West Bengal: Darjeeling to be strike-free zone, says Hamro Party

Deep Gazmer / TNN / Updated: Mar 8, 2022, 09:50 IST

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Ajoy Edwards, whose nascent Hamro Party pulled off a spectacular win in the Darjeeling Municipality elections recently, has denounced bandhs and said the Hills will be a strike-free zone.

West Bengal: Darjeeling to be strike-free zone, says Hamro Party

Ajoy Edwards

DARJEELING: Ajoy Edwards, whose nascent Hamro Party pulled off a spectacular win in the Darjeeling Municipality elections recently, has denounced bandhs and said the Hills will be a strike-free zone.
Political reactions were almost immediate. Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Chhetri said her party was the first to speak against bandhs because they inconvenienced people.

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This is a welcome move. Strikes are always self-defeating; no one — neither the strikers nor common people in whose name strikes are often called — gains anything out of a bandh. Ruling party-sponsored bandhs have gone out of fashion in Bengal since 2011, when the Trinamool came to office. It would serve everyone’s interests if all parties can take a principled, anti-bandh stance

Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) too claimed that Hamro Party was echoing its stand."It is nothing new. We have been saying no to strike since 2017. Strike is just harassment, not a solution to any problem," BGPM spokesperson Keshavraj Pokhrel said.

People who support Edwards are sanguine that he will bring change, but many remain sceptical about the no-strike-zone announcement made by his three-month-old party, which has formed the new civic board.
Darjeeling Hills, despite its splendid attractions, has been synonymous with bandhs and strikes that have shaped the region's political landscape and fragile economy over the years. Since the 1986 statehood agitation, Darjeeling has witnessed several shutdowns called by different political dispensations at the helm, the last being the marathon 104-day bandh in 2017, which crippled the local economy.

In general, Edwards's decision has had positive feedback, but the tourism sector and the trading community are treading cautiously. "We welcome the decision, but it will be interesting to see how the Hamro Party reacts if a strike is called on the issue of Gorkhaland," said Basu Sharma, who runs a retail outlet in the lower town area.
Hamro Party has mentioned it would not allow strikes even on the statehood issue, but many are unconvinced. "It is important to see the will power of a political party. Such announcements have been made in the past, but sadly never followed. We have a history that just a poster in Chowk Bazar is enough to bring shutters down," said Amar Agarwal, a cloth merchant.
Some said strikes were a democratic form of protest and political parties should practise what they preach. "Strikes do sometimes yield results. However, the case in the Hills is different. We feel strikes should be judicious with cent per cent impact," said Akbar Alam, a shoe trader.

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