Rivals heap scorn on pact/Protest at ‘raw deal’ for plains

Bharati Tamang and RB Rai

Darjeeling, July 19: The opponents of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in the hills have reacted with scorn to the agreement to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, terming it as nothing more than a development agency like the DGHC.

The CPRM announced that it would launch a movement for Gorkhaland from end-July since only a separate state would meet the aspirations of the Gorkhas.

“Like the GNLF, the Morcha has also settled for a development agency in the form of the GTA. Subash Ghisingh had accepted DGHC, which is nothing but a development agency. Likewise, the Morcha has settled for another development agency,” said CPRM president R.B. Rai.

He, however, noted that unlike Ghisingh who had dropped the Gorkhaland demand while signing the DGHC deal, the Morcha had specifically said while accepting the GTA that it was not dropping the demand for a separate state. “What the Morcha should have also done was to clearly mention in the agreement that in the event of the formation of any other new state in the future, Gorkhaland should also be created,” Rai added.

Bharati Tamang, the president of the ABGL, alleged that the Morcha had settled for the new arrangement at the altar of her husband Madan Tamang, who was assassinated on May 21, 2010. “My husband always used to warn that these people (read the Morcha leadership) will eventually settle for such an arrangement, and not Gorkhaland. That is why they conveniently killed him. The Morcha has accepted the GTA over the dead body of my husband,” she said.

The ABGL president seemed to be hurt by the support the Morcha had got from the people. Asked if her party would start a campaign against the GTA, she retorted: “The people should know. They voted for the Morcha. Now it is for the people to introspect.”

The ABGL, unlike the CPRM, had contested from all the three constituencies in the hills in the Assembly elections, but drew a blank. In fact, all its candidates forfeited their security deposits as the Morcha romped home with huge margins.

Announcing a series of programmes for the separate state, the CPRM said a blood donation camp would be held in Kalimpong on July 27, which is observed in the hills as Saheed Diwas in memory of the 1,200 people who lost their lives during the GNLF-lead agitation in the eighties.

Rai said the blood donation camp would be followed by a dharna to be held in Delhi before or after Independence Day. “Around end-August, we will organise a padayatra to Siliguri from different parts of the hills. And in September, we will organise a seminar on Gorkhaland in Calcutta where we will invite intellectuals from non-Gorkha communities to discuss the issue,” he added.

Celebration plan

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will organise a rally in Darjeeling on Thursday to celebrate the signing of the agreement to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said the rally would be taken out from Darjeeling station to Chowrastha. He asked tea garden workers to take a day’s leave and join the march.

Protest at ‘raw deal’ for plains

Morcha members take sweets at a public meeting in Pintail Village on Tuesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, July 19: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad has said since the Dooars and the Terai have been excluded from the development programmes announced by the chief minister, it is planning to launch a movement to get a fair deal from the state government.

The tribal outfit said Mamata Banerjee had just sent a message of peace and amity for the people in the plains whereas she had bombarded the Darjeeling hills with promises of new projects.

“It seems that we have to launch an intensive movement throughout the region to draw the attention of the state government and ensure that specific welfare projects are taken up for the tribal populace in the foothills,” Tezkumar Toppo, the general secretary of the Parishad, said today.

“It is unbecoming of the chief minister to refrain from making any announcement for the development of the Dooars and the Terai when she addressed a public meeting in Siliguri today. This is contrary to what she offered the Darjeeling hills yesterday.”

The Parishad complained that the government had meted out an unfair treatment to the plains though the outfit adopted an attitude of non-confrontation. “We had called a 48-hour strike on Saturday and Sunday but withdrew it on Sunday after north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb assured us that the government had specific plans for the Adivasi-populated areas,” said Toppo.

“Since the new government has taken charge, we have tried several times to meet the chief minister. But we could not get an appointment. We could have organised protests yesterday in the Terai where the agreement to form the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration was signed. But we refrained from any such activities.”

Toppo said the Dooars were in no better condition than the hills and if Mamata didn’t announce any plan to improve the lot of the Adivasi population, the Parishad would have no other option but to organise an agitation.

Observers say Mamata is unlikely to take the Parishad into confidence since the outfit campaigned against the Trinamul Congress in the Assembly polls. “It is obvious that the Parishad which had wanted to enter into an electoral understanding with the Congress and keep Trinamul out of fray in the five Assembly segments in the Dooars would not be rendered equal importance like the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha,” said an observer.

He said there was also a chance that the government would announce projects for the Dooars without keeping the Parishad in loop as Trinamul had plans to consolidate its base in the tea belt.

The north Bengal development minister sought to assuage the Parishad’s worries.

“We have just initiated a move to develop north Bengal. It is only a matter of time before projects are taken up and implemented in the Dooars and the Terai,” said Deb. “We will soon hold a meeting with the Parishad leaders and listen to their grievances.
~TT