Is BJP really favouring GJM for Gorkhaland?

Paul Rai, KalimNews, Kalimpong, 20 October 2015: Few days ago Mr. Bimal Gurung made a statement about Darjeeling-Sikkim merger in order to magnify the message that BJP is not having enough majority in Rajya Sabha (RS) and as a result Centre is not been able to place the Gorkhaland bill in Parliament. Further he added, BJP will look into all statehood demands when they will come in majority in RS. Through this statement it appears that BJP is looking for a bicameral parliamentary supremacy in both houses to resolve all statehood demands including Gorkhaland (GL).

At the moment BJP is in absolute majority in Lok Sabha, as far as Rajya Sabha is concerned it may take a couple of years to get majority depending on the ongoing and upcoming states’ assembly elections. When three states were formed in 2000 and Telengana in 2014, both ruling and opposition parties supported the bill for the creation of new states. When Chattisgarh, Jharkahand, and Uttaranchal were formed BJP was the ruling party and opposition party was the Congress and when Telengana was formed in 2014 UPA (Congress leading) was the ruling party and BJP was the opposition party . Last year when NDA wanted to hike the FDI percentage in the insurance sector, it had to face a huge opposition from none other than the Congress in Rajya Sabha.

After Mr. Gurung’s statement many must have had these questions in mind: Why NDA is apprehensive about introducing the GL bill in RS? Is this kind of delay really necessary? Are they looking for an opportune time? If they do not get majority, aren’t they going to table the bill? It’s true at present they are not in majority in Rajya Sabha, but they must table the bill without speculating what sort of debate or high drama the opposition would stage. After all for every new bill there are debates, discussions, oppositions and then it calms down, these are the part and parcel of the parliamentary happenings. At the end these will not have big impact on Gorkhaland demand (politically speaking) because we have hope in our Prime Minister who said that every Gorkha’s dream is his own dream, and our dream is Gorkhaland.

In the case of Telengana when the bill was placed in the house, it faced huge opposition. It was opposed to the core and the bill was treated like death-decree by opposing MPs. After forming Group of Ministers (GOM) headed by Sushilkumar Shinde, when Centre sought for the Andhra Pradesh (AP) Assembly’s notion on the bill sent by President, there was a chaos in AP assembly. Finally, Centre had to pitch in and asked the concerned state to submit their propositions on bill amendments within a deadline. On the other hand high dramas were staged in parliament by opposing MPs and many times house was adjourned. Parliamentarians walked out of the house when the bill was discussed. In an unprecedented incidence one of the Seemandhra MPs used paper spray at other sitting MPs and some had to be hospitalised. There were many dharnas against Telangana formation in AP and Delhi followed by Seemandhra MLAs mass resignations. Eventually, the bill was passed in both houses of the Parliament with huge support.

Let me summarise a bit of background of Telengana episode as how the bill was introduced and passed amidst huge opposition. At times it appeared next to impossible – Centre had already announced that the constitutional process for Telengana had begun two years prior to the introduction of bill in Parliament. 

UPA (congress) coalition had to face opposition time and again from its own allies for any matter that was tabled or discussed, besides BJP. When UPA came up with Telengana bill, it looked like the whole coalition was at the verge of collapse, such was the gravity of the situation. 

Anyways, the then government tabled the bill, and was able to garner support from all parties, even from the BJP. Now BJP is in absolute power and majority in Lok Sabha. Luckily we have our own MP Mr. Ahluwalia representing Darjeeling in the Parliament. 

Of course Sikkim MP can also be counted as a key supporter of our demand. Now it looks like the ball is in the BJP’s court. NDA has a greater responsibility to introduce Gorkhaland bill in Parliament and garner support from other parties, as it was the responsibility of Congress for the creation of Telengana. If BJP is apprehensive about the majority in Rajya Sabha then they can get Congress into confidence by saying – ‘we supported you to form Telengana, now help us form Gorkhaland’. And I don’t think Congress will oppose the demand of Gorkhaland to the point as they did for FDI issue because our demand is entirely different and top-notch national leaders are well aware of.

It is quite apparent that GL bill will face opposition however, this is not the dead end. We should not be anxious of these things – let people oppose, let them discuss in most unsuitable environment but we should keep going and this going comes only from BJP at this moment in time. One should not care about the protest in Parliament or State Assembly. As I said earlier the ball is in their court – if Modi government is concerned about Rajya Sabha then current government can call a joint session of Parliament on the basis of its strength in Lok Sabha. They can use this option of convening a joint sitting of Parliament. 

We must ask the NDA government to look for a suitable option to table the bill either by having a vote of confidence from the opposition or by calling a joint sitting of both houses. 

Last but not the least our focus should be for pressurising Centre to table the bill as this is our desperate and urgent need. 

Now GJMM is required to have a solid strategy with all peoples’ support to pursue the statehood programme in Delhi the way we did during Telengana formation. And This requires a full bloom co-ordination between Delhi and Gorkhaland areas to promote the final waves of statehood programme.