Barla softens territory stand

May 27.TT: The John Barla-led dissident faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today said only villages and tea gardens in the foothills should be made part of the Darjeeling set-up, scaling down its demand to include the entire Dooars and Terai in the hill body.

Stiff resistance in urban areas to the Barla-led agitation for the inclusion of the entire region in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration prompted the softening of the stand, the rebel adivasi leader admitted.“We had witnessed stiff resistance from urban people in the Dooars and Terai to our agitation for our demand,” Barla told reporters today at Lakkhipara Tea Estate in the Dooars.

He said he had discussed the issue with the constituents of the Joint Action Coordination Committee for two days. “We had also consulted the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders and decided to exclude the towns from our demand. Soon, a fresh proposal would be sent to the state and the high-power committee, mentioning that we want villages, tea estates and forest villages of the Terai and Dooars in the GTA, not the towns.”

Asked to specify the areas that he now wants, Barla said no list has been drawn up. But his close aides said the group was no longer thinking of demanding localities like Odlabari, Malbazar, Nagrakata, Banarhat, Binnaguri, Birpara, Madarihat, Naxalbari, Hasimara, Kalchini and Jaigaon.

The change in stance of the Barla group comes days before the high-power committee headed by Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen is scheduled to submit its recommendations to the government on the Morcha demand to include plains in the GTA. The panel is scheduled to submit its report by June.The Morcha had first demanded that only the Gorkha-dominated areas of the Dooars and Terai in the GTA. But with Barla joining hands, the demand changed to the inclusion of the entire region. The hill party, which previously said it would go back to its earlier demand if Barla backtracked, today said a decision was yet to be taken.

“Barla had raised the proposal of excluding towns at a meeting held with us recently. We have not taken any final stand,” party general secretary Roshan Giri said.