Editorial: Worshipping a leader is always dangerous

Change of power easy but change brings no social change

Anand Ghatani

Autocracy may not be the right word at the moment. Infact it is ‘worshipping a leader like a god’ that perfectly matches in the politics of the hills irrespective of whether it is the Himalayan State of Sikkim or the Darjeeling hills thriving to get separated from West Bengal though the approach to achieve it may not be right.

The statement ‘I am Chamling, I am not Bhandari’ that hit the headlines of every newspapers few days back is a blunt statement in politics given the tenure Pawan Kumar Chamling, the Sikkim Chief Minister has spent ruling Sikkim. No wonder, it was the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee who boiled the Darjeeling hills on fire with her statement ‘I am rough and tough’ that triggered the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to announce a ‘Militant stir’ for a separate state recently.

As the chief minister of the state and being a senior politician now in the region it was expected Chamling to answer the reason for not expelling the rebel SDF MLA P.S.Golay for going against his own party. Quite understandably he would not expel Golay because that would give an opportunity to Golay to become more popular. Above all, Chamling’s statement could only ratify that he knows people ‘Worship’ him like god.

A critic once said that ‘Worshipping’ a political leader is always dangerous. The critic was right. The Darjeeling hills once worshipped Subash Ghisingh, the GNLF supremo and the people faced the brunt. It was a sigh of relief when he got ousted and was replaced by another Bimal Gurung, now the GJM chief.

The real politics in these two hilly regions has not changed. If Sikkim is looking for a change in rule, the Darjeeling hills fought rigorously and got what they intended. The situation remains the same. Gradually, it can be summed up now that what Ghisingh did with his ‘silent politics’ seems coinciding with what Bimal Gurung has been doing or has done so far. 

In Sikkim Chamling had fought against Nar Bahadur Bhandari to grab the state. Now it is the new face P.S. Golay who is looking to take a chance. When Chamling replaced Congress man, it was expected that the new government would give freedom of speech, expression and thought just as when Ghisingh was ousted in the Darjeeling. The freedom thus remains suppressed in both the regions.

The change of power is not a difficult one. The maximum it requires is the mind game. Whoever plays it safely, he wins it. But the change should come for the betterment of the society.