Cornered Bimal Gurung seeks governor's mediation

TNN | Aug 22, 2013, DARJEELING: The Mamata Banerjee government is not willing to give Gorkha Janmukti Morcha any breathing space. A day after the chief minister dismissed the Gorkhaland agitation as "political gimmickry", her administration on Wednesday called a meeting on September 4 to elect a GTA chief executive to replace Morcha president Bimal Gurung who resigned on July 29.

A cornered Gurung appealed to governor M K Narayanan to mediate, even as the newly formed Gorkhaland forum's chief ruffled feathers by calling CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya. Pushed to the brink, the Morcha said it will not attend the September 4 meeting, handing the government the option of naming any one of the five nominated members as Gurung's successor.

Gurung pinned his hopes on Narayanan in a Facebook counter to Mamata's post. "We welcome the governor's announcement that he is ready to mediate. We hope he takes appropriate steps as early as possible," wrote Gurung. On August 14, the Governor had said he would not play mediator but a week ago, he said that if Gurung wanted to talk to him, he would reciprocate.

Gurung came up with a strong counter to Mamata's post. "If the chief minister respects the Hills people, she should also respect their sentiments. The demand of Gorkhaland is an aspiration of all Gorkhas and other Hills communities. Instead of respecting this sentiment the chief minister has talked of being rough and tough and gone on a rampant arrest spree," Gurung posted on Wednesday.

As many as 681 Morcha activists and leaders have been arrested since the beginning of the agitation. Seven of them are elected GTA members. "GJM leaders and supporters who are granted bail are arrested in other cases before they are released from judicial custody. This is perhaps the first time in the history of this region that over 600 people have been arrested in 20 days, that too in old cases. Is this the respect the CM is showing to the Hills people for peacefully voicing their aspirations?" Gurung asks.

On Tuesday, Mamata had said: "It is very unfortunate that the political party has resorted to agitation, stalling the development process. Who is to be blamed?"

Gurung countered this by accusing Mamata of violating the GTA agreement. "Every clause in the GTA mentions 'with the approval of the government', which proves that GTA is not autonomous," he said. The Morcha supremo criticized Mamata for trying to handle the Gorkhaland agitation as a law and order issue. 
"The sentiment of the Hills people is not a law and order problem but a political problem. The state machinery can arrest as many people as they can. People are willingly going to jail but how many people can they arrest? Our demand is more than 100 years old and it will be wrong of the chief minister to think that the aspirations of the Hills people will be wiped out by merely arresting Morcha activists. This is not a development issue but an identity issues that the chief minister must understand," he posted.

On Thursday, the Morcha will hold a huge rally under its own banner for the first time since the formation of the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC) on August 17. Not all seems to be well between the forum and the Morcha. It suffered its first setback within 24 hours of formation when Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League pulled out. The Morcha doesn't accept the hardline stance of GJAC — and its chairperson Enos Das Pradhan — that all elected Morcha representatives resign from GTA and the assembly.

Enos refused to comment on this but his call to CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya was the talking point in the Hills on Wednesday. "Yes, I did call him," Enos said, refusing to elaborate. The CPM leader confirmed the call and said: "I told him of our party position against the formation of smaller states. I also said that we do not support the arrests in Darjeeling."
( Republished in Kalimpong News - Source & Courtesy:
 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cornered-Bimal-Gurung-seeks-governors-mediation/articleshow/21970103.cms)