Barla faction vents anger against Trinamul

SNS, SILIGURI, 22 MAY: Reacting to the sudden change of tack by the ruling Trinamul Congress ahead of the rural polls dumping them for the mainstream faction, the president of the splinter ABAVP faction, Mr John Barla said the ruling party has taken revenge against his outfit for refusing doggedly to sacrifice its distinct identity. Notably, the Chief Minister Miss Mamata Banerjee, met a 10-member delegation from the mainstream faction in Kolkata yesterday.

“The ruling party seemingly cosying up to the mainstream smacks of vendetta against us as we kept sticking to our guns as far as the separate identity of the outfit is concerned. They put relentless pressure on us to make us merge into the ruling party. But we are not to be cowed down by such unprincipled flip-flop. We are confident that we would do well in the upcoming rural body election and that we would fight in alliance with the GJMM,” Mr Barla said.  

Taking a swipe at the chief minister, he said her assurance to set up a Tribal Development Council (TAC) for the Dooars-Terai region was nothing but a bait to goad them into a political understanding with them. “The Trinamul Congress sought to lure me into their folds by dangling the post of the Vice Chairman of the proposed Terai-Dooars Development Authority in the aftermath of the GJMM-backed MLA from Kalchini, Wilson Chamrapari having joined the ruling party. They assured Mr Champramari that the state would recommend his name for the post of the chairman of the proposed TDDA. But, till now, there is no notice for setting up the same. There is no gazette notification either,” Mr Barla said.

“The ABAVP had proposed the chief minister in 2011 for setting up an Adivasi Territorial Administration on the lines of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. But she refused to heed,” he pointed out.

“We have been demanding implementation of the Tribal Advisory Council proposal. If the state implements the proposal we would welcome the initiative. But we suspect it is nothing but a bait to get bloc votes from the Adivasi community for the upcoming rural polls in the Dooars,” Mr Barla added.

He said: “The state has implemented almost none of the demands that we raised when Miss Banerjee interacted with us during her last Dooars trip. The state government has, on the other hand, wound up the office of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) that kept catering to the region. No initiative has been taken either to revive the existing LAMPS (Large Sized Agricultural Multi-purpose Cooperatives Societies) for the betterment of the Adivasi people of the region,” he added. Another senior leader of the faction, however, said that they are worried with the ruling party having warmed up to the mainstream faction leaving them in the lurch. “The ruling party for political expediency seems to have forgotten the fact that we threw our weight behind her when she addressed a public meeting at Nagrakata on 28 December. The ABAVP Tirkey faction stayed away then,” he added.