CPRM sees rationale in exclusion; Bandh call to stall Morcha

Bimal Gurung in Samthar, Kalimpong sub-division on Feb 3 (Photo Courtesy: Himalaya Darpan, The Gorkha daily)

CPRM sees rationale in exclusion
- Second largest party in hills wants ‘secret proposal’ to Centre to be made public VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Feb. 3: The CPRM, the second largest party in the Darjeeling hills, today said it was a “rational” thinking on the part of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to exclude those areas in the Dooars and the Terai from Gorkhaland where other communities are in majority.

R.B. Rai, the general secretary of the CPRM and also a former MP from Darjeeling, said: “One has to be rational. We cannot afford to leave out areas where our people are in a majority. However, we must be rational and think twice before demanding places where there is no presence of our people (in Dooars and Terai). We do not think that a Gorkhaland where the Gorkhas are in a minority should be formed.”

The same logic was put forward in the “secret proposal” that Morcha president sent to the Centre recently. The CPRM’s stand was made public after the central committee met in Darjeeling yesterday.

The party, however, said the Morcha should “dare” and make its “proposed set-up” public as early as possible. “The issue of Gorkhaland is related to the political identity of the Indian Gorkhas. The Morcha must let us know whether such a set-up addresses this core issue. If the (Morcha) set-up is in tune with the people’s aspiration, we can think of it otherwise, it is meaningless,” said Rai.

Morcha president Bimal Gurung had earlier said the “set-up proposal” sent to the Centre was supposed to make the statehood demand more palatable. The Morcha leader had also said there would be a slight change in the name of the new state that the party wants (till now it is called Gorkhaland) but in the same breath had re-affirmed that he would not settle for any thing less than statehood. Morcha sources had also said the party was redrawing the map to exclude those areas in the Dooars and Terai where there was no presence of the Gorkhas.

Every since the Morcha indicated that the Gorkhaland map would be redrawn, there have been strong reactions from Gorkhas living in the Dooars who fear that they would be disappointed like they had been in 1988 when the DGHC was formed.

In the 80s, the Gorkhaland agitation under the GNLF headed by Subash Ghisingh had also spread to the Dooars. Despite violent protests from other communities living in the region, the Gorkha population had continued to support Ghisingh. However, when Ghisingh settled for the DGHC in 1988, the entire Dooars and the Terai were excluded and the GNLF virtually stopped all its activities in the region.

It was only after the Morcha was formed in 2007 that a serious campaign was started in the Dooars. Observers believe that the move to “slightly change the name” of Gorkhaland was made to make the statehood demand more inclusive even though the exact nomenclature is not yet known. But the party’s indication that the map of Gorkhaland would be redrawn has made the Gorkhas in the Dooars wary. They fear a rerun of 1988.

The CPRM decision to back the Morcha move is being interpreted as an attempt to act as a responsible Opposition and not merely object to every move for the sake of opposing. “The CPRM is likely to receive much attention after its announcement as it has not only taken into account ground realities but has acted like a responsible Opposition by demanding that the document sent to the Centre be made public for a proper debate,” said an observer.
 

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Bandh call to stall Morcha
OUR CORRESPONDENT - The Telegraph

Jaigaon, Feb. 3: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has called a 12-hour bandh in the Dooars on February 7 to protest the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha’s decision to hold a public meeting in Birpara on that day.

The general secretary of the Parishad’s state committee, Tejkumar Toppo, the chairman of the outfit’s Terai-Dooars regional committee, John Barla, the secretary, Rajesh Lakra and other leaders met at their Birpara office this afternoon and announced the decision to call the bandh.

“We will not allow the Yuva Morcha to go ahead with the meeting. We have asked all our members in the Madarihat-Birpara tea garden belt to join the rally on February 7. Members of our Calcutta unit will also attend the rally,” Barla said.

Barla said the main reason for holding the rally was to foil the Yuva Morcha’s meeting. “Along with the protest, we will once again renew the demand for Sixth Schedule status for the Terai-Dooars area on February 7. Our units will take out processions from different gardens and congregate at Birpara,” he said.

The Parishad leaders, however, said emergency services would be exempted from the purview of the bandh.

“We have been strongly protesting the inclusion of the Terai and the Dooars in the Morcha’s proposed map of Gorkhaland. We want the Sixth Schedule status for the overall development of this region,” said another Parishad leader.

When the attention of the Parishad leaders was turned to recent reports that the Morcha had scaled down its statehood demand and now want only Gorkha-dominated pockets of Terai and Dooars in Gorkhaland, the leaders said “that too is unacceptable”.

The convener of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Dooars unit, Madhukar Thapa, said he had heard about the Parishad’s call for bandh. “I will not make any comment. Our zonal committee will meet at Birpara tomorrow and we will decide on our next course of action.”

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Gorkha Janmukti Morcha heads for split over Gurung's plan
DNA News

Kolkata: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is demanding a Gorkhaland state, is heading for a split as most of its top leaders are opposing a statehood plan by its president, Bimal Gurung.

In a hurry to convince the Centre to green-signal the statehood demand, Gurung announced that GJM would not ask for the inclusion of the tribal-dominated plains of Terai and Dooars in the proposed state. In fact, Gurung also wrote to the home ministry showing a map of Gorkhaland without Terai and Dooars.

The decision has angered other top GJM leaders, including general secretary Roshan Giri, who is the second to Gurung in importance, as well as publicity secretary Dr Harkabahadur Chetri.

Giri and Chetri told reporters that Gurung did not discuss the contents of his letter with the GJM central committee.

The duo said that Gurung’s plan would not be accepted by the people. “We strongly feel it is possible to include the plains of Terai and Dooars in Gorkhaland,” Giri said.
Though Chetri is not in favour of directly attacking Gurung on the exclusion of Terai and Dooars, he is angry that the latter kept other leaders in the dark about the letter.
“When the president has not informed us anything about the letter’s contents, there is no point in discussing the matter right now,” Chetri said.

Gurung’s position has become even more stickier, since other forces supporting Gorkhaland such as the Indian Gorkha League, have criticised the decision to exclude the plains from the Gorkhaland plan.

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View Point: Gorkha agitators warned
Central Chronicles

Sikkim has finally been bailed out, thanks to a landmark ruling of the Supreme Court. The north-eastern State's unending agony of being repeatedly cut off from the rest of the country due to the Gorkhaland agitation in neighbouring West Bengal has hopefully ended. And with it Chief Minister PK Chamling's too of severe hardship faced by his people. On Monday last, a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, warned political parties, both pro and anti-Gorkhaland, against blockading National Highway 31A, Sikkim's only link to the rest of the country. It ruled: "The party blocking the National Highway will be declared unlawful and we will direct detention of their leaders." The stern warning was aimed at the belligerent Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, spearheading the movement for a separate State, and its main opponents, Amra Bengali, Jan Jagran Manch and Jan Chetna.

While these parties will now have to think hard before taking their protest to NH 31A, the ruling could also provide much-needed relief to other States, which, like Sikkim , suffer for no fault of theirs because of mindless agitations. Recall, Chamling's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last fortnight urging that the National Highway be kept open at all cost, including use of force. The Court has echoed the sentiment and reminded both the Centre and the West Bengal Government "about their duty" to keep the Highway open. It has also made a note of the inexcusable fact that its earlier interim order of July 2008 to keep the highway free from agitation had been violated eight times. But this time it will have none of it. The parties have been warned to adhere to its directive or face serious consequences.  

Republic Day celebrations in Jammu and Kashmir were unfortunately marred when an 18-year-old tradition was done away with. The national flag was amiss at the Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of Srinagar , leaving BJP fuming at the "meek surrender by the Government before the terrorists."  While the Omar Abdullah government had no ready explanation to offer, the Central Reserve Police Force said: "We decided to discontinue the custom and participate in the State function just a km away (Bakshi Stadium).... We used to do it as the forces in charge before us had done. There is no order, logic or significance to it... We don't know why it was started?" Clearly, the CRPF's memory needs to be refreshed. The Tricolour was first hoisted at the Chowk's clock tower by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Republic Day in 1992, at the culmination of the "Ekta Yatra", from Kanyakumari to Srinagar , symbolizing India 's nationalistic assertion in an area where Pakistani flags fluttered. Since then the security forces were hoisting the Tricolour every Republic and Independence Day. Surely, the CRPF could not have decided on its own not to hoist the flag. Perhaps, it is part of Home Minister Chidambaram's "quiet diplomacy" vis a vis the separatists!

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We value and abide to Supreme Court: Bimal Gurung
Voice of Sikkim

03 Feb, Samthar: We value and abide to the nation’s highest court’s judgement that brother Pawan should understand. Our demand is valid and constitutional which cannot be halted by anyone. If you think to drive a vehicle over chest of the innocent publics and children, then drive! I have nothing to argue in that case. If you have a Gorkhali blood gushing inside your body then you should love Darjeeling. The statement was made by GJMM Secretary Bimal Gurung among the mass gathering of people at Samthar under Kalimpong jurisdiction.