Darjeeling: Jaswant Singh was on his campaign trail - not in the Thar desert, but in the hills of Darjeeling, his new constituency.
"That is my
Janmbhoomi and this is my
Karmbhoomi," he said.
While, the janmbhoomi, Barmer, is a seat his son Manvendra is fighting to retain, in the karmbhoomi, Jaswant Singh is forging new bonds.
The BJP has made an electoral pact with the Gorkha Jan Mokti Morcha. The morcha needs the support of a national party to further its fight for statehood. The NDA needs a footing in Gorkhaland politics to checkmate CPI(M) and Congress in North Bengal.
"For so many years you have demanded a separate land, language and identity. I will fulfill that demand," Jaswant Singh said.
"Rajputs are just as good or as bad as the Gorkhas in terms of faithfulness, sincerity and what have you," said Rtd Brigadier Gurung, a voter.
As we leave the hills of the Darjeeling Parliamentary Constituency in one cry for a separate Gorkhaland state, the same cry changes like the topography to the plains, only to be replaced with allegations that a man from the desert has come to divide Bengal.
"Jaswant Singh has come with a very divisive slogan to create a division in the state," said Jibesh Sarkar, CPI(M) Candidate for Darjeeling.
However, it looks like Jaswant could ride to victory on this very divide - a divide that contains in itself the dream of Gorkhaland.