Son of former MP, CITU leader, Saman oozes confidence

MANAS R BANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI 12 DECEMBER 21 : Saman Pathak, who was elected as the Darjeeling district Secretary of the CPI-M, was an SFI activist working under the guidance of party in 1998.

Mr Pathak, the son of former Darjeeling district CPI-M secretary Ananda Pathak, who was also the Darjeeling Member of Parliament for many terms, has replaced veteran CPI-M leader Jibesh Sarkar, who has completed two terms as the district secretary. Saman Pathak contested the parliament elections twice in 2014 and 2019 from the Darjeeling LS seat.

Mr Sarkar had earlier replaced SP Lepcha, who was elected the district president after Ananda Pathak in 1993. Mr Sarkar was also the acting district secretary as SP Lepcha fell ill. It may be noted here that the late Ananda Pathak was the replacement of Ratan Lal Brahmin, who led the CPI-M in this region from 1956 to 1975. The CPI-M had ruled the Hill region under those leaders, but the next generation of leaders gradually lost control over the Hills.

Significantly, the Darjeeling district CPI-M leadership is comparatively younger presently, with leaders like Mr Pathak, but this has happened at a time when the Hills as well as Siliguri are under the control of the BJP politically, and when the Trinamul Congress is ruling West Bengal since 2011.  

Under such a situation, Mr Pathak, who was elected as the Rajya Sabha member from the Hills in 2006, is determined to regain lost ground, following policies adopted in the past under the leadership of his father and the resolutions adopted in the conference held in Siliguri.

Mr Pathak, who was also a DYFI leader for a short term, had been in charge of the party's trade union CITU as its general secretary of the Darjeeling district unit for the past six years.

Mr Pathak, who is confident of retaining seats in both the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, which were under the control of the Left Front until recently, has asked both the Trinamul Congress and the BJP to clear its stand on the much-talked-about 'PPS' (Permanent Political Solution) for the Hills.

"Both the TMC and BJP leaders, who are speaking a lot on the PPS, have not yet cleared what the PPS was, at a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is visiting the area to discuss the issue in the Hills, and Kurseong MLA B P Sharma has claimed that PPS was separation from Bengal. They have to clear their stand, explain what PPS is," Mr Pathak told The Statesman.

"Our stand on the PPS is clear. We have adopted a resolution on it in the conference. We have decided to set up a Gorkha Swashasit Parishad (GSP) for Darjeeling and Kalimpong and its adjoining areas. It would be a highest form of autonomous body within the state with legislative, executive and financial powers, involving public participation," Mr Pathak said.

As financial power is concerned. according to Mr Pathak, it was proposed during the resolution that the CAG would audit GSP's accounts.

"GSP would be comparatively better than the DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council) as it will have a planning committee to formulate policies as part of even  NITIAayog and even it would enjoy facilities like the Northeast," Mr Pathak added. Mr Pathak also did not hesitate to point out how his father had raised the issue in Parliament and how nine rounds of talks were held.

He also mentioned the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 6 December 2005 for the Hill issue, under the leadership of Gorkha National Liberation Front leader Subash Ghisingh.