Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee sails into choppy waters

Amitava Banerjee , OI, September 11, 2017, Darjeeling, September 11, 2017: After the vertical split in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM,) the Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) suffered a major jolt with the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) leaving its fold.

The GMCC, a conglomeration of 14 political and apolitical parties and organization was constituted in June this year with the objective of spearheading a collective movement for Gorkhaland. However, within a short span of time lack of coordination between the constituent parties along with shortcomings in the functioning and policies of the GMCC had come to the fore.

AIGL, the oldest political outfit of the Gorkhas in the country and a constituent of the GMCC on Monday announced its decision of leaving the GMCC. "We feel that the GMCC has failed to give direction to the greater cause of Gorkhaland. It has utterly failed and remains as a mere shadow of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. The very purpose of the GMCC is being defeated. The GJM even announce unilateral decisions which are then echoed by the GMCC" alleged Pratap Khati, AIGL General Secretary. 

The AIGL has also alleged "pick and choose policy" in the GMCC. "When there is any GMCC delegation being constituted, the GMCC picks and chooses. They chose and discard who so ever they like." added Khati. 

Many other constituent parties have echoed similar sentiments. "We are as good as out of the GMCC. The GJM exercises total hegemony in the GMCC. The GJM makes unilateral announcements which the GMCC echoes like a puppet. GMCC never behaved liked a collective organization. If the GMCC does not mend its way and stresses on collective leadership then it will soon become redundant" stated Chettri. 

JAP has not sent their representatives in the past two meetings of the GMCC. "It is very unfortunate that the AIGL has decided to leave. There are many shortcomings in the GMCC but AIGL could have ventilated their grievances from within the GMCC rather than leaving" stated Neeraj Zimba, Spokesperson, GNLF.

Recently the GMCC has been facing a lot of problems with disagreement between constituent parties and organizations. 

"How can the AIGL still claim to be sincere towards Gorkhaland by leaving the GMCC. The need of the hour is unity and it is impossible for any single party to fulfill the Herculean task of Gorkhaland" stated Kalyan Dewan, Convenor, GMCC. 

However Dewan admitted that the GMCC was plagued by a number of problems including the unilateral decisions of the GJM. 

"As the agitation was being spearheaded by the GJM and as the GJM has the largest support base, it was decided that the GJM would lead. The constituents were made to understand this. However trouble started when GJM started taking unilateral decisions. However others did not quite approve of GJM's dominant role" explained Dewan.

He stated that despite his attempts at reconciling, the GMCC is not making much headway. 

"Many of the constituents have started taking unilateral decisions. The purpose of the GMCC is steadily getting defeated. The problem is GMCC is a platform and nothing is binding for the constituent outfits." admitted Dewan.