KOLKATA:

Subash Ghising — principal architect of violent hill politics in West Bengal that challenged the Left Front government's might in the 1980s — died in a Delhi hospital on Thursday. He was 79. He is survived by his son. His body will be flown in from Delhi on Friday.

Ghising, a former Gorkha Rifles soldier who later became a teacher, founded the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in 1980. He led the GNLF to a violent movement for carving a separate Gorkhaland out of Bengal resulting in bloodbath in the Darjeeling Hills between 1986 and 1988.

The Gorkhaland movement posed the biggest challenge to the unquestioned authority of Jyoti Basu heading the Left Front government. The violent statehood movement was tackled using force. Though Basu could save Bengal from getting divided once again, the Left Front government had to strike a hard in with Ghising to buy peace in the Hills. The movement also led to the ouster of the Left from the Hills though they held sway over the rest of Bengal till 2011.

A spin-off effect of the Gorkhaland movement was the direct intervention of the Centre in state politics. This sparked allegations against the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government at the Centre of violating the tenets of federalism.

However, the Gorkhaland movement gave the Centre space for hectic backroom maneuverings and political machinations. Rajiv Gandhi sent Buta Singh, then Union home minister to talk to Ghising. This was followed by a meeting between Basu and Gandhi. After the meeting, Gandhi declared there would be "no division" of West Bengal and acknowledged that no solution could be arrived at without consulting the state.

On January 25, 1988, the first tripartite talk was held between the state, Centre and GNLF. The process of conciliation took about two years leading the state to concede the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. After "achieving" DGHC, Ghising ended the 28-month movement for the promised Gorkhaland. He claimed success for including "Gorkha" in DGHC's nomenclature. That did not go down well with a section in the Hills. Ghising was anointed the DGHC chief, but discontent was brewing in the Hills.

Simmering dissent spilled out in 2007 when Ghising's one-time aide Bimal Gurung set up the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). The next year Ghising, once the unchallenged Gorkha leader, was ousted from the Hills following violence. The GJM prevented Ghising from bringing his wife Dhan Kumari's body for cremation to the Hills. She had to be cremated in the plains in Siliguri.

After Ghising's death, Gurung posted on Facebook, "The sad demise of Mr. Subhash Ghising is a political loss to the Hill people. His contribution towards the development of the Hills will always be appreciated. I extend my heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family and pray that God give them the strength to bear the loss." (Source The Times Of India)