Gorkhaland: An unrealistic proposition

CJ: Sujit Roy

The latest developments on Gorkhaland issue have given birth to several mind-boggling questions. How far is the proposition for separate Gorkhaland practical? Is it really a demand on ethnic issues or does the GJM have some master-plan.?.

THE FRUITLESS bipartite talks between the West Bengal chief minister and the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) have added a fresh lease of life to the Gorkhaland movement. Apart from this, a public announcement of the GJM leader Vimal Gurung to create Gorkhaland before 2010 and to go underground for six months before that has also breathed life into the movement. Sikkim’s Democratic Front leader and former state chief minister BB Gurung’s claim for the separate state of Gorkhaland is another contributor to the recent turn of events.
It may be noted that all these developments have shaped up in the same day. At the same time, these series of events have given birth to the question on the future of the hill queen, its added localities and its people.
The biggest question that romps on the current political situation is that whither goes Darjeeling? Will the state and the Centre ever allow the separation of West Bengal and creation of a new state? If so, at whose cost and for what reason? If not, what will be Gurung’s strategy? Will he follow the path of Ghising for a blood shedding movement? And even if Darjeeling gains its separate statehood, how will it run without having a strong economic backup?
It is anybody’s guess that the Centre will not bow down to the demands of the GJM, considering the demand on ethnic issues. Once the claim is approved, ethnic issues in other states too will gain momentum and that will be horrible to tackle. This will be a very costly proposition because the base of the movement lies in separatism – the most vulnerable danger before the central government. Another issue, which is more important, is the demographic situation of Darjeeling. Being a northern border area, Darjeeling has always posed threat of foreign aggression. Leave aside the immigration issues, largely related with illegal intrusion. This threat will mount manifold if Sikkim joins the movement because Sikkim is close to China. China has already claimed a part of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The movers claim a bigger state with the inclusion of the Terai region. This is also a foolish proposition because this will give birth to serious political trouble and ethnic issues. Communal clashes are also not overruled. Is it believable that the Bengali population of the Terai region will accept the rule of the Gorkhas to remain as second class citizens?
So what will be Gurung’s stand in the expected scenario? He will go underground, as announced and definitely the announcement is not to hide from the movement but more evidently for initiating something more vigorous, even if it is not in the style of guerilla warfare. Is the state and the Centre ready to undertake the trouble of a greater master-plan to disturb the country’s communal and demographic fabric?
However, the most vulnerable point to be discussed in different forums is whether the Gurungs will be able to run, perhaps, the smaller state Gorkhaland without having enough revenues? And whether West Bengal will agree to abandon the revenue whatever may be the amount, being collected from the hill corner?
Administering a state without sufficient revenue generation is an imprudent offer because it is not like running a small family. The poorest family can only survive on begging. And in the case of Gorkhaland, the Gurungs will have to survive on central aids and subsidies. This is more troubling than freedom.
The hill queen Darjeeling, once a British colonial town, had been designed for a mere population of 10,000. But as per the 2001 census, the Darjeeling urban agglomeration with an area of 12.77 per square km has a population of 1,09,163. The municipal area only has a population of 1,07,530. The town has an additional average diurnal floating population of 20,500 – 30,000, mainly consisting of the tourists. The population density of the municipal area is 10,173 per square km. The sex ratio is 1,017 females per 1,000 males, which is higher than the national average. The town houses approximately 31 per cent of its population in the slums and shanty buildings — a consequence of heavy immigration. The major religion is Hinduism, followed by Buddhism. Christians and Muslims form minorities. The population’s ethnic composition is closely linked with that of Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim and Bengal. The majority of the populace is of ethnic Nepali background, having migrated to Darjeeling in search of jobs during the British rule. Indigenous ethnic groups include the Lepchas, Bhutias, Sherpas, Rais, Yamloos, Damais, Kamais, Newars and Limbus. Other communities that inhabit Darjeeling include the Bengalis, Marwaris, Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Biharis and Tibetans. The most commonly spoken language is Nepali (Gorkhali). However, Hindi, Bengali and English are also spoken.
Darjeeling has seen significant growth in its population during the last century, especially since the 1970s. Annual growth rates reached as high as 45 per cent in the 1990s, far above the national, state, and district averages. The subsequent population growth has created extensive infrastructural and environmental problems. The region is relatively new in geological terms and unstable in nature, suffering from a host of environmental problems. Environmental degradation, including denudation of the surrounding hills has adversely affected Darjeeling’s appeal as a tourist destination
With this background, the two most significant contributors to Darjeeling’s economy are tourism and the tea industry. Darjeeling tea is regarded as the best of the black teas and is widely popular, especially in Britain and the countries making up the former British empire. The tea industry has faced competition in recent years from tea produced in other parts of India as well as other countries like Nepal. Widespread concerns about labour disputes, worker lay-offs and closing of estates have affected investment and production. Several tea estates are being run on a workers’ cooperative model, while others are being planned for conversion into tourist resorts.
The district’s forests and other natural wealth have been adversely affected by an ever-growing population. The years since independence have seen substantial advances in the area’s education, communication and agriculture – the latter including the production of diverse cash crops like potato, cardamom, ginger, and oranges. Farming on terraced slopes is a major source of livelihood for the rural populace around the town and it supplies the town with fruits and vegetables.
Summer and spring seasons are most popular with tourists, keeping many of Darjeeling’s residents employed, directly and indirectly, with many residents owning and working in hotels and restaurants. Many people earn a living working for tourism companies and as guides. Darjeeling is now one of the popular filming destination for Bollywood and Bengali cinema. Small contributions to the economy come from the sale of traditional arts and crafts of Sikkim and Tibet.
This is all, with enough thorn helmets on its head. It is difficult to say what economic plan does the GJM have in mind for the proposed Gorkhaland because they are yet to submit any document on its sustainability.
The questions, however, would take a separate turn if the whole of north Bengal joins the movement and poses a greater threat to the east and north-east region of the country. (Merinews)

Communism – a utopian dream( From Ashutosh Space)

Ashutosh’s Space

Left in India is very powerful for the time being but Leftism at the international map is a marginal force . I still remember my one of the professors, who was a commited Marxist and doyen of Marxist theories , said from a public platform just after the disintegration of USSR , that it is no longer fashionable to call oneself a Marxist . Another professor who happened to be Dalit ,in one of his most frustrating moments, admitted he wasted his life chasing an utopian dream in the shadow of Marxism.
Both these gentlemen were still convinced that Marxism as a philosophical argument was a very effective tool for social change but its practitioners have been responsible for its demise. They were honest people and commanded enormous respect from their students and pear group and were willing to internally introspect practical dimension of Marxism . They were intellectually restless to understand what went wrong with Left ideology .
But unlike these professors, the problem with the mainstream Indian Left is that though they are honest and committed bunch of politicians but are unwilling to look inward , to find out what is wrong with Marxism in theory and in practice.
That is the fundamental reason for their unambiguious approach towards Nuclear deal, the consequent of which might result in instability at the centre and lead to early elections . For me this is very surprising as the Indian Left were the only communists apart from Chairman Mao who realised the ground realities and accordingly experimented with Marxism .
Mao knew that communism in its classical form will not gel into agrarian Chinese society . Hence he redefined Marxism which would be in sync with local needs and practiced in a way which suits Chinese needs . After Mao when his successors realised that even Mao’s dictum is no longer valid they did not even hesitate to flirt with market forces in the Communist garb . No body can be more candid than Deng Xio Pheng who openly used to say that it does not matter if cat is black or white as long as it catches mice . It was due to this pragmatic approach to Marxism that China suddenly took a dramatic turn and moved on to a capitalist path thereby becoming future super power without destroying their old power structure .
Indian communists were also very pragmatic . They had no problem in becoming part of a feudal society with ultra modern state structure . Despite being ideologically convinced that Indian state is semi-capitalist in nature, democracy a facade they joined mainstream politics , did not go underground to launch a movement to overthrow anti-working-class-state- apparatus as Marxists did in Nepal . I am not talking about the fringe players like Naxals or Maoists who call CPM and others as Sarkari Marxists . In fact they were so successful in their approach that in 1957 they created a history when they formed the first democratically elected communist government in Kerala. And E M S Namboodaripad became their first leader to become Chief Minister . It’s a different thing that in the implementation of their government policies at the state level they became so radical that central government dismissed their government .
Despite being dismissed they did not waver from their path , they did not leave mainstream politics , they continued taking part in democratic set up , remained a powerful block , kept occupying opposition space , contested elections , and as they got opportunity formed communist governments in West Bengal , Kerala and Tripura . And gradually they become so glued to the system that CPM even accepted having functional relationship with ultra conservative forces like Jansangh in mid seventies and with BJP in late 80s .
But as success has a self destructive logic . CPM in its pursuit to power lost its revolutionary fervor and became a conservative force which did not try to redefine its ideology with a pragmatic approach to Indian society and accordingly did not re-strategise its vision and policies . It got trapped in it own Jurassic park . So when BJP discovered aggressive Hinduism and backward leaders radicalised caste politics, CPM did not have an answer to it rather they continued indulging in rhetorics . They were not even willing to understand that caste is a reality in Indian society . They were still caught in the class web . For them Ayodhya movement was only a by product of nationalism and an urban phenomena . They failed to understand that Ram Mandir movement could also be a search for a militant identity for a section of Hindus.
When congress got disillusioned with its brand of socialism and drifted towards market economy, CPM could not give a convincing alternate ideological response.
They only had words which lost its meaning with the death of communism . When momentous changes were taking place old Comminists guards, who had their grounding in freedom struggle , were at the helms of affairs while the next level of leadership was trained in JNU where only two class existed – an English speaking upper class and language speaking lower class. No caste , no community , no religion and even no nationalism only internationalism .
This was the JNU in 70s when Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri were doing political internship . Yechuri was so away from reality or was so naive that when pro democarcy students were massacred in 1989 at Tianmen square , Yachuri had the guts and courage to lie to the students of JNU in Pereyar Hostel mess that ‘NOT A DROP OF BLOOD WAS SHED AT TIANANMEN SQUAR ‘. But after coming back from Rumania he reported to party politburo that every thing is hunky dory in Rumania. And he realised in a weeks time that PEOPLE of Rumania had revolted against then communist ruler Chausesku who was shot dead .
Now when all three new militant reflexes of Indian society i.e assertive-caste-identities, aggressive-hinduism and liberal – market-forces-creating-ultra-confident-class are consolidating their political grounds Prakash Karat is still speaking a language which is alien to them and so in direct disconnect with these aspiring sentiments.
I don’t buy this argument that Karat is opposing nuke deal because he has been told to do so by China .
His problem is that at the ideological level he is convinced by old Marxistdogma that it’s a trap laid by Imperialist America to colonise strategic Indian interest and at the political front he believes that Muslims will not vote for CPM if it is seen favouring nuke deal meaning perceived anti-Muslim America. This dual logic has two inherent contradictions . One , America is no longer the same Capitalist nation and world is no longer captive to communism vs capitalism logical divide . At the normative level communism can no longer boast of the final victory for the struggling working class which was the single most inspirational motivating factor in their fight against oppressive capitalism . Communist models all over the world have proved to be equally repressive and anti -freedom to common man . And at the empirical level world has seen disappearance of communist states one after another without any resistance in late 80s and early 90s .
Iraq war has made America realise that powerful economy and military might can not win a war . In modern times, defined by interdependent-global-economy and inter-linked-virtual-web-world, winning of minds are more important than winning a strategic battle . America first time in history is defensive and vulnerable as it has lost the moral battle after the attack on Iraq . Emergence of economically and startegically growing China and slowing down of American economy has created more cracks in its armour .
Two, Indian Muslim is now a changed lot . Al-Qaeda style of terrorism has made them a suspect globally and Modi brand of Hinduism has forced them to strategise their political understanding . They have realised that minoritism and secularism is no guarantee for their physical security . So there is no point in living dangerously . It is more important to have a strategic alliance under the gab of silence and surrender with pro-Hindu forces with the intention to extract better benefits for their physical needs and their families .
Unless Prakash Karat realises these new trends, sheds his old mind set, tries to rediscover new ideological moorings he will remain prisoner of the past and keep the country hostage to his whims thereby confining CPM as a party of only three states . I am sure Karat will not like to lament like my professors that they wasted their lives chasing an utopian dream in the age of virtual world.
Posted by Ashutosh

30 Minutes: Darjeeling demands Gorkhaland | Gen X leaders

Sougata Mukhopadhyay / CNN-IBN
CNN-IBN takes you inside Darjeeling, a region, which many now believe should be called Gorkhaland. The Gorkhaland demand is one that not only includes Darjeeling, but also Siliguri, Terai and Dooars in its domain – places that the Gorkha leaders believe they are in striking distance of.
Siliguri (Darjeeling): Drills are carried out on the outskirts of Darjeeling town to recruit the youth in the hills of Bengal for the Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP).
This group is meant to act as an independent force for the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)
GJM is the organisation that has renewed the demand for the separate state of Gorkhaland after two decades. Under the garb of a social service group it’s, for all practical purposes, a cadre force to run a parallel civic and law and order administration in the hills of Darjeeling.
Recruiter Gorkhaland Personnel, K Tshering Bhutia says, “We are going to teach the youth about the IPC, CrPC, Indian Police Act. Also motivating them is very important. We shall have to tell them that you will have to further our aims and objectives and realise our dream, our only dream that is Gorkhaland.”
And there is dearth of excitement amongst the GLP aspirants. Most want to achieve and believe they can achieve Gorkhaland and post that, they want to get into social work.
Raising an autonomous police force for the hills, which could duplicate as the people’s army when required, is a clear indication that the GJM already has one foot firmly grounded on statehood.
To achieve Gorkhaland is over a century old aspiration of the multi-ethnic Gorkhas of Darjeeling hills. However, it gathered momentum in the mid-80s when Subhas Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) ensued a violent struggle, which killed over 1,200 people. Ghising settled for an autonomous hill council but failed to address the identity crisis of the Gorkhas. Scholars trace root of the crisis to a certain mindset.
Former Teacher Loreto College Darjeeling, Amar Rai says, “Why do people still call us foreigners? Just because we have a state near Nepal and they associate us Indian Nepalese with Nepal? I think there lies the problem of identity and that is why this demand for a separate state has become strong.”
In the recent past, the Gorkha demand has resorted to violence, which has spread in the adjacent plains of Siliguri and the hills have witnessed phases of indefinite bandh. GJM leaders like Amar Lama – who is a Central Committee member – justify the Gorkha ethnicity.
“In Darjeeling, Gorkha is not a race. It’s a way of life. Here Gorkhas include even the Bengali. Everybody speaks Nepali language. So language is our common thread,” says Lama.
That’s the long-term goal which the new generation rebel Gorkhas are hell bent on achieving in the days to come.
But who are these new generation leaders who have fired the imagination of the hill people two decades after Ghising’s so-called surrender before the Centre and the Bengal government? Here is a look into their background.

Demand for Gorkhaland: The new generation leadership

Sougata Mukhopadhyay / CNN-IBN
The leadership of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is repackaging a demand that many believe is as old as the hills – that of achieving Gorkhaland. But who are these new generation leaders who have fired the imagination of the hill people two decades after Ghising’s so-called surrender before the Centre and the Bengal government? Here is a look into their background.
Amar Lama says, “This is not a fight to divide Bengal. We are fighting for our existence, for our identity. This is right to self-determination.”
An accused in an assassination attempt on Subhash Ghising – in Saath Gumti, Siliguri, February 2001 – Amar Lama spent 15 months in jail. Today, a key man for the GJM, he calls himself just a soldier in the cause for Gorkhaland. Like the other leaders, he believes in a peaceful second coming of Gorkhaland along a Gandhian route.
The GJM office today preaches Gandhigiri, but many of those office-bearers inside were once an integral part of the first and violent Gorkhaland movement.
The President of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Bimal Gurung, was once Subhash Ghising’s right-hand man, striking terror in the hills in the ’80s, heading the Gorkha Volunteers Council, armed militia of the GNLF.
Son of a tea plantation worker, Gurung has come a long way from driving tourists around Darjeeling. His drift away from Ghising started in the mid-90s as the popularity of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council began to fade under charges of corruption and failure to generate employment in the region.
He did all he could to upstage Subhash Ghising, even campaigning for Indian Idol contestant and local boy, Prashant Tamang. The formal breakaway came with the formation of the GJM in 2007.
Gurung says, “Our students were beaten up. People looking like Gorkhas are being beaten up. But have we even slapped anyone?”
Amar Lama adds, “No violence from out side, no violence from our side.”
This restraint seems to be the USP of GJM’s demand for a separate state. Under constant media glare, these leaders, calling bandhs at their own will, bringing Darjeeling to a screeching halt, all for Gorkhaland, seem to project a new face of “Janmukti”.
GJM is clear that the people of the hills have been left waiting for a long time by the state, the Center and the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. And they are out to redraw the map.
GJM General Secretary, Roshan Giri says, “When the hill council was formed, Siliguri, Terai and Dooars were left out of what was historically our land.”
What’s more, not a single voice today speaks against the GJM.
A journalist, Neeraj Lama says, “People in the hills stay together. Dissidence is not encouraged. What I have seen is that there is a tendency amongst people to make heroes here.”

Is Gorkhaland An Unjust Demand?

By Dhruba H. Adhikary (Gorkhapatra)
Absolutely not. Indians of Nepali ethnicity deserve what they have been demanding since 1980s : Gorkhaland within the Indian union. All they are saying is that Darjeeling and adjoining areas be made a state so that Nepali-speakers could establish their identity on cultural and linguistic lines. Bimal Gurung and his colleagues in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) have made it abundantly clear that theirs is not a secessionist movement of any kind. The political leadership as well as the bureaucracy in New Delhi need to understand the aspirations and concomitant pledge expressed through the GJM leadership. The Indian authorities can take timely measures so that the ongoing campaign does not assume additional, if not ugly, dimensions. It does not need elaboration, for example, that by being insensitive to a genuine claim New Delhi runs the risk of alienating the Gorkhas who are a crucial component of the India’s armed forces. Gorkhas, after all, are Gorkhas, and it does not make any difference, in a given situation like the present one, whether they live in the hills of Nepal or in areas across the Mechi river.
Inexplicable
New Delhi and Calcutta have remained indifferent to the voice of Gorkhas for far too long. Lack of enthusiasm in Calcutta initially looked understandable because fulfillment of Gorkhali demand would directly result in the reduction of the size of the state of West Bengal. But, the stony silence New Delhi chose to maintain on this issue remained unfathomable. As is obvious, a call for a general strike in the Darjeeling hills does not affect only the population of that area; it also disrupts the traffic on the highway linking Sikkim which borders Tibet. Security implications are there for everyone to see. Should effects on security aspect be pronounced after a prolonged spell of inaction, Calcutta would eventually be forced to take its share of the blame for making India insecure. The leftist leadership in West Bengal, therefore, has a choice to offer a timely help to the Gorkhas for a state of their own in territories currently dubbed as north Bengal or maintain a negative stand now and pay a heavy price afterwards. What Pranab Mukherjee, India’s External Affairs Minister, said in Calcutta on June 14 is reflective of the negative attitude on the Gorkhas. By assigning external affairs minister to say “no” to the Gorkhaland demand, the Indian leadership tried to show that the demand is prompted by foreign powers. This is bound make the Gorkhas angrier. If it was a separatist movement right from the start, as it is being projected now from Calcutta and New Delhi, where was the need for the Indian leadership to recognize Subhas Ghising and then grant a hill council status to the area under his leadership—in 1988 ? India’s omnipresent intelligence agencies must have collected necessary information on the movement.
Controversial
After all, there is nothing new or unusual in the demand for a separate statehood. Such demands have been successfully made elsewhere in India, and have been favorably responded to in a number of cases. The states of Uttarkhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were created out of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar respectively. These newest states came into being when New Delhi had a BJP-led coalition government. Then there is an ongoing issue of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. Do the Gorkhas have to wait until a new government is installed at the centre? It appears that the existing dispensation is determined to continue to deprive the Gorkhas of their distinct identity, on one pretext or the other. The Manmohan Singh government’s controversial attempt to turn Darjeeling into a tribal area has already been fiercely resisted by the Gorkhas. As Bimal Gurung has argued, the centre’s plan to put the area under Sixth Schedule of the Indian constitution would divide Nepalis along tribal and ethnic lines ; hence, unacceptable to the people living in three subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong and surrounding areas.
Obligation
Should Nepal turn a blind eye to these developments in its eastern neighborhood ? Of course, not. While the demand/dispute is in the land that ceased to be Nepali territory since the Sugauli treaty of 1816, the social and cultural affinity that Nepalis enjoy with the Nepali-speaking inhabitants there cannot be overlooked. Nepalis in Nepal have to express their solidarity for the just struggle their brothers and sisters across the border have been carrying out for years. Even official Nepal must not keep quiet on the Gorkhaland issue. As is known to us all, it has been offering shelter to one hundred thousand Nepali-speaking Bhutanese who entered Nepal as refugees since 1990. Earlier, Nepal was compelled to accept several thousand Nepali-speakers evicted from Assam and Meghalaya. Nepalis in the Gorkhaland are not seeking assistance of this kind. All they are looking for is Nepal’s whole-hearted support for the cause they are fighting for.
” As Nepali-speaking community we are expecting a great deal of help,” said Bimal Gurung in an interview published in Nayaa Patrikaa on June 26. He has expressed hope that Nepal’s new government, to be headed by Prachanda, would pay attention to the subject which happens to have their origins in some of the old bilateral treaties.
Anyhow, Nepal simply cannot afford to sit back and be a silent spectator when the issue at hand may affect the life of some 15 million Gorkhalis living in India.

Delhi team fishes for sympathisers-Morcha keeps eye on developments at the Centre, hunts for statehood allies

Darjeeling, June 26: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s delegation in Delhi is trying to find sympathisers for the Gorkhaland demand with an eye on the possibility of a change of power at the Centre.
Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri, who had been heading the four-member delegation, said: “We met (BJP chief) Rajnath Singh, yesterday and (Opposition leader) L.K. Advani the day before. The leaders are sympathetic to our demand and have asked us to go back to them with relevant documents justifying our demands. The outcome has been positive.”
Giri had to return to Darjeeling today for personal reasons, but the three other members of the delegation — Pradeep Pradhan, Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Phubi Rai — are expected to stay on for a couple of more days to try and meet a few other politicians. “The delegation will definitely try and meet (UPA chairperson) Sonia Gandhi in the coming days,” said Giri.
Sources maintain that the Morcha is aware of the fact that the UPA and the Left Front are unlikely to support the statehood demand, especially at a time when the nuclear imbroglio is yet to subside. The hill party is keenly following the developments in Delhi and is pinning its hopes on an early parliamentary election, the sources said.
“This government is surviving because of the Left support and our demands will definitely be met with hostility (by the government). However, the silver lining is the fact that the Centre is not averse to calling a tripartite meeting as of now,” said a Morcha leader.
There is a strong feeling among the Morcha leaders that the party would be on an advantage if it aligns with the BJP rather then the Congress. “The important leaders of the Congress are against division of Bengal. This cannot be said of the BJP, who are in favour of smaller states,” said another Morcha leader. He referred to the three new states — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand — that were created during BJP rule at the Centre.
If the Morcha aligns with the BJP, it will be a break from the past as the hills have traditionally voted for the Congress. The Subash Ghisingh-led GNLF had even helped the CPM win the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat twice in the nineties by staying away from the parliamentary elections.(The Telegraph)

Workers’ unrest to hit hills

Darjeeling, June 26: The 8,000 ad-hoc workers of the DGHC will start a fast-unto-death in town from Saturday to demand immediate regularisation of their jobs.
Permanent government employees in the hills, on the other hand, will go on a mass casual leave tomorrow.
“We have heard that the government is mulling a move to shift government offices from Darjeeling to Siliguri and have decided to go on mass casual leave tomorrow as a mark of protest,” said B.P. Chhetri, vice-president of the Hill Employees’ Association.
The decision, which has been taken together with the Hill Employees Workers Trade Union, will disrupt all offices in Darjeeling.
The ad-hoc workers’ demand is a long-standing one and they have been on a relay hunger strike since June 7.
“Our relay hunger strike in front of the Lal Kothi (the administrative headquarters of the DGHC) will end tomorrow. We will hold a massive rally in town after that and from Saturday we will start the fast-unto-death,” said Machendra Subba, the president of the Janmukti Astai Karmachari Sangatan — an affiliate of the Morcha.
A seven-member team will sit for the indefinite hunger strike, said Subba.
The 8,000 workers are currently employed on six-month contracts and although DGHC officials had earlier promised that they would be regularised, there is still no word from the Bengal government.
The term of the current six-month contracts will end soon. Sources said the regularisation process would take at least a month to be completed, largely because the council is overstaffed.
The DGHC officials had also said that before the regularisation process begins, the workers would be given new contracts that will not be time-bound. Although no official could be contacted, sources said the council had forwarded the new terms to the state government on June 20.
“If we get to hear something positive from the state government by tomorrow evening, we will call off the fast-unto-death. It all depends on the state government’s response now,” said Subba.
The contract workers get paid between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,500 a month. Sources maintain that the state government has agreed in principle to do away with the six-month contract system and increase the salaries of these workers until the regularisation process is completed.
A final word from the state government is expected to come after the Morcha delegation meets chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Calcutta tomorrow. (The Telegraph)

Teachers ask, kids volunteer for fast

Darjeeling, June 26: Seven Class IX boys started a relay hunger strike here today and hundreds of schoolchildren brought out rallies across the Darjeeling hills even as the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha tried to justify the role of students in the movement for a separate state.
All seven are from Municipal Boys’ High School and will be on fast till 11am tomorrow when the next batch takes over. They reiterated what the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has been harping for some time.
“If we get Gorkhaland, our future will be better. The situation in Bengal is hopeless,” said 16-year-old Laxman Prasad in front of the district magistrate’s office where the fast is going on.
The protesters, all within the 16-19 age group, considered themselves “lucky” for having been selected for the agitation.
“Our teachers asked us who all wanted to take part in the hunger strike. Quite a lot of us volunteered. We were selected for the first batch and another group from our school has been chosen for another day. I am lucky to have got a chance to fast for Gorkhaland,” said Prasad.
Students from different schools will take turns in groups of seven to participate in the relay hunger strike in Darjeeling till July 5 as announced by Bimal Gurung, the president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Simultaneous fasts will also be held in Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik.
The students claimed that they had the support of their parents. “My mother who depends on my father’s pension supported my decision. I am part of the hunger strike because this is a question of my identity too,” said 16-year-old Prasit Rai, who comes from Badamtang tea garden, 15km from Darjeeling town.
The Vidyarthi Morcha, which is spearheading the agitation, justified the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s decision to involve the students in the hunger strike. “The Gorkhaland we are talking about is for these children. They must be aware of the demand. Fruits given on a platter does not have much charm. All agitation, including the country’s freedom movement, has seen active involvement of students,” said Keshav Raj Pokhrel, secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha.
Pokhrel also cited the example of the All Jharkhand Students’ Union in creating Jharkhand.(The Telegraph)

Safety first (Editorial on Gorkhaland Issue)

Mr Subhas Ghisingh was no angel. Apart from promoting corruption and maladministration, he kept the pot boiling by raising irrelevant and untenable issues dug out from obscure crevices of history, perhaps with a view to hogging the limelight and creating problems for the state and the Centre. Eventually, being frustrated in their attempt to regain influence through subversion and subterfuges in the hills, the Marxists started courting Mr Ghisingh. But the honeymoon was destined to be a bitter one.For quite some time, the state government has been saying that as a final solution to the Darjeeling problem the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) will be elevated to the status of an autonomous council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. However, neither the state government nor the Gorkha National Liberation Front chief has cared to share with the people exactly how they will do this without amending the Constitution on at least two counts. First, amendment is necessary for application of the Sixth Schedule outside the North-east, and second, since the Sixth Schedule can be applied only in a tribal area, an amendment is necessary for its application in a non-tribal area like Darjeeling.However the CPI-M and Mr Ghisingh jointly found a solution to the second problem. The size of Darjeeling’s tribal population should be so increased that the region may be marked as a tribal region. For this purpose, the more numerous Tamang and Limbu communities among the Nepalis of Darjeeling should be marked as Scheduled Tribes (STs), ignoring norms laid down for determining Scheduled Tribe status. Mr Ghisingh being a Tamang, has overnight become member of an ST.This, in fact, was a fraud perpetrated on the Constitution since they conspiratorially decided to change the anthropological character of a region for political expediency. The CPI-M, as a partner of the UPA government, inveigled the weak-kneed Centre not only to agree to this manipulation but also to accept the recommendation of the state government and issue a formal notification giving these two communities ST status. This will facilitate the declaration of Darjeeling as a tribal region, dispensing with the need for a second amendment to the Constitution.But unfortunately the calculations went awry. When this change became public, the hill communities were angry and Mr Ghisingh started losing his social status and popularity as a leader in the hills. The Sixth Schedule status was no coveted thing with the people as it meant a demotion down the social ladder. Mr Ghisingh and state government leaders while calculating political gains could not gauge the social reaction to such fraudulent conversion and were swept off their feet by the tornado of protest. The hills are on fire once again.The upsurge is now spearheaded by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha, a hastily organised outfit led by Mr Bimal Gurung, a long-time Ghisingh loyalist and a former muscleman of the Gorkha Volunteer Cell. During 1987-88, he was pitted against the most terrible muscleman of the CPI-M in the hills and proved his mettle to his boss, Mr Ghisingh. After the DGHC came to power in the hills, Mr Gurung spent a short stint in prison and came out only to ask for a seat in the council. Mr Ghisingh did not oblige him. Some years later when Mr Rudra Pradhan, a council member was murdered, Mr Gurung wanted to contest the seat, but this time too he was denied.He contested as an Independent candidate and won.Mr Gurung shot into prominence in 2007, mobilising support for Prashant Tamang in the ‘Indian Idol’ contest. Tamang won it, making Mr Gurung popular in the hills vis-à-vis Mr Ghisingh, who had been reluctant to canvass support for Mr Tamang. About this time, it came to be known that the Tamangs and Limbus had been recognised as STs. Mr Ghisingh’s popularity has nosedived since then.It will be naïve to think that Mr Gurung’s demand for Gorkhaland is merely a strident rejection of the proposed Sixth Schedule status for Darjeeling because such a status is associated with a social stigma. It is also an expression of disapproval of the DGHC and the politics associated with it. The options available to the Indian state for containing the movement have, therefore, become limited. Mr Gurung’s perceived Gorkhaland state is coterminous with Mr Ghising’s Gorkhaland, a map of which was circulated at the peak of the movement. Mr Gurung took out a procession from Darjeeling to the border of Assam through the Dooars with a view to notionally establishing his claim to the territory, which he wants to incorporate in Gorkhaland. It is not known whether by design or due to indiscretion he wanted to garner support in areas where his hold is marginal by making it clear that those areas would be included in a possible Gorkhaland. Such moves are sure to create racial tension.When emotion and sentiment get the better of a people, it is futile to argue on the basis of the facts of history. As a matter of fact, history often is deliberately distorted to generate strong emotions. So it is of no consequence to say that the present Siliguri subdivision, described in 18th and 19th century history as “the territory between Mechi and Teesta rivers” and also as “terra incognita” was under “Sikkimpati Raja” and was never under Nepal and that the present Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-divisions were under the nominal control of Nepal for a short time between 1790 to 1814. Or to say that when Darjeeling was bought from “Sikkimpati Raja” by the British in 1835, there was hardly any Nepalese population in the hills. While the facts of history have little relevance in an emotive ethnic movement, the present ground reality should not be ignored in determining the ethnic character of a piece of territory, lest such indifference and ignorance lead to undesirable consequences.According to census figures, in the Dooars region, from Mal/Metelli to Kalchini/Kumargram, Gorkhas constitute on an average 25-28 per cent of the total population. In Siliguri subdivision, the percentage is much less. These facts of history can be ignored only at the cost of plunging the region into greater turmoil. But for the actors in this game these are perhaps not essential and compelling arguments for maintaining communal and racial harmony, which have been greatly strained as a result of the recent upsurge.More important, because the security of this thin piece of land is linked with the security of the nation as a whole, we perhaps cannot afford to further slacken the administrative hold on the region by fragmenting and splintering it and thereby making it vulnerable to frequent internal disorder and infiltration from unfriendly countries. All political settlements in this region have to take care of the interests of national security.

‘A Black Day’ for protestors

Statesman News ServiceSILIGURI, June 26: Protesting against the proposed negotiation between the state government and the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha in Kolkata tomorrow, the Jana Chetana, an apolitical organisation known for its strident opposition to the Gorkhaland demand, announced its plans to observe tomorrow as ‘Black Flag Day.’ “We would oppose such talks until the crucial question of nationality of those spearheading the Gorkhaland agitation is resolved once and for all,” Mr Debaprasad Kar, the President of the outfit said. Meanwhile, Aamra Bangali, another radical organisation opposing the Gorkhaland demand, has urged the state government to form a Bengali Regiment in an obvious reaction to the recently formed Gorkhaland Personnel in the Hills. Casting aspersions on the continuing round of negotiations the state has been having with the GJMM leadership, the Jana Chetana president said, “It amounts to putting the cart before the horse. At the outset, a screening operation must begin in earnest to differentiate the genuine Indian Nepalis from the migrants from the neighbouring country. As for the demand for Gorkhaland only true Indian Nepalis can cry for it.”Dwelling upon the Indo-Nepal treaty, 1950, Mr Kar said that the Nepali nationals, who had settled in India prior to the signing of the treaty, had been endowed with citizenship rights including political franchise. “But for those who migrated after the treaty was signed, they could participate in the process of economic and industrial development sans the political franchise as per the treaty,” Mr Kar said.“Now the crucial question is – are the GJMM leaders migrants or genuine citizens of the country? That has to be decided before any meaningful parley can take place over the outfit’s territorial demand,” the Jana Chetana leader asserted.The Aamra Bangali on the other hand today revived the Bengal Regiment formation demand. Mr Sambhu Sutradhar, the organisation’s Siliguri secretary said that the state government must seriously consider the demand. “Otherwise the organisation would go for an agitation keeping in view the interest of the Bengalis in this fluid situation,” the Aamra Bangali leader, said. He also demanded the transfer of all administrative offices in Darjeeling to Siliguri in view of the volatile political scenario in the Hills.