Trinamul's Low-Key Campaign Strategy in Darjeeling Hills Raises Questions Ahead of Lok Sabha Elections

In the Lok Sabha elections this year, Trinamul has nominated a candidate in Darjeeling, although there are no Trinamul flags flying in the hills.

Trinamul's candidate is Gopal Lama, a former WBCS officer and member of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), a group centered in Darjeeling.

Though Lama filed his nominations on March 28, he has just once performed a road show in the Darjeeling hills since launching his campaign early on March 12.

Throughout the last twenty-five or so days, Lama's campaign has focused exclusively on the plains around the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency. The Darjeeling parliamentary seat is divided into four plains-based Assembly constituencies and three hill-based parts.

When questioned about Lama and Trinamul maintaining a low profile in the hills, a leader of the BGPM—which is backing Trinamul in the Darjeeling hills—admitted, "It is a conscious decision."

A political observer said, "There is still a strong trust deficit between the hills (for Trinamul)". As many people in the hills know, Trinamul opposes the region's quest to split off Gorkhaland from Bengal. Nor has Trinamul ever prevailed in the Darjeeling seat.

Publicity materials designed by the BGPM include an image of Lama and the Trinamul emblem, which is two flowers with grass, on a backdrop of maroon, yellow, and gray.

Nevertheless, the party's blue and white color scheme and the green and orange hues of Trinamul's emblem are absent from the promotional materials.

The witness also mentioned how often BGPM flags are seen flapping at polling places and rallies in the hills.

According to sources, Anit Thapa, the chairman of BGPM, made it very clear to the Trinamul leadership that he would be the only one leading the campaign in the hills.

Thapa emphasizes in his speech that his party is running a candidate of its own. Lama became a member of the BGPM shortly before he was declared the Trinamul candidate.

"With four Assembly districts on the lowlands, we (the hill-based BGPM) cannot win the election on our own. But we have our own candidate," Thapa said in Kurseong during an election campaign.

Based on the "organisational strength" of the BGPM, Thapa is optimistic about receiving a significant portion of the votes from the hills.

Raju Bista of the BJP received 7.5 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, representing 59.19 percent of the total number of votes cast. Amar Singh Rai, the Trinamul candidate, received 3.3 lakh votes, or 26.5% of all votes cast, in the same election.