No more bandhs in hills: GJM

PTI, IE, Darjeeling, Sat Oct 26 2013: With the Gorkhland movement having mothballed following strong administrative steps in Darjeeling, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday scored another success by making the GJM, which is spearheading a separate statehood movement in the hills, eschew politics of bandhs.

"From this moment, there will be a bandh to the bandhs. Madam (Mamata Banerjee) thinks that even one day of bandh can cut down the income of the state quite remarkably. That should not happen," GJM leader Harka Bahadur Chetri said after a Morcha delegation met Mamata in Darjeeling.

The bandhs called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha during the recent agitation for a separate Gorkhaland had shut down the hills for three months.

"I told them not to organise bandh and strikes. Quarrel with us as much as you want, but (do) not (force) bandhs and strikes, which hit the people and the economy," Mamata said after a meeting of the hill council, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

She was talking to reporters after the hour-long meeting, which was attended by GJM general secretary Roshan Giri, three GJM legislators — Chetri, Trilok Dewan and Rohit Sharma — and Ramesh Allay, deputy chief of the GTA.

"The meeting went well. They (GM members) were happy and hopeful and wanted to work together (with Bengal government)," Mamata, who has ruled out any division of the state, said.

The Chief Minister said that both sides would meet for bilateral talks in Kolkata in November during the Assembly session where the GJM MLAs would be present. This would be followed by a tripartite meeting.

"GTA has already started functioning. They will have to elect members to the body as the one-month period for doing so is going to lapse Saturday," she said.

Expressing satisfaction over the talks, GJM leader Harka Bahadur Chetri told reporters that bandhs would not be organised in future. He also tried to play down the tension that had spawned between the state government and the GJM.

"After a short period of some miscommunication, it appeared that our relations were strained, but it is not so," Chetri, a GJM central committee member, said, adding, "Madam has tremendous capacity to simplify things and make it so simple and acceptable to everyone that it appears as if there was no miscommunication."

He said Mamata had planned more programmes for development in Darjeeling than "we had expected."

In a U-turn from its earlier stand no talks with the state government, Chetri said, "Bipartite talks are more important than tripartite. Issues are to be resolved. The issue that remain pending can be taken up with the Government of India."

He said that the CM has said that she would send all her party MPs and MLAs to Delhi "so that we can together take up with the Union government our demand."

Mamata intervened to say as per the tripartite agreement, which resulted in the formation of GTA, the Centre was committed to give funds. "For that matter our TMC MPs will go."

The GTA, which had been closed during the shutdown in the hills, formally resumed functioning on October 21. It was a U-turn from the demand by the five-party Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee, leading the agitation, that the GJM quit the GTA and take up the Gorkhaland agitation forcefully.

Also, the chief minister stressed on developing more spots in Darjeeling to attract tourists, its main revenue earner. A road would be built to Tiger Hill, famous for its sunrise, she said. The three sub-divisional town of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalipong would be beautified.

The Chief Minister will again visit Darjeeling in January when a cultural festival would be held to attract international tourists.