appearance in Kolkata after being on the run for three years following charges of murder and cases under the stringent UAPA, Gurung told reporters the decision to walk out of the 12-year-old alliance with the BJP-led NDA was prompted by the fact that "the party felt cheated by the BJP" which despite its assurances was yet to recognise 11 Gorkha communities as Scheduled Tribes.

"We have been a part of the NDA since 2009, but the BJP-led dispensation hasn't kept its promise of offering a permanent political solution for the Darjeeling Hills," he said at the press meet at a hotel here.

"It has not included 11 Gorkha communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes. We feel cheated, so we are walking out of NDA today," he said.

According to GJM sources, Gurung had been in touch with the ruling TMC over the past one month.

"In the 2021 assembly election, we will support the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and fight against the BJP. We would teach the BJP a lesson in Bengal assembly. The chief minister has given her approval for including 11 communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Still, the Centre is sitting on the matter," the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader claimed.

Incidentally, the development came just two days after BJP national president J P Nadda's visit to north Bengal, where he assured that the saffron party is committed to the permanent political solution of the Hills and the recognition of 11 Gorkha communities as STs.

Asked if he would pursue his demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland after joining TMC, which had earlier dismissed the proposal, Gurung said there was "no going back" on the issue and his outfit would align with the party that supports the cause before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"The demand for Gorkhaland would continue and I will continue to work for it," he said.

Talking about the multiple cases that were slapped on him during the Darjeeling agitation in 2017, Gurung said he is "neither a criminal nor an anti-national".

"I am a political leader. I want a political settlement. I was in Delhi for three years and in Jharkhand for the past two months," Gurung, who has been charged in more than 150 cases including those under UAPA for his alleged involvement in the agitation, said.

The GJM supremo, asked if cases against him would be withdrawn, claimed to have received no such assurance from the state government.

According to sources, Gurung was in touch with the state government and the TMC top brass for the last one month and poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who is presently working with the party ruling West Bengal, has played a key role in it. Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, reacting to the development -- which could have far-reaching implications on the saffron camp's prospects in North Bengal before the elections -- said the TMC government should come clean on whether it supports the demand for a separate Gorkhaland.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party should also clarify if it is withdrawing the criminal cases against Gurung, now that he has extended an olive branch to the TMC, he said.

Elated over the political development, the TMC leadership welcomed Gurung's commitment to peace and his decision to withdraw support from the NDA while reposing faith in Mamata Banerjee.

"We welcome Bimal Gurung's commitment to peace & decision to withdraw support from NDA while reposing faith in @MamataOfficial's leadership. BJP's attempts to use Gorkhaland issue for petty politics & their untrustworthy nature now lay fully exposed before people of Bengal," the party said in a tweet.

West Bengal Congress president, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said both the TMC and the BJP are playing with "fire" by pursuing divisive politics.

"In a desperate bid to restore the lost ground in North Bengal, Mamata Banerjee thought it prudent to stitch an unholy alliance with the secessionist forces under Mr Gurung the protagonist of Gorkhaland, TMC and BJP both are indulging in divisive politics in West Bengal," he said.

Riding on its alliance with various social groups and the GJM, the saffron party has made deep inroads in North Bengal -- once considered to be a bastion of the Congress and the TMC -- and bagged seven out of eight Lok Sabha seats including the Darjeeling parliamentary seat for the third consecutive time in the region in 2019 general election.

The GJM enjoys influence in 10-12 of 54 the Assembly seats in North Bengal. According to TMC sources, the development would change several ground equations in North Bengal in its favour as Gurung not only influences election in 10-12 assembly seats but also holds sway over 11 Gorkha communities spread across districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.

"It is indeed one of our biggest achievements in the North Bengal region ahead of assembly polls. We had ceded ground to the BJP in 2019, but now we are hopeful of recovering it," a senior TMC leader said.

Darjeeling has repeatedly witnessed violent agitations over the demand for a separate state, the latest being in June 2017, when the Hills saw a 104-day-long strike over the issue.

The strike also led to a split in the GJM, with Binay Tamang, once a deputy to the outfit's supremo Gurung, taking over the reins of the party and expelling the boss.

Although the GJM faction led by Gurung continued to align with the BJP, the other camp headed by Tamang joined hands with the ruling TMC in the state.