Amid the ongoing border dispute between India and Nepal, leaders of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) today demanded a “permanent political solution” and “justice for the Hill people,” as they marked the 85th birth anniversary of the party’s founder, the Late Subash Ghisingh, across the Hills today.

Leaders of other political parties also paid tributes to the former Hill strongman, who is also fondly referred to as ‘Appa’ (father), and who led a bloody Gorkhaland agitation in the mid-1980s and settled for an autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1986, following the amendment of the Indian Constitution.

However, later on, Ghisingh fought for the DGHC under the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule.

Five years after his death, when political observers wanted to know how his party had moved ahead in realizing his dream for Gorkhaland or the Sixth Schedule status for the Hills, GNLF central committee member and the president of the party’s Darjeeling branch, Ajoy Edwards, said: “We have gone back to the pre-1986 era. People of Darjeeling Hills have lost the self-respect that they used to enjoy during the period of the Late Subash Ghisingh. Both the Centre and the state governments did not supersede during his tenure. The Late Ghisingh also fought for the Sixth Schedule status for the Hills as a permanent solution. But that time, Bimal Gurung opposed him, while significantly, the present Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA-II) (that Mr Gurung brought) doesn’t have Constitutional guarantee.”

“The Late Ghisingh was a visionary. Apprehending dispute over land rights between Nepal and India, he demanded a permanent political solution for the land in Darjeeling Hills as well as the identity for the Indian Gorkhas,” Mr Edwards said.

“A section of Parliamentarians in Nepal have been saying that if India forcibly keeps control of Lipulake, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura in Uttarakhand, they would demand inclusion of Darjeeling and its adjoining areas also, paying no heed to the Treaty of Sugauli, known as the ‘Sugauli Sandhi,'” Mr Edwards added.

Notably, the treaty that marked the boundary line of Nepal, was signed on 2 December 1815 and ratified by 4 March 1816 between the East India Company and Nepal, following the Anglo- Nepalese War of 1814-16, sources said. “Nepal speaks funny on this issue. The government should consider the demand of the Late Subash Ghisingh for giving justice to the Indian Gorkhas, who fought for the country, by incorporating the Darjeeling Hills as the land for the Indian Gorkhas,” he added.

BJP’s Darjeeling MP Raju Bista also recalled the Late Ghisingh and his philosophy–‘ community is bigger than party, but land is bigger than community.

Paying homage to Ghisingh, who was born in Mirik in 1936, and died on 29 January 2015, Mr Bista today wrote in his Facebook post: “The Gorkhas, no matter where we are from, no matter who we are, remain indebted to Subash Ghisingh who brought about a political consciousness and sense of identity in all of us.”

“I join the people of Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars and rest of India in paying my humble homage to Subash Ghisingh, who united Gorkhas across India with one thread of solidarity and commonness. His philosophy is an inspiration for all of us to unite and work together towards fulfilling our collective dreams,” he added.

Also, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha leaders, Binoy Tamang and GTA Chairman Anit Thapa, and other Morcha leaders like Prakash Gurung also paid homage to Ghisingh today in their social media posts. Mr Tamang posted a photo of the late leader with the caption, “Gone, yet not forgotten.

” However, Ghisingh’s son and the present party president, Mann Ghisingh, was not available for comment today. To mark the day, GNLF leaders and supporters in Darjeeling distributed quality masks and other protective gear among frontline warriors fighting the Covid- 19 pandemic.