For SC interest, Morcha to revise proposal Promise to preserve reserved status

Darjeeling, March 22: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is set to “revise” the “secret proposal” sent to the Centre on the interim arrangement for the hills to safeguard the interests of the Schedule Castes.

The Morcha, in its proposal to Union home minister P. Chidambaram, had said “all Gorkha communities should be given Schedule Tribe status”.

Today, Morcha president Bimal Gurung while addressing party supporters at Mahanadi in Kurseong said: “We will make some revisions in the proposal largely to safeguard the interest of the Schedule Castes in the hills. The privileges the community is currently receiving should not be diluted. We will write to the Centre soon.” The details of the content of the letter have not been spelt out.

Observers say that since the SCs already have safeguards through job reservation and reserved seats during elections, they would gain little through conversion to STs. In fact, they would stand to lose much as they would have to share the reservation with the entire hills if all the communities there were made STs.

In the past, when GNLF president Subash Ghisingh signed an agreement with the Centre and the state for the inclusion of the Darjeeling hills in the Sixth Schedule, the Scheduled Castes had openly opposed the agreement, demanding safeguard of their rights.

The opposition was led by the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Anushuit Jati Sangh, an organisation fighting for the rights of the SCs. Even though the Sangh was not directly against conferring the Sixth Schedule status on the hills, it wanted a special mention of the SCs, saying otherwise their rights would be diluted.

The demand was made as the new council under the Sixth Schedule — to be called the Gorkha Hill Council Darjeeling — had 10 seats reserved for the STs and three for other unrepresented minorities in the proposed 33-member body.

The SCs wanted a special reservation on the lines of the STs in the GHCD till the process of conversion of the Scheduled Castes to Scheduled Tribes was over. The Scheduled Castes believed that conversion to STs was a long and arduous process, as they had to be first de-notified from the SC list and then included in the ST list after much research.

While Schedule Tribes constitute 34 per cent of the hill community, 9.7 per cent comprise the SCs.

Such was the anger against Ghisingh’s Sixth Schedule proposal that the late K.S. Ramudamu, who was the president of the Sangh, joined the Morcha when it was formed to become the party’s vice-president.

From The Telegraph

Rally to celebrate death of bills - Bogey of sixth schedule status ends: hill party

Darjeeling, Feb. 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today brought out processions across the Darjeeling hills to mark the end of the Sixth Schedule bills. The party had been claiming that the bills had been already “put in the dustbins”.

“We brought out the rallies to tell people that today was the end of the bills that were once introduced in Parliament. We say this because today was the last working day of Parliament even though the session is technically on till June. However, since the elections are due in May, there is no chance of the bill being passed anymore,” said Binay Tamang, the spokesperson for the Morcha.

The Morcha leader cited Article 107 (Clause 5) of the Constitution to corroborate the party’s claim that the bills were already dead. MORE...

GJMM organises victory rallies

KURSEONG, Feb. 26: Claiming that the Sixth Schedule proposal for the Darjeeling Hills has been dropped for good, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha organised victory rallies across the Hills this evening.

Speaking on the subject, the GJMM secretary, Mr Roshan Giri, said: “The pending Sixth Schedule proposal for Darjeeling Hills was cancelled today.” In this connection the Darjeeling Congress MP, Mr Dawa Narbula, said that Sixth Schedule Bill proposal would get dissolved with the dissolution of Parliament. MORE...

Bengal BJP team to Darjeeling

Darjeeling: A team of BJP leaders from the Bengal state committee is expected to visit the Darjeeling hills to feel the pulse of the people on the Sixth Schedule.

G.S. Yonzone, the president of the BJP (hill unit), said: “The state committee has written a letter, which says that they would like to visit Darjeeling soon. I am trying to work out the dates.”

Yonzone has signed a joint memorandum with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the CPRM against the Sixth Schedule. The decision has been communicated to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs to whom the special status bill has been referred to.

The BJP leader’s stand comes at a time when his party in Delhi is yet to issue any statement on the Sixth Schedule. So far the BJP has opposed the bill on technical grounds. Even chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has gone on record maintaining that L.K. Advani had categorically said the BJP had not opposed the content of the bill.

Since the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution needs to be amended to grant special status to the hills, the BJP demanded that the bill be referred to a parliamentary committee like any other constitutional amendment bill. Later Sushma Swaraj, the BJP leader who heads the committee, said since there are lots of grievance about the bill, it should be examined threadbare

When asked if he had consulted the state committee before deciding to oppose the bill, Yonzone said “he was in constant touch with the party leaders”.

The visit of the BJP state-level leaders is expected to be important as their briefing to the central leadership could play an instrumental role in deciding the fate of the Sixth Schedule bill.

The support of the BJP is of much importance if the special status is to be implemented in the Darjeeling hills. Constitutional amendments — in this case the Sixth Schedule has to be amended — must be backed by two-thirds of 50 per cent members of the House present.

Source: The Telegraph

Bimal Gurung promises Gorkhaland by 2010

Siliguri Dec. 22: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung today said the Sixth Schedule status would bring "bloodshed" in the hills.

"Khoon kharaba hoga... danga fasad (There would be bloodshed and riots)," Gurung said at Bagdogra airport on his return from Delhi where he went to attend a Parliament select committee hearing on the Sixth Schedule bill.

"People in the hills do not want the Sixth Schedule status," Gurung said. "We want nothing short of Gorkhaland. And if they force the Sixth Schedule status on the people, there will be tension again."

GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh skipped the hearing, saying he had already written to the committee apprising it of his party's support for the bill.

Gurung said the committee would visit Darjeeling so on. "We'll show the reality to them."

The Morcha leader who met BJP leader L.K. Advani in Delhi, said: "The CPM has destroyed the hills and there is no reason why we should enter into a dialogue with it."

Ghisingh, he said, "has sold the Gorkhaland agitation to the state government".

At a gathering at Chowkbazar in Darjeeling, Gurung promised a Gorkhaland state by March 2010. "It is a Promise," he said.

Source: The Telegraph

Buddhadeb to take up Sixth Schedule matters in Delhi

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today re-affirmed that he would urge the Centre to confer the Sixth Schedule on the Darjeeling hills at the earliest, 24 hours after Subash Ghisingh warned the Bengal government against “outbursts of frustration”,

If the bill is delayed, there can be outburst of frustration, Ghisingh had said here yesterday.

The chief minister today left for Delhi to attend a meeting of the National Development Council and said he would take up the issue with quarters concerned. He, however, refused to specify whom he would meet. “Ghisingh was here and we discussed the pending bill. As it was not passed in the winter session of Parliament and sent to the Standing Committee instead, we expect it to be passed in the budget session,” Bhattacharjee told reporters at the circuit house here today.

The committee, the chief minister said, will submit its recommendations on the first day of the budget session. “We hope the bill will be placed a couple of days after that.”

Bhattacharjee confirmed that the GNLF leadership is for immediate implementation of the Sixth Schedule and not for a separate state. “I find no change in their stand,” Bhattacharjee said. He was endorsing what Ghisingh had said yesterday: “I was the first to raise the Gorkhaland demand but right now the time is not favourable for a separate state.”

Source: The Telegraph

Opposition parties left for Delhi for hearing on Sixth Schedule

Darjeeling: Representatives of most of the Opposition parties in the hills have left for Delhi to attend a hearing on the Sixth Schedule status on Thursday, though Subash Ghisingh’s party, the GNLF, is yet to take a decision.

“Let us wait till tomorrow. I don’t know if we are going to attend the meeting convened by the parliamentary Standing Committee,” Deepak Gurung, the president of the GNLF Darjeeling Branch Committee, told The Telegraph today.

The bill on the Sixth Schedule, which has to be amended to confer the special status on the Darjeeling hills, was referred to the Standing Committee after the BJP raised objections.

The report of the committee could influence the BJP stand. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has already met the party leaders in Delhi to garner support against the special status. The BJP had demanded a threadbare discussion on the bill as, according to senior leader Sushma Swaraj, there were many misgivings about it.

At such a juncture, the GNLF refusal to make its stand clear has surprised political observers.

Ghisingh had told reporters in Siliguri yesterday that the “onus” of passing the bill rested with the people/authorities concerned and that he was confident that the BJP would help pass the bill.

However, observers believe that in the absence of the GNLF, the Opposition will be able to put forward their argument to the Standing Committee with ease.

For the Opposition, the main argument is that the special status would divide the Gorkha community along the tribal-non-tribal line. It will also protest against the exclusion of the Nepali-speaking areas of the Dooars from the Sixth Schedule status.

Following a series of meetings between the Morcha, CPRM, GNLF (C) and the Gorkha Rastriya Congress, the parties have decided to submit a joint memorandum to the parliamentary committee. Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL, which is not a signatory to the memorandum, will also attend the meeting.

Morcha in garden

The Morcha formed its youth front at Happy Valley Tea Garden yesterday. Alok Kant Thulung, president of the youth front, said: “We now challenge the GNLF to hold a meeting and show us how many supporters they have.”

Source: The Telegraph

Sixth Schedule bill put up matter

CPM leader Basudeb Acharia today asked the Center to take up the amendment bill, for granting Sixth Schedule status to the autonomous council that will replace the DGHC, in the current session itself.

Raising the matter in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour today, the MP from Bankura said the situation in the hills was again deteriorating and the government should not delay the amendment bill any further. He cited the bandh call given by a hill outfit in protest against the settlement under the Sixth Schedule and requested the government to act before the situation goes out of control. Acharia said the turbulence was having an adverse impact on the inflow of tourists in the peak season.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs B.K. Handique said he would convey the message to the minister concerned.

In Kurseong, on the other hand, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters’ gheraoed the municipality office today demanding that the chairman and the councilors should be transparent in all development work they undertake.

Led by Morcha convener Pradeep Pradhan, the protesters alleged that most of the civic work was being given to contractors close to the councilors.

Municipality chairman P.C.Agarwal denied the charges.

Morcha supporters shouted slogans in front of the municipality office for more than an hour after which the chairman of the municipality met the leaders and heard their grievances.

Source: The Telegraph