Mamata playing with fire on Gorkhaland issue: CPI(M) - demands all-party meeting on GTA

PTI, 19 August 2013, New Delhi: CPI(M) on Monday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  was "playing with fire" in the way she was tackling the Gorkhaland issue and claimed she was "incapable" of understanding ground realities in some troubled parts of the state.

"It seems she is incapable of understanding the ground realities and the difference between Jangalmahal and the hill areas (of North Bengal). An economic package and some infrastructure development can bring some visible changes in the former, but in Darjeeling, one has to take into account the ethnic factors entwined in the whole issue". 

"It seems the Chief Minister is oblivious of it. She is playing with fire. We can only hope that it doesn't burn her and the rest of the state," CPI(M) Politburo member and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Surjya Kanta Mishra told PTI. 

He accused Banerjee of first "playing cosy" with Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) for "petty political gains", then going for a tri-partite accord in July 2011 and "now when GJM ups its demand after Telengana, she gets into a combative mode." 

"This kind of flip-flop will never help. The Chief Minister should have never slammed the doors on dialogue. You can't abruptly stop talking," Mishra, who was here to attend CPI(M) Central Committee meeting, said. 

He asserted that there was no other way for the state government than to hold a tripartite dialogue with the agitators, involving the Centre. 

"Moreover, an all-party meeting on the issue, which we have been demanding for long, should be convened with all stakeholders urgently to discuss the prevailing situation," he said.  >Mishra, whose party has been opposed to the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland, said it was not a pragmatic idea to have a state where there were only three sub-divisions and not a single district.  

"A separate state is never a viable option," he said while referring to the need for sustaining the economy in the hill region and the strategic importance of Darjeeling vis-a- vis international borders.  

"But the Trinamool government as well as the Centre, where the TMC was a coalition partner then, should have understood this before including the word Gorkhaland (in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration or GTA) and acknowledging the demand for a separate state while passing an Act in the Assembly. We had opposed those provisions of GTA Act, but the government was adamant.  

"And now, stopping all talks or negotiations with the agitators, the Chief Minister is only stoking fire. The Hills are not smiling back to her," the CPI(M) leader said.  Regarding the recent panchayat polls in West Bengal, Misra said the Left's gains, mainly in the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti tiers, were "in those areas where Trinamool had won hands down in 2011 Assembly polls".  

"This will help us to continue our work closely with people," he said. On these polls in the Jangalmahal area, he said that in one-third of the total seats, Trinamool Congress won unopposed or rigged the election and even the counting process.  

"The results from the remaining two-third seats clearly show that there has been no fundamental shift towards the Left or any other political party," Mishra acknowledged.

TH, Kolkata: Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Surya Kanta Mishra has demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the developments relating to the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in the wake of the Government deciding on a “fact verification committee” to look into the “factual aspects” of the report of the high-powered committee on the transfer of areas in Terai and Dooars to the GTA. 

The decision was taken by the Government in response to the objections of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) to the recommendations of the high-powered committee headed by Justice (Retired) Shyamal Sen.

Dr. Mishra also asked for a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the Government’s recent deliberations with the GJM last week. “An all-party meeting is required at this juncture. During the previous Left Front government whenever we held such meetings we used to apprise all the parties and the Assembly,” he said to journalists in the Assembly premises here on Monday. 

Earlier in the day, Dr. Mishra raised objections in the House about the Assembly not being informed of the recent developments relating to the GTA. Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay assured Dr. Mishra that he would discuss the issue with the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Partha Chatterjee. 

Expressing reservations over the “fact verification committee”, Dr. Mishra said that it was “surprising” that a committee of bureaucrats would verify the facts of one that was headed by a former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. 

“The high-powered committee was formed with a former chief justice as the chairman. But now the committee appointed by the government for verifying facts of the report is headed by a bureaucrat. This is surprising and not legally tenable,” he said. 

On the issue of holding elections to the GTA, Dr. Mishra said that all parties should get equal opportunities to campaign for the elections. “The peace prevailing in the hills now is one-sided. The situation should not be such that only one party can campaign” he added.