A crucial turning point in the history of West Bengal and Darjeeling came on 13 May, with the collapse of the 34-year-old communist regime and the emergence of the new Trinamool Congress government. The day also saw a clear mandate for the push for Gorkhaland, with a record victory margin for the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which has been spearheading the agitation for a separate state since October 2007. The Morcha candidates for the three constituencies of Darjeeling district – Trilok Dewan, Harka Bahadur Chettri and Rohit Sharma from Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, respectively – together secured the highest margin of votes ever recorded in the state, thus clearly indicating the people's aspirations for a separate state. Indeed, the results even showed similar support in the plains, where Wilson Chompromary, an independent MLA from Kalchini backed by the Morcha, won handily. Yet within days, the Morcha's own leadership had all but given up on the push for Gorkhaland.
On the day the results were announced, Morcha President Bimal Gurung triumphantly stated, 'This is a victory for Gorkhaland!' While the GJM victory had been expected, none had been forecasting such a large margin – particularly after the sudden early-April return of Subash Ghisingh, who had ruled over the Darjeeling Hills for the two decades leading up to mid-2008. Even after the surprise end to his hibernation, however, Ghisingh's party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), suffered an embarrassing defeat, with all three of the party's candidates losing. On 16 May, GNLF supporters were accused of violently attacking their Morcha counterparts, including stabbing one in the neck, and within hours Ghisingh had again left the Hills under cover of darkness.
The biggest loser in the recent elections was probably the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL). The party, which has long supported a settlement with Kolkata on the Gorkhaland issue, is currently headed by Bharati Tamang, wife of the late Madan Tamang, the former ABGL president who was stabbed to death by Morcha supporters in May 2010. Standing for election from Darjeeling, Bharati Tamang was able to record little more than 11,000 votes – compared to 120,532 votes secured by Trilok Dewan, the Morcha victor. Meanwhile, the other major political force in the Hills, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), presumed to be the second-largest outfit in the area, boycotted the elections after its failure to reach a consensus with the rest of the Hills' political parties over the Gorkhaland issue. With the opposition in disarray, the polls were the Morcha's to lose – and the party's eventual victory to do with what it will.
The new Ghisingh
Morcha President Gurung initiated the second phase of the Gorkhaland agitation – the 26th attempt in 104 years with the object of separation from Bengal – in October 2007, after capitalising on Indian Idol phenomenon Prashant Tamang. (Gurung had been the chief adviser to the Prashant Tamang Fan Club.) Although a former lieutenant to Subash Ghisingh, Gurung was adamantly opposed to the formation of a tribal council under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution – a move Ghisingh supported – arguing that this would mean that statehood was permanently off the table. According to knowledgeable observers, however, Gurung's mission was likely the brainchild of Ashok Bhattacharya, the CPI (M) minister for urban planning, in an attempt to counter Ghisingh. Although West Bengal's Left Front government was also opposed to the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland, Bhattacharya's strategy seemed to be to set the two Gorkhali leaders against one another – ultimately hoping to foil Ghisingh's attempts to implement a Sixth Schedule tribal council in the Darjeeling Hills.