CPRM leader joins Morcha

Darjeeling, June 28: A top-rung leader of the CPRM today joined the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, saying Assembly poll results showed that the hills had reposed trust in Bimal Gurung.

The hills are already facing a crisis in terms of political balance, as the anti-Morcha parties are no longer active in the region.

Sawan Rai, a founding member of the CPRM, was one of the most visible faces of the party and had played an active role in bringing all rival camps on a common platform during the heyday of Subash Ghisingh.

Sawan had also played a pivotal role in organising an all-party meeting between the Bimal Gurung-led Morcha in its initial days and the other outfits. He was also the co-ordinator of the People’s Democratic Front, an anti-Ghisingh conglomeration.

While joining the Morcha today, Sawan said: “Every party in the hills had contested the elections on the Gorkhaland plank. Some (like the CPRM) had boycotted the elections for Gorkhaland but it is clear that the people of the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling believe in Bimal Gurung. When the entire hills are with Gurung, merely opposing the Morcha for the sake of opposition will do no good.”

Morcha president Gurung, who welcomed Sawan to the party, said the Morcha was in no hurry to sign the agreement for a new administrative unit for the hills. “At the moment constant exchanges of drafts between the state and the party are taking place. We want to be doubly sure of the provisions for the new body and we are not in a hurry to sign the agreement. We will go through the drafts thoroughly,” he added.

Sawan, who was in the CPM before he joined the CPRM under the leadership of R.B. Rai in 1996, said: “We are impressed by the manner he went about negotiating the tea wages for the workers ensuring an unprecedented hike. The Morcha is working in the right direction by taking forward the Gorkhaland issue with help from intellectuals and also concentrating on development. We cannot merely have unrest. There must be peace.”

Sawan joined the party with about 21 local level CPRM leaders from Marybong, Liza Hill and Chashi village in Chungthung, areas once known for considerable CPRM presence.

Sawan, however, did not speak against the CPRM president R.B. Rai. “My heart is still with the R.B. Rai but my mind is with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha,” said Sawan.

R.B. Rai, however, reacted strongly. “I want to know where his conscience is? Even those who had voted for the Morcha had done so for Gorkhaland and not for the proposed set-up. The Morcha has betrayed the people of the hills by talking about Gorkhaland before the elections and about the set-up after the results were declared,” he said.

Sawan on his part said a programme would be organised in Risheehat-Chungthung area in July where his followers would join the party. “We will convince all to join the Morcha,” he said. 

The Telegraph