Ajoy Edwards (centre) is the owner of Glenary’s, one of Darjeeling Hills' iconic restaurants. (Photo: Twitter/@HamroParty) The RISE of Hamro Party, which means ‘Our Party’ in Nepali, in the Hills within three months of its inception took many by surprise on Wednesday when it won 18 of the 32 wards of Darjeeling municipality, thereby stopping the ruling Trinamool Congress’s juggernaut in the hilly district of West Bengal.
However, the results did not surprise the party’s chief – 47-year-old Ajoy Edwards, a former GNLF leader — and its workers. Their conviction stemmed from over eight years of social work — most notably converting Edwards’s iconic Glenary’s Restaurant in Darjeeling into a Covid-19 centre during the second wave of the pandemic last summer. Edward and his group members’ efforts in arranging oxygen cylinders, medicines, food had won the residents’ hearts. Also, the group is credited for laying down 140 roads, and other initiatives in the Hills.
Buoyed by the civic poll results, the party — which is yet to be recognised by the Election Commission and has just a name and flag with ‘khukri’ symbol as its identity — has now set its eyes on becoming a prominent political force in the Hills, long dominated by TMC partner Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and BJP-backed Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).
The party counts “like-minded people” from all walks of life — be it social workers, bakery owners, architects and businessmen — among its ranks.
“We are yet to have a (party) structure and portfolios like president, vice-president, secretary and others. We have submitted papers to the Election Commission for recognition,” Edwards told The Indian Express over the phone from Darjeeling.
Before forming the party on November 25, 2021, Edwards and his supporters held an online contest to choose its name. The name was selected from the shortlisted five – Jan Shakti, Jan Kalyan Party, Jan Awaz and Hamro Party.
“We launched our party so that like-minded people from various backgrounds and professions could come together,” he said, maintaining that his party would never align with the BJP or TMC.
Edwards was a close friend of GNLF president Mann Ghising. After the rise of Bimal Gurung’s GJM, Edwards was “forced” to leave Darjeeling and spend his life in Bagdogra from 2007 to 2014.
His differences with GNLF first appeared when he was denied a ticket to contest from Darjeeling during the 2021 Assembly polls. Another reason cited for the fallout was that Ghising allegedly kept Edwards in the dark about a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah last year on the Darjeeling statehood demand. This, his close aides said, was the final blow, and the restaurateur quit the GNLF in August last year.
By the end of November, he and his supporters formed the Hamro Party.
In its civic poll debut, the party fielded 19 women. It focused on civic issues, healthcare and basic amenities. Its leaders argued that Darjeeling municipality can generate Rs 100 crore in revenue and promised free yearly health check-up for senior citizens and development of tourism through freebies and discounts.
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