‘Secret’ Gorkha proposal; GJM may give up Dooars claim, settle for interim council

‘Secret’ Gorkha proposal
VIVEK CHHETRI AND RAJEEV RAVIDAS
Jholung (Kalimpong), Jan. 28: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung today said he had sent a “secret proposal” to Delhi to make the demand for statehood more “palatable”.

Although he refused to elaborate, Morcha sources said the “secret” document had redefined the geographical area of “Gorkhaland” to include only the Gorkha-dominated areas of the hills and the Dooars and not the entire region, as had been its demand so far.

In a map drawn up and circulated by the Morcha earlier, “Gorkhaland” included not only the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, but also the entire Siliguri sub-division and the Dooars which make up around half of Jalpaiguri district.

If the Morcha sticks to its revised stand, it will mean that only those areas in the Dooars with considerable presence of Gorkhas, not the entire region, will be included in the demand for a Gorkhaland state.

In the past year, as the Morcha tried to establish its presence in the Dooars, frequent clashes have broken out between the Gorkhas and the Adivasis who are opposed to the demand for a Gorkha state.

In a further “concession”, Gurung said he had given Delhi time till 2011 to deliberate on and consider the “secret proposal”.

Morcha sources said this apparent softening in Gurung’s stand was a reflection of the pressure being brought upon him by members of the party’s central committee to settle for an “interim arrangement” instead of insisting on “nothing short of immediate statehood”.

This is because, Morcha sources said, many of the central committee members have realised that given the political compulsions of the Centre against the backdrop of the events surrounding the Telangana flare-up, Delhi is unlikely to agree to the Morcha’s statehood demand.

Besides, Morcha leaders also realise that the Trinamul Congress is the second-largest partner in the UPA government and that Mamata Banerjee would never agree to a bifurcation of Bengal.

Gurung said he would reveal the contents of the “secret proposal” before the next round of tripartite talks. “I will make it public before the fifth round of tripartite talks, whether or not the Centre responds to it by then,” Gurung said. “But I can assure you that the proposal will benefit the three hill sub-divisions, Siliguri and the Dooars.”
The latest round of tripartite talks was held in Darjeeling on December 21. Delhi had said it would announce the dates for the next round by February 6.

However, despite his assurance that he has given Delhi till 2011 to respond, there was little indication today of any let-up in the statehood movement the Morcha has launched.

A daily two-hour blockade of roads in the hills is on and Gurung urged his supporters to “keep up the momentum of the movement” and “not to lose sight of their goal”.

“The movement will continue in its current form to keep up the pressure on both the state and the Centre, but there might not be something drastic like an indefinite shutdown of the hills as has happened on a few occasions earlier,” a Morcha leader said. “But in the end, everything depends on Bimal Gurung.”

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Name tweak proposal from Morcha
- Gurung ready to make slight change to ‘Gorkhaland’ to make demand acceptable
VIVEK CHHETRI AND RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Darjeeling, Jan. 29: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung is willing to change the name of Gorkhaland, the state that his party wants, to make the statehood demand more acceptable to all communities spread across the hills and the Dooars.

The Morcha president has mentioned this in the “secret proposal” that he has sent to Delhi to make the granting of statehood more “palatable” to the Centre.

In an interaction with The Telegraph, Gurung said: “One of the important points in the proposal (sent to the Centre) is a slight change in the name (of the state the Morcha has been demanding). This is being done because of certain problems in the Dooars.”

Gurung, however, did not spell out the new name that he has in mind.

In the last one year, as the Morcha has been trying to make its presence felt in the Dooars, there have been several clashes between the Gorkhas and the adivasis who are opposed to the inclusion of the Dooars in Gorkhaland that the hill party wants.

The Morcha has been demanding that not only the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong and Siliguri subdivision be part of “Gorkhaland”, but also the Dooars which comprises almost half of Jalpaiguri district.

The majority population in the Dooars consists of adivasis. Even in the foothill areas of Kalimpong subdivision, like Gorubathan, there is a sizeable presence of the tribal community. “The idea behind changing the name Gorkhaland is to make the statehood demand more inclusive one,” a Morcha leader said. “After all, other than the Gorkhas, communities like the adivasis, Lepchas and the Bhutias also live in the hills and the foothills. They should also be made to feel that they are part of the new state that the Morcha has been demanding.” While the adivasis form about 60 per cent of the population in the Dooars, the Lepchas and the Bhutias, who live in the hills, constitute 15 per cent of the population there.

However, the “secret proposal” that Gurung has sent to Delhi has redefined the geographical area of “Gorkhaland” to include only the Gorkha dominated areas of the hills and the Dooars and not the entire region.

But in its efforts to woo the adivasis, the Morcha, during its programmes in the foothills and the Dooars and Terai, calls itself the Gorkha Janmukti Adivasi Morcha and uses a flag with the symbol of a bow alongside the Gorkha khukuri.

However, going by Gurung’s words that there would only be a “slight change” to the name Gorkhaland, observers believe that the Morcha would retain the word Gorkha, but coin another word or words to represent other communities, especially the adivasis.

“Since the Morcha’s demand for a separate state is based on the issue of the identity of the Gorkhas, Gurung is unlikely to drop the word Gorkha altogether,” said a Morcha leader.

But Gurung has made it clear that the “secret proposal” he has submitted to the Centre pertains to the “fundamental demand for statehood”, and has nothing to do with an interim arrangement. “I am least interested in an interim council,” Gurung said.

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GJM 'redefines' Gorkhaland map
PTI News

Kolkata, Jan 29 (PTI) Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung has written to Union Home minister P Chidamabaram, curtailing the territorial boundary of the proposed Gorkhaland state to make the demand for a separate state "more logical".

"Gorkhaland would now include only Gorkha-dominated areas in the Darjeeling hills and contiguous areas to make the demand for statehood more logical'," GJM spokesperson Harkabahadur Chetri told PTI from Kalimpong where Gurung was camping.

"The proposal was sent to the Union Home Minister on January 27," Chetri, a GJM Central Committee member said.

"There is no point in including those areas where there is resistance to our demand," Chetri said.

Earlier, the GJM had demanded that Siliguri sub-division in Darjeeling district in the plains and the contiguous Dooars areas in Jalpaiguri district be included in Gorkhaland.

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GJM may give up Dooars claim, settle for interim council
Times of India

DARJEELING: In an apparent climbdown, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is weighing the option of settling for an interim council rather than the earlier stand of nothing short of a Gorkhaland state. It is also willing to give up its claim on the large parts of Dooars and Siliguri, where it is facing stiff opposition to its statehood call, senior GJM leaders said on Friday.

According to sources, the GJM leadership may opt for a council, within a limited time-frame, having wider legislative and financial powers and a larger geographical area than the present Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

GJM, which is facing strong resistance from the Adivasi and Bengali communities in the Dooars and Siliguri, has decided to leave out these "troublesome" parts and instead concentrate on including Gorkha-dominated areas.

Announcing this at a public meeting at Jholung in Kalimpong subdivision on Thursday, GJM chief Bimal Gurung said he has sent a secret proposal to this effect to the Union government for its consideration by 2011. Because of resistance from the Adivasis, a slight change in the name of the proposed "new state" has also been suggested to Delhi, he added.

Though Gurung did not elaborate on his proposal, senior GJM leaders hinted that he could be talking about an interim council with additional powers.