Bimal Gurung

Bimal Gurung (Nepali: विमल गुरुङ) is the leader of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), a party that is demanding the formation of a Gorkhaland state within West Bengal in India.

DGHC

Bimal Gurung was formerly a Gorkha Volunteers Corps member who fought for the creation of a Gorkhaland state in India during 1986-1988 under the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).^[1] He became a councillor representing Tukver constituency in the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) after the previous councillor Rudra Pradhan was murdered in Darjeeling. He became a close aide of Subhash Ghisingh, the leader of GNLF and chairman of DGHC. Later, he turned against his mentor to launch the second agitation for a Gorkhaland state.

Indian Idol and Sixth Schedule

The fourth DGHC elections were due in 2004. However, the government decided not to hold elections and instead made Subhash Ghisingh the sole caretaker of the DGHC till the Sixth Schedule council was established. Most of the other political parties and organizations opposed the setting up of a Sixth Schedule Tribal Council as there was only a minority tribal population in the DGHC area. Resentment among the former councillors of DGHC also grew rapidly. Among them, Bimal Gurung decided to break away from the GNLF.^[2] Riding on a mass support for Prashant Tamang, an Indian Idol candidate from Darjeeling in 2007, Bimal quickly capitalized on the public support he received for supporting Prashant, and was able to overthrow Ghisingh from the seat of power. Ghisingh resigned from the chairmanship of the DGHC in March 2008^[3] and shifted residence to Jalpaiguri. GNLF lost most of its support and cadres to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, a new party headed by Bimal Gurung.

Gorkhaland demand

Immediately upon formation of GJM, Bimal renewed the demand of the formation of a Gorkhaland state comprising the Darjeeling district and many areas of the Dooars. The total area of the proposed state is 6450 km² and comprises Banarhat, Bhaktinagar, Birpara, Chalsa, Darjeeling, Jaigaon, Kalchini, Kalimpong, Kumargram, Kurseong, Madarihat, Malbazar, Mirik and Nagarkatta.^[4] Unlike the 1980s, GJM has maintained that the struggle for Gorkhaland would be through non-violence and non-cooperation.^[5] Bimal received mass support from the people of Darjeeling district, Dooars and other parts of India for his statehood demand.^[6]

But after the contentious issue of the broad-daylight murder of former ABGL chief Madan Tamang in May 2010, to which Gurung is believed to be heavily linked, many key GJM leaders such as Trilok Dewan, Amar Singh Rai, Amar Lama, Anmole Prasad and Palden Lama resigned from the party, leading to massive speculation about the veracity of Gurung's statement denying his party's links with Tamang's murder.

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