Gorkhaland on Renu Subba’s lips at GTA award ceremony
Times of India | 23 June 2025
Darjeeling: With the cause of Gorkha identity on her lips, 87-year-old Renulina Subba, the first Nepali woman MLA from Kalimpong, called on Hill netas to rise above political divisions and unite to realise the long-cherished dream of Subash Ghising — one of the most influential political figures of the region. Subba, who had once made headlines for bringing a plastic gun to the Bengal assembly, made the appeal while receiving the inaugural Subash Ghisingh Smriti Sarwachiya Nagrik Samman Puraskar on Sunday.Speaking at a ceremony organised by Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) to mark Ghising's birth anniversary, Subba emphasised on Ghising's vision of self-determination and identity for the Hill people, and said those could only be achieved if everyone came together with a unified purpose. "Hill netas must set aside political rivalries and fight together for our land. That was Subash Ghising's dream, and it will remain a dream unless we act as one," she said.GTA chief Anit Thapa called Ghising "the foundation of the identity the Hills have today". "Ghising was a symbol of unity and pride. He gave us a vision, a product we could believe in. But Ghising was someone everyone loved regardless of party lines. His words, ‘Party bhanda jati thulo, jati bhanda mato thulo (Bigger than party is the community, bigger than community is the land),' still ring true," he said. Reflecting on the journey of the Hills since Ghising, Thapa said, "After Ghising, what have we truly achieved? The GTA came, but only with the name changed. People suffered. We need to ask ourselves what's next.""Our foremost demand should be to have land registered in the names of our people. Only then can we truly claim to fight for Gorkhaland," he said. In Darjeeling, nearly 80% residents do not own the land they live on. "Our demand is Gorkhaland — yes, but let our land be in our name first," Thapa added. As a tribute to Ghising, GTA announced the auditorium at Bhanu Bhawan, whose foundation stone was laid by Ghising himself in 2000, would be named after him.Born on June 22, 1936, Subash Ghising led the Gorkhaland movement, one of the fiercest separatist campaigns in Bengal, and politically dominated the Hills for 22 years. Towards the end of his political journey, he was displaced by Bimal Gurung. Despite losing power, Ghising remained a symbol of the Gorkhaland agitation until his death in 2015.