Anit Thapa, president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), announced on Tuesday that the party would fight the upcoming Bengal Assembly elections on their own party symbol.

The BGPM is the hill ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

“We will fight the hill three seats (of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong) on our symbol. We have to protect regionalism,” said Thapa.

Thapa hit out at the BJP and alleged that it was trying to eradicate regional parties.

“The BJP also contested panchayat elections and left very few seats to its ally partners. The BJP should have given that freedom (to its allies). If regionalism is not saved, our voices will not be heard,” said Thapa.

Thapa was referring to the 2023 panchayat elections. However, many had commented then that grassroots organisational strength of allies like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) were better than the BJP.

The panchayat elections, however, were swept by Thapa’s BGPM.

Thapa’s party also swept the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) election in 2022.

However, the BJP and its allies have been winning the Lok Sabha seat continuously since 2009 and the Bengal Assembly seat from Darjeeling and Kurseong since 2019. The Kalimpong seat was won by BGPM’s Ruden Sada Lepcha in 2021.

An observer believed that Thapa’s statement is also a subtle message to Trinamool about the intention of Thapa’s party. “This is because chief minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee announced the name of Harka Bahadur Chhetri as the Trinamool candidate from Kalimpong in 2016 even though Harka was heading his own party Jana Andolan Party (JAP),” the observer pointed out.

Trinamool’s announcement regarding Chhetri in 2016 had created an uproar. Chhetri refused to contest on Trinamool’s symbol. Ultimately, Chhetri contested under the JAP banner.

JAP had been posing a serious threat to Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Kalimpong. The Morcha was in absolute control of hill politics. But Chhetri, an MLA from the Morcha, had rebelled against Gurung just before the 2016 Assembly elections.

“Ultimately, Chhetri lost to the Morcha’s Sarita Rai by around 11,000 votes. Many attribute Trinamool’s announcement of Chhetri’s name as one of the reasons for the defeat,” said the observer, referring to Trinamool’s trust deficit across Darjeeling hills as a party of the plains.

“Thapa probably does not want a replay of the Chhetri episode and hence is sending his message loud and clear,” said an observer.