GJM in two minds about reimposing bandh in Hills
ExpressIndia
Kolkata, July 4 Three weeks into its confrontation, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) appears to be vacillating between a pacifist attitude towards the state and Centre and a hardline stance to retain the masses.
In a statement issued on Friday, party general secretary Roshan Giri said for now, the GJM would not push for tripartite talks involving the Centre, which is caught up in resolving the standoff with the Left over the nuclear deal.
At a public meeting in Darjeeling on Thursday, GJM leaders were full of praise for the “warmth” shown by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during last week’s meeting in Kolkata.
The Darjeeling district administration, on its part, has indicated its willingness to play down the standoff.
The approach of both sides has changed after the Supreme Court’s July 3 directive, asking all involved, especially the state government, to keep the NH-31A free of blockade.
Senior GJM leader Binay Tamang told The Indian Express that the SC directive will not affect a total bandh again from July 6, if such a decision is taken at the party’s central working committee meeting on Saturday. “It was the Sikkim government that went to the SC over the highway blockade,” he said. “Our bandh, if resumed, will encompass the NH-31A as well. If the government tries to break our bandh and violence erupts, the Sikkim government will be responsible.”
Sources in the party, however, said there is a rethink on the bandh among the senior leadership following the SC directive.
“We think the bandh will not be reimposed. If at all it is, the highways will not be touched, government offices may shut down,” a party leader said.
Issuing a warning about the July 7 deadline for changing all vehicle registration plates from “WB” to “GL” (Gorkhaland), Tamang said: “Any violence resulting from trying to stop vehicles with GL numberplates will be the Bengal government’s responsibility.”
District Magistrate Rajesh Pandey is in Kolkata for a meeting with the CM and senior leaders, said sources in Darjeeling district administration.
“The indications are that there will not be a total crackdown on vehicles bearing GL numberplates, although such numberplates will be violating the Motor Vehicles Act. It could be a way for both sides to save face and avoid a confrontation,” an official said.
Tamang number plate ‘advice’ to Morcha
OUR CORRESPONDENT - The Telegraph
Darjeeling, July 4: The ABGL has “advised” Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders not to be selective in defying Bengal’s rule, referring to their decision to change the number plates of vehicles in the hills to GL (Gorkhaland) from WB.
ABGL president Madan Tamang said today: “I am trying to advise (the Morcha), not criticise them. If the logic behind changing the number plates is to defy Bengal’s rule, then why is the Morcha being selective? Where there is chair and power like the municipality and the panchayat, they have no problems in accepting Bengal’s rule. Where there is nothing, they are not accepting it.
“If they really want to defy Bengal’s rule, than it should be defied from A to Z and not selectively as the real objective is to start a civil disobedience movement.”
Bimal Gurung’s party wants vehicles in the hills to sport the new number plates from July 7. The All Gorkha Hill Transport Joint Action Committee, the Morcha’s transport wing, is overseeing the change and it has already asked car-owners in the hills to submit all documents related to their vehicles.
“Before taking any decision, the pros and cons have to be discussed properly. Why are the people not being consulted before such decisions (are taken)?” asked Tamang.
The ABGL chief maintained that the Morcha should not force the hill people to change the number plates. “They are now saying that those who do not make the change are against Gorkhaland. Is this democratic? Hundreds of people have laid down their lives for Gorkhaland in the past and I, too, have gone to jail. Just because I do not change my number plate, do I become anti-Gorkhaland?”
The president of the oldest party in the hills also spoke of the need for a more democratic atmosphere in the hills. “They (the Morcha) talk of the democratic process being violated when they are not allowed to hold a public meeting in Siliguri.
However, the same party stopped us from holding a meeting at Chowk Bazar on June 16,” Tamang said.
He added that Gorkhaland would be meaningless unless there was democracy in the hills. “We want our statehood because we want our own people to rule us.”
Civic review
State urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya today met the chairmen of the four civic bodies in the hills — Mirik, Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong — at the circuit house in Siliguri to discuss the progress of different welfare schemes.
“All four sounded serious in executing schemes related to solid waste management, sewerage, drinking water and slum development. However, they admitted that implementation would suffer if bandhs are again called in the hills,” Bhattacharya later told reporters.
At the meeting, it was decided that Rs 10 lakh would be sanctioned to Kalimpong for building a road leading to the dumping ground. Bhattacharya also managed to persuade Kalimpong civic chairman C.K. Kumai to call a meeting of the board of councillors if a no-confidence motion is brought against him after July 24.
Kumai had defeated a floor test on January 24, shortly before a number of GNLF councillors switched over to the Morcha. But according to civic rules, another no-confidence motion could not be brought against him until six months elapsed.
Although Kumai has hung on to his post, the government has made the Kalimpong subdivisional officer the drawing and disbursing officer of the civic body.
GJMM accused of double standard
Statesman News Service
DARJEELING, July 4: The All India Gorkha League president Mr Madan Tamang today accused the GJMM of maintaining “double-standard” on the civil disobedience issue towards the West Bengal government by implementing Gorkhaland number plates from 7 July.
“If they do not accept the West Bengal government's authority then they should boycott everything from the Bengal Municipal Act, DGHC Act to the Gram Panchayat Act. Why are they selective in their approach?” Mr Tamang demanded.
Amidst call for “introspection” the leader also suggested that all Hill parties sit together to devise a foolproof strategy to lead the movement forward. “It is time we get serious and weigh the pros and cons of such an act. We should look back and learn from the mistakes of the 80's. If this time the movement fails it will be impossible to regenerate such tremendous support for Gorkhaland again,” Mr Tamang stated.
The AIGL leader cautioned that the recent municipality elections held in three wards of Darjeeling was just to “test” the tenacity of the GJMM towards the Gorkhaland movement. “By conducting by-elections the Bengal government is trying to observe where we stand. The non-cooperation should be implemented in all areas from tea plantations to the municipality in order to pressurise the government,” he said.
The “lack of transparency” and “undemocratic nature” of the GJMM also came in for some heavy criticism. “They called an all party meeting but left for New Delhi and Kolkata on their own. At least they should have briefed the Hill parties on the agenda and outcome of the meetings,” Mr Tamang stated.
“There is no writ of the administration in the Hills. Imposition and undemocratic acts have prevailed since the time of Mr Subash Ghisingh.
The GJMM is following in the same lines by preventing us to hold public meetings in the hills,” he alleged.
GJM write to Buddhadeb for tripartite talks
Kolkata, Jul 4 (PTI) Intensifying their efforts to hold tripartite talks on their demand for a separate state, the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha today wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee asking him to take an initiative in the matter.
"I have written a letter requesting the chief minister to arrange a tripartite meeting with the Centre. The letter is being faxed to CM's office," GJM President Bimal Gurung told PTI from Darjeeling.
Bhattacherjee had asked the GJM delegation to communicate the GJM leadership's views after returning to Darjeeling following the June 27 talks in Kolkata.
The chief minister had offered more autonomy and financial powers to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council which the GJM has rejected.
Gurung made it clear that henceforth talks had to be held in Delhi and not in Kolkata. "How many times will we be go to Kolkata for talks?" The letter came a day before the GJM central committee is to hold a crucial meeting in Darjeeling tomorrow to decide whether the indefinite bandh would be resumed in Darjeeling hills.
Asked whether there would be further relaxation of the bandh, Gurung said "We will take a decision in our meeting tomorrow." The relaxation of the bandh would expire on July five. PTI
A new waste ground in Kalimpong
SILIGURI, July 4: Kalimpong town will have a new waste dumping ground by November this year, the state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya announced today.
“The state government has allotted a special grant of Rs 10 lakh to the Kalimpong Municipality to acquire land for the new dumping ground and I hope, the new facility is ready by November, “ Mr Bhattacharya said after holding a meeting with the chairpersons of the four hill municipalities at the Siliguri Circuit House this morning. Announcing this to the Press, the urban development minister appealed to the residents of Bhalukhope, Kalimpong to allow discharge of solid wastes generated by the hill town at the old dumping site until November. Residents near the existing dumping ground at Bhalukhope are not allowing the local civic body to discharge the wastes at the site fearing pollution. As a result, waste and garbage are remain indisposed in Kalimpong causing health hazards to the residents. Meanwhile, the SDO Kurseong Mr Dibyendu Das and the SDO Kalimpong Mr PT Sherpa have been appointed as the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) for the Kurseong and the Kalimpong municipalities as the two civic body chiefs were not being able to function due to the ongoing Gorkhaland agitation
Hill leaders praise Buddha, keen on tripartite talks
MeriNews
In a significant development, a section of the hill leaders agitating for a separate state praised the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for his sincerity in resolving the hill imbroglio. A decision on renewing the bandh call is expected soon..
A SOFTENING of stand towards the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the bandh situation is in evidence among the hill leadership in Darjeeling. In a significant development, a section of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leadership has welcomed Bhattacharjee's offer of more autonomy for the hills and was all praise for the chief minister's sincerity in resolving the hill imbroglio.
No mention has been made yet about resuming the indefinite bandh from July 6 as is scheduled. The Morcha central committee is likely to meet tomorrow to decide whether to renew its call for an indefinite bandh. The Morcha has been under pressure from the Centre not to renew its call for an indefinite bandh because it is severely jeopradising life in the tiny hill state of Sikkim bordering China and also inconveniencing the Indian Army manning frontier posts in the Nathula Pass and elsewhere in Sikkim.
At a public meeting in the Mall Chowrastha, the Morcha secretary, Roshan Giri, central committee member Amar Lama, among others briefed the hill populace about the talks held in New Delhi and Kolkata so far, on Thursday. It was at this meeting that Lama was reported to have said that despite ruling out conceding to the Gorkhaland demand, the chief minister seemed to be sincere and emotional about the hills.
None of the speakers were critical of the state government in any way. Lama was quoted as saying by the local media that Bhattacharjee was a decent person and a gentleman. He may not have agreed with the demand for statehood but that does not make him bad. One cannot politicise everything, he reportedly said. The public outpouring of praise for the chief minister did not seem to go down well with the hardliners, who the media reported, left the meeting. The Morcha president Bimal Gurung was not present at the meeting.
Morcha leaders also seemed happy at the chief minister's suggestion that a number of bipartite meetings should be held between the government and the hill leaders to pave the ground before embarking on a tripartite meeting. The Morcha is keen on a tripartite meeting where the Centre is expected to participate. The Morcha will be sending a letter to the chief minister on Saturday, July 5, urging him to take steps to arrange for a tripartite meeting. The Morcha now seems to be going about the whole issue slowly and does not want to portray that they are in haste.
| About Us | Contact Us |
Set as homepage 
|
Add to favorites 
|
(Posted by Tika Gurung, July 6, 2008, 5:10 AM)