30.1.15

Subhash Ghising dies


Subhash Ghising, the principal architect of violent hill politics in West Bengal that challenged the Left Front government’s might in the 1980s, died at 79 in a Delhi hospital. A former Gorkha Rifles soldier who later became a teacher, Ghising founded the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) in 1980.
He led the GNLF into a violent movement for carving a separate Gorkhaland state out of Bengal, resulting in frequent bloodbaths in the Hills between 1986 and 1988. The Gorkhaland movement posed the biggest challenge to the unquestioned authority of then Bengal CM Jyoti Basu. The statehood movement was tackled by the Left Front government using force. Although Basu succeeded in preventing Bengal’s division, the Left Front had to strike a hard bargain with Ghising to buy peace. The movement led to the ouster of Left Front from the Hills politics.
Ghising’s one-time aide Bimal Gurung set up the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in 2007. The very next year, Ghising was ousted from the Hills. GJM even prevented Ghising from bringing his wife’s body for cremation to the Hills.
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 condolences to the bereaved family and pray that God give them the strength to bear the loss.”

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