The founder of Gorkhaland - Subash Ghising died at 79 in a Delhi hospital. He was the principal architect of violent hill politics in West Bengal that challenged the Left Front government’s might in the 1980s.
Subash Ghising
Ghising was former Gorkha Rifles soldier. Later he became a teacher. Ghising founded the Gorkha National Liberation Front in 1980.
He led the GNLF into a violent movement demanding a separate Gorkhaland state out of Bengal.
This resulted in frequent violence in the Hills between 1986 and 1988.
The Gorkhaland movement posed the biggest challenge to the unquestioned authority of then Bengal CM Jyoti Basu.
The Left front government tackled this movement using force, preventing division of Bengal.
However, the Left government had to strike a hard bargain with Ghising to buy peace. The movement led to the ouster of Left Front from the Hills politics.
