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Ghising: The leader who never reached the common man
Published on Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 20:39 in 
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THE PRINCE'S FALL: Darjeeling has been disillusioned with Subhash Ghising and his hill council for years now.
Shrouded in mist and fog, Subhash Ghising's fall was sudden but not unexpected. However, it was a fall which was unimaginable 20 years back.
Darjeeling: Sajid and Amina are teachers at two of Darjeeling's best known schools - North Point and Loreto Convent. They remember Subhash Ghising as the leader who made the promises but was always out of reach for the common man.
Sajid Ahmed says, "The administration has allowed the rot to set in government departments like water, hospitals."
The people of Darjeeling have been disillusioned with Subhash Ghising and his Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council for years now. Many feel Subhash Ghising is worthless and that he was responsible for finishing off Darjeeling. For others, Ghising's reign was marked with terror. Among them was 79-year-old Ban Bahadur Chhetri, who has been working in Darjeeling's Keventer's eatery since 1947.
"At that point in time there was a lot of violence. It's not like that now," he recalls.
Today, as Bimal Gurung and his supporters have revived the call for Gorkhaland, the founder of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, Subhash Ghising, has remained silent. He remains in self-confinement in his house, even as Darjeeling remembers him but this time with hate and anger. He is a crushed man under public opinion.
Amar Lama says, "There was a great betrayal especially after the movement of 1986 spearheaded by a man called Subhash Ghising. He is a traitor, simply a traitor for the cause of the people of Darjeeling and Dooars."
But Ghising still remains the uniting factor for GJM leaders.
Bimal Gurung says, "I was a sepoy of Ghising then, now I am leading this. Then Ghising forced us to fight for 18 months."
Another GJM member, Urmila Rumba, too is not prepared to forget her GNLF roots. Now a GJM leader, she concedes that it was the GNLF that put the demand for Gorkhaland and the idea of Gorkha aspirations on the nation's agenda.
"We are not against Subhash Ghising but we are against his policies," she clarifies.
Meanwhile, even as Bimal Gurung draws all the crowds in Darjeeling's mall, some recall the mistake of placing too much faith in one leader, and choose to exercise caution.
As journalist Neeraj Lama concludes, "It is up to the people not to turn the present leader into some kind of a mythical creature, which was the mistake we did with Subhash Ghising. It is likely that we could create another dictator."
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It is true that the movement has been a non violent one. Bimal Gurung intends to keep it that way.
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