The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader blamed for the recent turmoil in West Bengal’s Darjeeling, owes his rise to a TV reality show.He was a foot-soldier of Subhash Ghising, the leader who spearheaded the violent Gorkha agitation for a separate state in the 1980s, until Prashant Tamang – a Kolkata police constable hailing from the Darjeeling hills – caught popular imagination by qualifying for the last rounds of the Indian Idol song contest.Gurung helped Tamang’s cause by reaching out to Nepali-speaking residents of Darjeeling and adjoining areas to vote via SMS for Tamang, who ultimately won the 2008 edition of the show.
Nearly a decade later, Tamang has fallen off the radar. But Gurung is still going strong, even though he is on the run after police raided his office as violence erupted over the ‘imposition’ of Bengali language in the hills by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.Having signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the state and settled for an autonomous administrative council instead of full-fledged statehood, just months ago Gurung was faced with the real possibility of losing both the plot and personal popularity. The latest controversy, however, has given him a fresh lifeline.
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