GNLF Cong support muddles Hills politics

DARJEELING: The muddled pre-poll politics in the Hills took a surprising twist on Sunday when Gorkha National Liberation Front supremo Subhas Ghisingh asked all party units and supporters to support the Congress candidate in Darjeeling.
Ghisingh''s "appeal" -coming in the midst of localised GNLF calls to boycott polls and containing an ambiguous reference to the "political stand for a separate state of Gorkhaland" - resulted in all-round confusion, with neither the Congress nor the CPM (apparently the prime gainers and losers) risking any comment.
Unexpected as it is, the announcement may ultimately end up helping the CPM because the confused voter may bank on the Left, which already has a committed base of cadres and voters.
Ghisingh''s call may also be directed towards keeping the Congress happy and keeping open a channel of communication with the national leadership, say political observers.
The People''s Democratic Front, the bloc of which the Congress is a part, issued a belligerent response. PDF president Madan Tamang said Ghisingh had "surrendered to the pro-PDF wave" but still needed to be "watched" as he was a "crooked" man.
Ghisingh''s appeal, in the form of a signed media release, referred to the Hills'' "old relationship with Congress" and stressed that the appeal owed more to the party''s "hand symbol" rather than the Congress candidate himself.
A mention of the "present scenario in the country" and a tantalising reference to the "political stand for a separate state of Gorkhaland" accompanied the appeal.
Only GNLF Darjeeling Branch Committee president Deepak Gurung offered any kind of explanation - not very illuminating at that.
"The Congress has not spoken against the GNLF; it''s only the other parties in PDF that want to outwit us. It is our democratic right and we can support anyone," he said.
The GNLF units of Tukvar and Mirik are reportedly asking people not to vote in the coming elections. Besides, the party''s trade-union front, the Hill Plantation Workers'' Union, has also called for a boycott of the polls in the cinchona-plantation areas, making things a trifle too confusing for the average voter.
Things are likely to get clearer - or a little less muddled - on Tuesday when GNLF holds a public meeting in Darjeeling.