Clash before talks: Method in GJM chief's madness

Saugata Roy | TNN | Oct 14, 2017, KOLKATA: Fugitive GJM president Bimal Gurung's desperate bid to make a comeback in the Hills inviting police action on Friday has pushed Darjeeling into a fresh spell of uncertainty. This has also created scope for insurgent groups to turn the Queen of the Hills into a permanent trouble zone, as it has happened with some other northeastern states. 

Gurung's adversary and acting Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) chairman Binay Tamang shared the concern. "We have always attached great value to peace.We don't want to see the Hills turn into another Kashmir," Tamang said in Kolkata on Friday.

The GJM president, however, has a method in his madness. He went into a confrontation with the state police, three days ahead of the October 16 peace talks in Kolkata, to whip up sentiments of a section of the Hills people willing to sett le for nothing less than Gorkhaland. Sending out audio messages from time to time, Gurung has skilfully crafted his image as a genuine Gorkhaland soldier who has prevailed over the charges of corruption and sedition on him. 

The state administration, which is aware of the sentiment, could have waited at least till October 16 before going after the UAPA accused. Instead, what seems to have acted on the contrary is Binay Tamang's leaving the Hills at this critical juncture. Tamang, however, said in Kolkata that his meeting with the CM was pre-scheduled and has nothing to do with the day's development.

While other Hills outfits like GNLF and Harka Bahadur Chhetri's Jan Andolan Pary (JAP) distanced themselves from Gurung and stood by the Hills people, BJP state president threw his weight behind the GJM. 

"The Hills has been witnessing gunbattle since last night. It is difficult to ascertain who pulled the trigger first.But the operation goes in tune with the state government's efforts to establish the hegemony of Trinamool Congress and its cohorts in the Hills. Gurung has been the target since long.There is a conspiracy to eliminate him," said BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, sending out clear signals that BJP is with Bimal Gurung while Tamang is the state agent.

JAP president Harka Bahadur Chhetri said, "Our party believes that there is no need for arms to raise a constitutional demand for a separate state. What happened today is a great setback for the Gorkhaland agitation." GNLF spokesperson Mahendra Chhetri held that the violence was uncalled for when peace talks were under way.

Mainstream political rivals -Trinamool and BJP -seem to have been engaged in a verbal duel when the state and the Centre need to share intelligence inputs and work together and chart out a peace process taking the stakeholders in the Hills into confidence.