Calcutta, April.TT 17: The Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha and John Barla-led forum decided to “indefinitely defer”
its 48-hour proposed strike after a “very cordial” discussion with the
government this afternoon.
Both sides told
journalists that tomorrow’s strike had been put off because the
government was willing to allow meetings and rallies by the Joint Action
Co-ordination Committee, which has the Morcha and the rebel faction of
the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad among its 26 constituents.
The committee wants the Dooars and the Terai to come under the
jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).
The government
said strikes were not welcome as they hampered economic growth but said
other form of protests like rallies could be held. It also agreed to ask
garden owners in the Dooars and Terai to declare a holiday on Karam, a
tribal festival held in September-October.
“We were not being
allowed to conduct meetings and rallies even in areas where we command
strong support. That was not acceptable to us. The government has agreed
to let us conduct such programmes in areas we dominate. That is
primarily why we are deferring the strike,” said Sukra Munda, an adivasi
leader who led the delegation that met north Bengal development
minister Gautam Deb at the Writers’ Buildings today.
The Darjeeling
administration had refused to give permission to the committee to hold a
meeting in the Hanskhowa tea garden on Saturday. Two of its processions
were also stopped by police on Sunday near Siliguri, one at Bagdogra
and the other near the Bhaktinagar.
The committee had
called the strike in response to a two-day shutdown announced by a forum
of outfits on April 10 and 11 to protest the demand to bring the Terai
and Dooars under the GTA. However, the anti-GTA forum scaled down the
strike to one day (April 10) at the request of industries minister
Partha Chatterjee.
“We have told the
government that the inclusion of the Dooars and Terai in the GTA is our
primary demand for the long overdue development of the region. But we
were told that the government would have to wait for the high-powered
committee’s recommendations according to the GTA agreement,” said Munda.
Minister Deb later
said the government was in “no position” to make any commitments till
the high-powered panel set up to look into the territorial demand
submitted its recommendations.
“Under the terms of the GTA agreement and Act, the government cannot make promises,” said Deb.
The forum was also
“pleased” with the government’s decision to ask tea garden owners to
allow a day’s leave for Karam festival in north Bengal.
“It’s an important
festival there and we are going to ask tea garden owners to declare it a
holiday. There shouldn’t be a problem,” said Deb. Till now, a day’s
wage was deducted if garden labourers skipped work on Karam.
The minister added
that the government was “really keen” on doing away with strikes as
they hampered work on development projects. Tea planters and tour
operators had appealed to the government to intervene when the two rival
outfits declared almost back-to-back bandhs stretching to 96 hours.
More than 2 lakh
tourists are expected in north Bengal, which includes the Darjeeling
hills and the Dooars and Terai, and Sikkim in the next two months, a
tour operator had said earlier.
“We cannot have
disruptive activities in the region. We are going to dissuade every
organisation from calling strikes. A disruption-free environment is
imperative for the long overdue economic growth of the region,” said
Deb.
“They can hold rallies and meetings as forms of protests but not any disruptive activities,” added the minister.
The committee’s
rivals, however, claimed today that fear of retaliation by the common
people and the absence of a support base prompted the Barla group to
withdraw their strike.
“The meeting with
the state government acted as face-saver for those who had called the
48-hour strike starting tomorrow. They tried to imitate us but forgot
that they lack the minimum support base in the Dooars and Terai, where
people are vehemently against the inclusion of even an inch of land in
the GTA,” said Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Akhil Bharatiya
Adivasi Parishad that has expelled Barla.
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