Hills idol wins over India
Darjeeling& Gangtok, Sept. 23: This year’s Indian Idol has been a winner all along, his voice cutting across differences in class, politics and nationality to unite the entire hill people and help them forge new relationships with others.
“Because of Prashant Tamang, we have been able to stamp our identity on the consciousness of India and the process has united our people scattered across the globe,” said Tenzing Khambachay, the president of Prashant Fan Club, Darjeeling.
For one, Prashant’s success in Indian Idol brought the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim together. “It was as if the Teesta and the Rangit, the two rivers that separate the regions, had dried up!” said a resident here.
He wasn’t far off the mark. Prashant, a resident of Toongsoong, Darjeeling, was declared brand ambassador of Sikkim, chief minister Pawan Chamling came out in his support and ordinary people sent thousands of votes for the singer through phone calls and text messages.
“The people of Darjeeling will forever remain indebted to Sikkim,” said Khambachay. For an older resident of Darjeeling, the show of unity was reminiscent of the Nepali Bhasha Andolan in the 1970s, when the hills fought for the inclusion of the Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian constitution.
However, the Prashant frenzy was not confined to the hills — it took hold of the Dooars too. Prashant’s mother and sister, who were out campaigning for him, were invited to umpteen number of places in the Dooars. “The response of people there was just overwhelming,” said Khambachay.In fact, Prashant helped bridge the gap between the hills and the plains in more ways than one. Even the parents of Emon Chatterjee from Calcutta, who lost out in the penultimate episode of the contest, urged his fans to vote for Prashant in the final. Prashant Fan Club, Darjeeling, responded by promising to felicitate Emon after the contest gets over.
Prashant’s popularity also swept aside international boundaries as people from Nepal extended all kinds of support to his supporters here. As Rajesh Ghatani, a Prashant fan from Nepal had said at a programme held in Gymkhana Rink Hall here: “If only we could have voted from Nepal, we would have flooded India with text messages.”
Instead, people from Nepal came down to the Darjeeling hills in droves with money to buy mobile recharge cards, which they distributed among dedicated volunteers here.
They were joined by Nepalis from across the world, be it the US or the European countries. “Our emotional bonds have become stronger and that is our biggest victory,” said Khambachay.
