Gorkhaland cry back in Hills

Deep Gazmer, TNN | Oct 28, 2013, DARJEELING: After a brief lull, the statehood demand is back in the Hills.

While the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung on Sunday warned chief minister Mamata Banerjee not to play divisive politics, some GJM activists allegedly set ablaze a Trinamool supporter's house at the Glenburn tea estate under the Rangli-Rangliot police station area on Saturday night.

"I have asked my elected members to run the GTA which they will do properly. However, I will concentrate on taking the statehood movement forward. People are requesting me to take the post of the GTA chief executive again. But, I have come for 'jati' (community) and 'mato' (motherland). That is why I have resigned," Gurung said while addressing a gathering at the Motor Stand.

At Glenburn, the Trinamool supporter Rajik Sundas has lodged a complaint with police naming 29 GJM activists. Police have started raids in the nearby areas to get hold of the culprits named in the complaint.

On Sunday, the GJM chief once again blamed Mamata for the troubles in the Hills and requested her not to play petty politics. "I want to tell the Bengal CM that I am all for peace and stability in Darjeeling. But, it is she who creates disturbances with her divisive policies, whenever she comes to the Hills. For temporary gains she should not try to spoil years of communal harmony that would lead to ashanti in the Hills," he warned.

Placards asking Gurung to head the GTA were displayed by the crowd at Motor Stand. "It was our right to demand for a Gorkha state when the Centre unilaterally announced its decision on Telangana," Gurung said.

GJM and the state government were at loggerheads, ever since the former started a fresh agitation for a separate state in July after the Centre announced its decision to create Telangana.

GJM toned down its voice after Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and GJM leaders, on October 25, pledged support to each other at an hour-long meeting at the Richmond Hill guest house in Darjeeling. While Mamata said the state would extend all co-operation to the GTA, the GJM promised not to call any bandh in Darjeeling, henceforth.

Arguing for the statehood demand, Gurung pointed out that the July 18, 2011, GTA agreement mentions that the Gorkhaland demand was not dropped and the GTA was only an interim arrangement forced upon the party because of the Centre's lack of mandate to create new states in the country then.

The CM extending an olive branch to GJM had made it clear that Bengal would not be divided and it would be best to instead bring in mass development in the Hills for the benefit of the people.

Taking a dig at his own party leaders, who he alleged had gone into hiding during the month-long agitation because of fear of arrest, Gurung said, "Some (leaders) went out of the phone network, while some did not even take a call. Remember, we have not done anything wrong and there is no need to fear. But, it is because of you that parties like the GNLF and the Trinamool have taken advantage and established their base."

The GJM leader said a similar public meeting would be organized at Kalimpong on November 9. He also asked the party's women and youth wings and frontal organizations to be ready to attend a program in Delhi between December 20 and 22.

TH, October 28, 2013: While sending out a message to the West Bengal government as well as its own workers and supporters that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) was not soft-pedalling on its Gorkhaland demand by ruling out strikes in the Darjeeling hills, the party leadership lashed out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday for allegedly using the police administration to further her own political interests. 

Just three days after Ms. Banerjee addressed the first public meeting of the Trinamool Congress in Darjeeling, GJM president Bimal Gurung in a massive show of strength told a rally in the hill-town that she was out to create a division among the people of the hills. Mr. Gurung scoffed at the move by the Trinamool Congress to strengthen its base in the hills and, while speaking to journalists later, alleged that it was little more than a political grouping with its local leaders having “no credibility.” Some of its leaders are Maoists from Nepal “who had come to the country about six, seven years ago.” 

As for Gorkhaland it “was the final destination” of the GJM and the campaign for it would be taken to New Delhi where rallies would be held for three days from December 21 to create “pressure” on the Centre. 

“When the Centre can accept the Telangana demand why should we be told to let go of our Gorkhaland demand?” he asked. “The GJM will not drop the Gorkhaland demand” as the GTA Act, signed by its leaders, officials of the Centre and the State government “has a clear provision which has the demand “on record,” 

Mr. Gurung later wrote in a social networking site. But his tirade was chiefly against Ms. Banerjee. Whenever she came to Darjeeling, her remarks like “there would be no division of Bengal” hurt local sentiments, he said. 

“How long can this continue?” he asked, even as he reminded the Chief Minister that the GJM was against violence in the hills and sought “peaceful dialogue” to resolve the political crisis in the region. 

Charging that her government used the police to extend her political interests, he said: “This is not the right attitude of the Bengal government. Her politics should be based on principles… not create divisions within communities of the hills” – an obvious reference to her move to win over the Lepchas of the region for whom her government had set up a development board as well. “If so many development boards come up then how will GTA function?” the GJM chief asked.