GJM suspends bandh till February 7

Two days after the meeting between its representatives and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) leadership that had earlier threatened a 15-day bandh in Darjeeling district from January 29, decided on Thursday to suspend its programme till February 7.

“We have suspended the third phase of the bandh that was to have been resumed [as part of its call for a 26-day bandh] on Saturday, but will continue with our plans for a padayatra to the Dooars”, GJM central committee leader Harka Bahadur Chettri told The Hindu over telephone from Kumani in the Kalimpong sub-division of Darjeeling district.

While the GJM leaders had, following their meeting with Mr. Chidambaram on January 25, expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the talks, the decision to suspend and not withdraw its bandh call is being construed as a ploy to put pressure on the Centre to come up by the first week of February with a draft for the proposal of an interim arrangement to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

Dr. Chettri, who was in the GJM delegation that met the Union Home Minister, had said shortly after, that his colleagues were hopeful that the draft of the proposal for the interim set-up would be ready for perusal by the first week of February. They had also been reportedly assured that it would not compromise their demand for a separate Gorkhaland State.

Future of stir discussed

The future of the GJM's agitation to put pressure on the Centre to clarify its position on the separate State issue was discussed at a meeting at Kumani of the party's central committee in the presence of GJM president Bimal Gurung. A report on the talks with Mr. Chidambaram was also placed at the meeting.

While the GJM leadership awaits the draft proposal for the interim arrangement, it chose to go ahead with its padayatra to Jaigaon in the Dooars, even if that means breaking through barricades set up by the police.

The Jalpaiguri district authorities had imposed prohibitory orders in certain areas of the Dooars to prevent the GJM leaders from walking into the region in view of the tense situation prevailing there following clashes in Jaigaon on January 16 between supporters of the GJM and those of regional outfits opposed to the Statehood demand.

Volunteers of the GJM will be going on a relay hunger-strike at places across Darjeeling district and parts of the Dooars during the days the bandh remains suspended, to maintain pressure on the Centre for a clarification of its stand on the Gorkhaland demand.

The Hindu

Morcha plans to shut out Parishad - Hill outfit alleges state hand in Adivasi demand

Darjeeling, April 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today indicated that it would abandon its efforts to woo the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad to agree to its demand to include the Terai and parts of the Dooars in the interim authority for the Darjeeling hills.

In the past, the Morcha and the Parishad leaderships had few meetings to arrive at a consensus on this issue. However, the Parishad had always said that while it has no objections to the creation of Gorkhaland, it did not want Dooars to be a part of it.

But with the Morcha insisting that the Nepali-dominated areas of the Dooars should be part of the interim authority, the Parishad had placed a rider yesterday. It said that tribals should also be made part of the talks that has been taking place between the Centre, the state and the hill party.

The Morcha today responded by challenging the locus standi of the Parishad for speaking on behalf of all tribals.

Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri told The Telegraph: “We no longer think that the Parishad is the sole body representing the rights of the tribals in the Terai and the Dooars. This is largely because a large number of people from the tribal community are now with the Morcha in those areas. Who has given them (the Parishad) the authority to speak on behalf of all tribals in the Dooars?” Chhetri even went one step ahead and hinted at a collusion between the Parishad and the state government.

“It is clear that the Left- minded tribal leaders involved with the Parishad are now being controlled by the state government and they are trying to derail our efforts to reach an agreement for an interim set- up. The state is aware that it has much to lose and is now using these tribal leaders who were formerly with the CPM and the RSP to achieve their goal,” said Chhetri.

This marks a break from the previous Morcha stand of appeasing the Parishad leadership and arriving at a consensus.

Even on March 15 this year, the day Morcha chief Bimal Gurung made public his “secret document” for an interim set up, a delegation of the hill party that included Chhetri had held a meeting with the Parishad leaders and had tried hard to press upon them the benefits that the tribals would enjoy if they were part of the interim set-up.

Asked whether the Morcha would oppose the demand for the inclusion of the tribals in the talks, Chhetri said: “Any such call has to be made after holding a central committee meeting. This decision also lies with the Union government. However, the Morcha has been very logical in the demand for inclusion of areas in the Dooars in the interim set-up. We have redrawn the map to ensure that we leave out areas where there is 100 per cent opposition to the inclusion within the proposed set-up. We are not illogical and have demanded only those areas where people, including the tribals, have supported the interim set-up.”

Earlier, the Morcha had demanded that the entire Dooars be included in the area it wanted as Gorkhaland. However, Gurung made a climbdown when in the “secret proposal” he revealed that the Gorkhaland map had been redrawn to include only those parts of the Dooars where there is a significant Gorkha population.

After the submission of the document, the Morcha had made it clear that it would no longer compromise on the revised territory.

Chhetri said: “The Parishad must understand that we also have support in the Dooars which has been proved by the fact that we won the Kalchini Assembly byelections.”

Source: The Telegraph