All fingers are crossed as they sign Darjeeling autonomy pact

Tue Jul 19 2011/TOI: There were smiles and cheers all around as the tripartite Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Centre, the West Bengal government and the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha here this afternoon paving the way for an interim political set-up promising “maximum possible autonomy” to the troubled Darjeeling hills.
But reading between the lines of the agreement and listening to GJM chief Bimal Gurung and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the message was unmistakable: the ice has broken but the thaw will take time as both sides wait and watch for this transitory phase of peace to pan out.
“West Bengal will not be divided. (The) Kanchenjunga will smile and our brothers and sisters in the hills and the plains will smile after signing this historic treaty that sets up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). Politics is played with this...only to create confusion and disturb peace,” said Mamata Banerjee addressing a large assembly of local residents. 

But when she sought a cheer from the crowd, the roar was not as loud as she had expected. She appealed again: “Women of the hills, please shout louder.” This time, too, the applause didn’t reach the decibel level the Chief Minister expected.
Watching the ceremony from the front VIP row was Asha Gurung, wife of Bimal Gurung. Speaking to The Indian Express after the agreement was signed, she said: “What has been given to us is so-so and clearly short of our expectations. I am not too happy. Our goal is statehood. We will only be happy when we achieve that,” she said, leading a cluster of Gorkha Nari Mukta Morcha leaders who have been a major force behind the agitation launched by Bimal Gurung in 2007.  

On the stage, Bimal Gurung himself, the GJM president, did not hesitate to underline his priorities. “We are proud to have a new identity through this GTA. But one outstanding issue remains to be sorted out — the inclusion of the Dooars and the Terai region within the jurisdiction of the GTA. These areas would be included according to the recommendations of the nine-member committee formed to look into it,” he said. “This happy moment for the hills could have come much earlier had the earlier government not played politics with the hill people for the past 34 years,” he said.
If the speeches of the two key protagonists at this “historic moment” suggested a sharp division, the agreement’s text, too, underlined the discord. The agreement had to include — in its preamble — the fact that the tripartite agreement is being signed even though the GJM has not dropped its demand for a separate state.  

The MoA stated: “After several rounds of tripartite meetings at the ministerial and at the official levels, the GJM, while not dropping their demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland, has agreed to the setting up of an autonomous body.”
In 1988 when Subash Ghising, the president of the Gorkha National Liberation Front had signed the Memorandum of Settlement, the document had clearly stated that the GNLF was dropping the demand for a separate statehood.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram congratulated his “good friends” Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri for signing the agreement after years of strife and conflict. “Paribartan” meaning change is a word known in all parts of India and this “paribartan” in the hills will certainly usher in a better tomorrow and a better future, he said.  

“Both the Government of West Bengal and the Government of India will stand by you and hold your hand. The task before you is stupendous. There will be many hurdles, but there is no hurdle that cannot be solved through dialogue, determination and spirit of give and take,” Chidambaram said.
He said the GTA’s jurisdiction would extend to subjects such as agriculture, irrigation, food, industry, education, women and child development, water resources, land and land revenue, municipalities, panchayats, urban development, public health and tourism — “everything that concerns people is given to you”.
A 48-hour bandh, called by the Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee, shut down major parts of Dooars and the Terai region. The committee is opposed to the inclusion of any area from these regions into the GTA which, it says, should be restricted to the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.