Gorkha liberation front accused of betraying cause

DARJEELING:  A day after the West Bengal government signed an agreement with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) on the issue of a separate Gorkhaland, political parties in the state's northern hills yesterday accused the GJM of betraying the region's people.
"The GJM has fooled the people of the hills by leaving out the demand of separate statehood for the Gorkhas during the meeting. It is now clear that the GJM used Gorkhaland as a platform to win the assembly elections," Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists general secretary Taramoni Rai said.
"With the polls over, they have abandoned the issue."
At the core of Tuesday's agreement is the formation of a new autonomous elected Hill Council, which is armed with more powers compared to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in the late 1980s.
Cannot enact law
The new council, to be formed through an enactment of the state assembly, will have administrative and financial powers and can also frame rules related to the hills. The council members will later be chosen through an election, but the body cannot enact law.
Rai said the new administrative set-up was even weaker than the Sixth Schedule Council proposed by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) president Subash Ghising.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader K.B. Wattar said the "solution" arrived at Tuesday was "nothing new".
"The [earlier] Left Front government also proposed to give the same status but at that time they did not agree," said Wattar.
He alleged that the GJM's decision to leave the demand of a separate Gorkhaland and to resolve the issue after a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee clearly pointed to a nexus.
"The GJM's movement was against the Left Front, not for Gorkhaland," said Wattar, adding that the solution was temporary.
Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) general secretary Lakshman Pradhan said: "The solution was reached after the state government played the Madan Tamang card. The GJM leadership was blackmailed to agree to setting up the autonomous hill council through elections."
>>IANS