Gurung refuses to budge on territory - Off to Delhi for meeting with Chidambaram

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today said “under no circumstances” would his party agree to leave out portions of Darjeeling district or the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars from the ambit of the interim set up for the hills during the meeting with P. Chidambaram tomorrow.

“Our initial concern is earmarking the jurisdiction of the proposed interim set-up. In tomorrow’s meeting, we will insist that the Centre fix the jurisdiction of the set-up, which in turn will form the geographical boundary of a separate Gorkhaland state when it is created,” Gurung told reporters at Bagdogra airport before leaving for Delhi for the meeting with the Union home minister.

However, he emphasised: “We would like to make it clear that under no circumstances will we agree to leave out the Terai, Siliguri or specified portions of the Dooars from the ambit of the interim set-up.”

Senior ministry officials in Delhi today said the meeting with Chidambaram was fixed at Gurung’s initiative.

“It is a courtesy call,” said an official.

However, another official involved with the tripartite talks process said Gurung wished to meet Chidambaram to impress upon him the rationale behind the Morcha’s demand for the inclusion of a portion of the Dooars and the entire Darjeeling district in the interim set-up.

Although the Morcha had initially insisted on including the entire Darjeeling district and the Dooars comprising the seven blocks of Jalpaiguri district in the proposed Gorkhaland, it had later climbed down and said it was willing to accept only the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars. Darjeeling district in its entirety, however, continued to be within the redrawn map.

“Our delegation is carrying all relevant documents for the proposed set-up and in support of our demand to include the stipulated areas,” Gurung said. “The demand for Gorkhaland continues to remain our main demand but as of now, we want an immediate solution on the jurisdiction of the proposed interim set-up.”

Both the state and central governments have made it clear that the interim arrangement will be confined only to the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.

Gurung, however, said there was “no way” that he would accept this.

“There is no question of agreeing to the Centre or to the state’s proposals and not demanding these areas. We have been harping on the inclusion (of these areas) and will iterate it tomorrow at the meeting,” he said. “But we cannot specify when the proposal (on the interim set-up) will take a final shape as a number of issues are to be sorted out.”

Home ministry officials said the set-up’s territory was one of the most “contentious” issues, and Gurung wanted this to be resolved speedily. They said that once it fell into place, the rest would follow smoothly.

“The Morcha wants a solution early as time is running out,” said a government source. “Any agreement reached barely months before next year’s Assembly elections in Bengal will become difficult to implement for the Centre and the Bengal government.”

Gurung, who is accompanied by party general secretary Roshan Giri and two other leaders, said: “We have initiated a drive to increase communication with the common people in the hills. Similar drives would be undertaken in the Terai and the Dooars soon to augment public relations.”

The move, Morcha sources said, is to rejuvenate the support base in the two areas where, unlike the hills, the activities of the Morcha are comparatively less.

Source: The Telegraph