“Gorkhaland is for all … and we must not divide it by (any) categorizations”
- Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh speaks exclusively with our DT Correspondent –
May 22, 2009
Tired and exhausted, after a massive and colorful “Election Victory Rally” in Kalimpong, after returning from New Delhi on May 21st, 2009, the new Darjeeling MP and Stalwart of the BJP, Jaswant Singh took time off from his busy schedule to speak exclusively with our DT Correspondent.
Here are the main excerpts of this interview with MP Jaswant Singh after the Victory Rally at Kalimpong on May 22, 2009:
Q. Jaswant Sir - what were you feelings when you came to Kalimpong, the tumultuous welcome you got and your being nominated by the BJP as their candidate from Darjeeling?A. When you say what were my feelings when I first came to Kalimpong, or the welcome that I got today, which is it ? what do you mean?
Q. Let us start with when you first came to Kalimpong…A. Well it was one of the most exceptional experiences of my life. The readiness and the warmth, with which I was not only welcomed, but actually embraced … by the entire community … it’s really rare for politicians to be so welcomed … particularly on the eve of elections. So that was wonderful.
Q. (Interjection) …. Was that the first time you came here?A. No, no, no, no!! I have been here in this part of the world earlier, in the 60’s, but that was during the Chinese operations. But that was a long time ago. But that was a very different world, a very different Darjeeling….. So, I don’t normally talk about that …. (as it was) a very unhappy phase that India went (through) …
Now that I have come back … I have, as I said, in the speech earlier (during the Victory rally), which was a very brief Thank You speech that I made, … I said, of the 15 Elections to the Lok Sabha, I’ve had the benefit to participate in 11 and of all the 11 that I have participated in …. I have never, ever …. but just once …. (experienced) …. a welcoming “Thank You” …. and gathering of this nature ….
(JS said with a gentle smile … and paused).Q. And, your appointment by the BJP to represent Darjeeling constituency for the 15th Lok Sabah Polls, were heralded by most (people) in the region as the “Master Stroke” of GJMM Supremo, Bimal Gurung….. In an interview with a journalist from The Statesman on April 19th (2009) – when questioned “Why you chose to fight the LS polls from Darjeeling?” … You mentioned that you did not choose, but that: “you being a loyal, obedient member of the party, you said … Fine! … and …. that was why you were here” …. (So) , what were your thoughts and ideas before April 2nd 2009, when it was announced that GJMM had struck a deal with BJP ?A. No, I was part of the negotiations…. About the term “Deal” there is a difference, (about) “Deal being Struck” …. Here I put it as an “Agreement” …. there is a difference between a “Deal” and an “Agreement”. There is a very significant difference …
Q. Can you elaborate on that …. A. “Deal” is a fixing…. “Deal” (has) an underhand connotation (to it) …. its prerogative is misuse … underhand “deal” … but you don’t have the same underhand “agreement” … this (was) an “agreement” … honorable, open agreement between two political organizations …. “deal” can be surreptitious, under the table …. No, no, no – this was an agreement which had been negotiated over a period of time …. and I was asked my views … while the negotiations were going on … Then finally, at its critical moment, Mr Advani had called me and said … would I consent to being the candidate ? … and I then said … - this is on the 30th of March – I then said okay, but I’d like to sit with you and talk with you, on what we should do, before I say “yes”. I met him on the 2nd (April, 2009) and I had only two conditions – win or loose – my commitment to the cause shall remain … and some administrative, technical problems … just these two issues … on the 2nd (April, 2009) and nothing else.
Q. On your political role and future – in, of and about the BJP – before the announcement of your name on April 2nd 2009, before you got involved, as well as that of your family … were you … as you were involved in the agreement … can you elaborate a little on that, on your involvement ?A. It is not entirely central to the issue. The talks that preceded it, really involved, ahh … what’s kind of a formulation of support, the language formulation…. What shall we say, Dooars…. to have Dooars as part of it … that’s it …. Finally, we arrived at the formulation, it was really (just) that much …
Q. Can you elaborate a little (more) on the formulation …A. No! I can’t … It’s quite clear (as it was) a negotiation between two political parties … and if you read the text of the BPJ Manifesto, that was the text that was agreed upon by both the parties.
Q. After your appointment as the candidate of the Darjeeling Lok Sabah seat, what was your thoughts and feelings that went through your mind, as well as those of your family members?A. Well my family members, was (that), we were involved in another election. My son (
Manvendra Singh) was contesting from my home constituency
(Jasol, District: Barmer, Rajasthan) and they were concerned that we would be separated … and there would be two fronts… two centers of communications and activity … and two extremes of regions … the desert on the Western border …. the Himalayas on the Eastern front. And what was my reaction …. I was excited !! … I saw it as a great opportunity … a great challenge … the dimensions … the geopolitical dimension of this district … with its consequences … and not sufficiently transparent …
Q. And, what was your experience in this region … from the time you arrived in Bagdogra on April the 9th (2009), and later when you addressed the workers at a conference in Siliguri, your subsequent whirlwind election campaign tour in the Darjeeling hills till April 27th (2009) and April the 30th 2009, after the historical LS election date.A. Actually, there is only one word to describe it “Overwhelming!” …. And highly “Emotional” all the way through.
Q. Can you elaborate a little more on the “Emotional” aspect?A.
(Smiling…) How can you elaborate “Emotions ?”…
(smiling again) … when in a constituency, you are welcomed with so much affection …and such support, its an unusual experience … in the spectrum of electioneering … so its “overwhelming!!” Its “unusual!!”
Q. Where there any special moments that you would like to reflect upon? A. Well, it was a very short campaign … it was a very “intense” campaign … the arrival itself announced to me what I should expect … and thereafter …. How do you count the whole bouquet of experiences …. How do you pick just one flower ? There are not a few flowers….
Q. Any special things that turned you off ?A. Turned me off ?? No, not at all ….
Q. What about, what you saw as the plight of the people? A. Oh that’s different …. Then, the question is not rightly framed …. What concerned me, or distressed or disturbed me …. are clearly visible … or experienced …. You only have to travel to Darjeeling or Kalimpong or the region, and your “back” tells you … what the state of the road is…. And I’m appalled that we are … in the same belt as the Cherrapunji … the rainfall (here) is so abundant … and yet in Darjeeling District as a whole …. there’s water shortage, people have to buy water, … and in Darjeeling Town, water is made available, by the Municipality, just once in 17 days !! It’s unbelievable… and the second area of concern, … the infrastructure, … the social infrastructure …. Physical infrastructure and the social infrastructure … I’m very concerned by the, what do you call it, the pandemic of plastic … the municipal deterioration …
Q. And in your mind do you have a “Master Plan” ? A. Not master, as I have not mastered this yet – but you mean “Master Solving” ?
Q. No, an overall solution ?
A. Yes, I do, I do! But I’ll only give it a shape after I have sat with such colleagues, as that work with me. Plans have to be, not so much so important in the formulation of things, as in the implementation of what you plan. I’m also very much concerned about the absence of medical facilities, specialty hospitals … it’s a very large, mountainous area, difficulty of access … why is there no central attention towards all this?
Q. Well, Darjeeling has always been known as the Queen of Hill Stations …..A.
(Interjection …) Well, its rather a neglected Queen at the moment …
Q. And would you care to see Darjeeling once more gleaming ?A. I was once asked a question in a meeting in Siliguri: “And I got to say there, why don’t you get me married today … “Who to?” …. To the District of Darjeeling ..
(a few chuckles … and then the banter on being called “Jwain Sahab” by the Nari Morcha… and again light chuckles)
Q. What happened after you left Darjeeling, after the LS Elections here ?A. As I said earlier, we went campaigning … not so much so as for my son … but for the BJP candidate …
Q. And then the subsequent discussions in Delhi ?A. The subsequent discussions … the voting there ended on the 7th of May (2009) … and the counting was on the 16th (May, 2009) … I was to have come here by the 10th (May, 2009) … in the (Darjeeling) district … but Advaniji said I was to stay back … because we have to asses how the results flowed after the counting on the 16th … and if need be then we’d better go and talk to the potential allies …. But as it turned out … that didn’t happen … so I came straight away.
Q. So now, what do you envision as a viable roadmap of Darjeeling and the region now that BJP has not won at the Centre ?A. Yes we haven’t !! … but all that has happed is that we are not in “office”. And that is correct …. That is a disappointment … being in or out of office is incidental to the “Cause”…. The “Cause is sufficiently strong to stand on its “own” … not on the support of an “office” … the office would have facilitated the achieving of it …. But now, well, we have to simply work harder… and longer.
Q. And what do you envision as a solution to Siliguri and Dooars? A. They’re a part of this …. Its been announced by everybody … There is a Darjeeling District and the district “is”!! … And we have to work on it, and we mustn’t make a distinction …. a separation of the Gorkhas from the hills and the Bengalis, the Marwali, the Bihari, the Muslim or the Hindu …. This district is for all …. and Gorkhaland is for all.
Q. So, what is your reaction to the comments made by the Tiranamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee against the formation of the Indian Union State of Gorkhaland ?A. Well I attribute that to a certain … fixed line thinking … of some of the political leaders of Bengal. It shall be my endeavor to reason with them as best as I can.
Q. But do you think it is her (Mamata Banerjee’s) way of the appeasement of the Bengali people who are currently ….A.
(Interjection) I won’t go into that … I refuse to …. refuse to go into it … this aspect of dividing … as if the whole yearning search for Gorkhaland is some kind of Gorkhas versus anybody … its not … and I would therefore have difficulty addressing the solution ….
Q. (Interjection) So how would you go about ….A.
(Interjection) It’s a whole … Gorkhaland is a whole …. And we must not divide it by these kinds of categorizations.
Q. But that is exactly what Mamata is doing?A. That’s all right …. But I needn’t do it !!
Q. What would your advice and understanding be of the polibureau, youth and intelligentsia, and all those who aspire for the creation of the “Indian Union State of Gorkhaland” ?
A. I didn’t follow the question but I understand the thrust of it….. its that we have to reason, we have to sit with people contrary to it …. The path to Gorkhaland is not through violence … Gorkhaland is to be reached through peace and negotiations, agreements and broadening the constituency of support for the Gorkhaland Issue.
Q. Then your spiritual insights into the future of the BJP in the national stature of India and the world arena ?A.
(Interjection ..) I’m a bit shy of the use of the phrase “spiritual insight” …
Q. Well, every person has a sort of instinctual feel towards a certain issue …A.
(Interjection ..) It’s a poll. The BJP is a poll of political thought in the country…. The poll is now established … and that poll will stay … the oscillations of fortunes … up and down … are … I believe in the kind of timeframe they are doing it … to address the political issues … and their reluctance …. is not really central to the long-term future of the BJP. The alternative to BJP, and there are several, of the political parties in the spectrum – they’re all family concerns. They’re not political parties which are focused or centered on a political philosophy. The BJP is … its political philosophy evolves, alters, adjusts to the situation. I think that’s a far more stable and consequential position than a family concerns.
Q. And, are you not concerned about the younger leadership of the BJP who may not have the same access or the backing (of family concerns) ?A. They will grow….they will grow. What you term as younger will evolve and as they evolve their thinking too shall evolve.
Q. Any (more) comments, suggestions and opinions you would like to share with us?A. No,
(smiling) no…. this is only the beginning …. of my journey … as a member of Parliament from Darjeeling, and we will have many occasions to meet, so I’d much rather first learn and then only share.
Q. How are your reactions to be dubbed the “Rajput Gorkhay Diamond”, as many people are now calling you … like when Bimal (Gurung ) came in (when he returned from Delhi after your name was announced), “I have brought back a diamond” he said. How do you feel about that?A. It is like what I had said, about earlier experiences, “overwhelming” …
Q. Your personal likes and dislikes, as well as living, writing and eating habits ?A.
(Smiling…) I think we’ll skip that.
Q. Your time management techniques ? … I see that you came out at about 10 o’clock today … and then you stayed all the way … and you skipped lunch …?A. Because I had to … because I saw that people were not getting any time … so I did some good work … and if I devote time for lunch … then I wouldn’t be able to meet you … and then I have another visitor already waiting …. So it’s a question …. I begin to feel physically uncomfortable if I’m not punctual … (and) on time.
Q. So you don’t have any reservations if you let yourself loose a little ?A. What is “loose?”
Q. “Loose”, means well, “Jo Hoga So Hoga” (Whatever happens, happens)A.
(Smiling affectionately … ) “Jo Hoga So Toh Hota Hi Hai” …
(Jaswant quipped with a broad smile).Q. Your priorities in life ?A. To be a student and a searcher in my life…... Thank you very much.
(Nodding in conclusion).
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(Posted by Dev Chhetri, July 21, 2009, 2:48 AM)