Mamata list snaps tribal-Cong ties

Mamata list snaps tribal-Cong ties

From the Telegraph  OUR CORRESPONDENT

Pranab Mukherjee, Mamata Banerjee: north Bengal calling Siliguri, March 20: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas parishad has decided to contest from 15 seats in north Bengal, replacing the Congress with smaller parties like the KPP and the JMM in an alliance for the polls. The Dooars-based tribal outfit has even decided to contest the Assembly polls by using the bow-and-arrow symbol of the JMM. The Parishad decision comes closely after Mamata Banerjee announced candidates for three seats — reserved for Scheduled Tribes — that the Adivasi outfit had wanted to keep for itself in the Dooars and the Terai. The Adivasis had convinced the Congress to part with six seats, including the three for which Trinamul has announced candidates. The Parishad leadership that met AICC members Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel in Delhi earlier this month had made it clear then that the Congress should ask its ally, the Trinamul Congress, not to contest the six seats. In return, the Parishad had said it would support the Congress in the nine remaining seats in north Bengal. But on Friday, Mamata’s list of 228 contained the names of candidates for the two Dooars seats — Kumargram, Kalchini — and one in the Terai (Phansidewa). “Contesting the Assembly election by forging an alliance with the Congress seems no longer possible as Trinamul has fielded candidates in three seats where we had already decided to file our nominations from,” a core committee member of the Parishad said. “Except for these three seats, we were also going to file nominations in Nagrakata, Madarihat and Malbazar but support Congress candidates in the rest of the constituencies — that is what we had told the AICC leaders. The Congress had agreed to our condition and had also promised to highlight our demand for Sixth Schedule status for the Dooars and the Terai in their party manifesto. But now with the Trinamul fielding candidates in three of our seats, we are no longer interested in any alliance with the Congress which could not keep away Trinamul,” he added. Sources in the tribal outfit said its core committee members had a meeting at Banarhat in Jalpaiguri district immediately after Mamata’s announcement of the Trinamul list. Now, the outfit’s priority is an alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP). “We had a meeting with KPP and JMM leaders earlier this month in Siliguri. They had agreed to support our candidates in the election. A delegation of our core committee members will go to Ranchi on March 25, where the symbol is likely to be handed over to our members at the JMM head office in Ranchi,” he said. Although they would use the JMM symbol, the candidates would be fielded as Parishad nominees. KPP president Atul Roy admitted that there would be an alliance with the Parishad. “We will contest the MLA polls with an alliance with the Parishad,” he said. The Parishad, however, has not yet intimated its decision to the Congress. “We have not communicated anything officially to the Congress. We will make our stand clear as soon as the Congress candidate list is announced," said Tezkumar Toppo, the state secretary of the Parishad. “We have also deferred the announcement of our list of candidates for the upcoming poll, which we were supposed to announce today. We will declare it by March 23,” he said. Arms dealer and buyer arrested OUR CORRESPONDENT Raiganj, March 20: The CID has arrested an arms supplier and a criminal charged in five murder cases and his associate who had placed an order for a large number of weapons and bomb-making material. A five-member CID team picked up Amirul Khandakar, 30, from Karnajora here on Friday afternoon while he was travelling on a bus. A loaded clip of a 9mm pistol and an improvised firearm with bullets were also seized. While interrogating the arms dealer, the CID found out that Biplab Chhetri had placed an order with him for a large number of weapons and a huge quantity of bomb-making material. Sources said based on the information given by Khandakar, the CID had picked up Biplab from Hemtabad in North Dinajpur, along with his sidekick Subhojit Pal, yesterday evening. A 9mm pistol and an improvised firearm were also recovered from the duo. Biplab had been arrested by the CID on January 3, 2010, from Chandernagore in Hooghly in connection with the murder of Biswajay Ghosh, a cameraman with a local cable channel. “The 25-year-old cameraman was murdered on November 27, 2009. Biplab had secured bail a month back,” said a source. North Dinajpur police chief Milon Kumar Das said it was a matter of concern that an arms dealer had been scouting for orders. “The two who ordered arms and bomb material were either planning a robbery or engaged by someone to create problems during the polls.” The sources said Biplab had 21 cases pending against him, including five murders. Cop held for ‘murder’ OUR CORRESPONDENT Jalpaiguri, March 20: A constable posted in Darjeeling was arrested yesterday on charges of murdering his wife who was found hanging at her in-laws’ house the previous night. While Vinod Upadhayay, 28, was picked up from Darjeeling, his father Keshab Upadhayay, a former clerk in the district intelligence branch, mother, and sister-in-law were arrested from their house in Racecourse Para for allegedly murdering Saraswati for dowry. The Upadhayays were produced before the court of the chief judicial magistrate here today and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. Saraswati, from Jhapa district in Nepal, had married Vinod five years ago. They have a four-year-old daughter. While the in-laws claimed that the 23-year-old had hung herself from the bedpost, Saraswati’s father Ganapati Acharya has lodged an FIR with Jalpaiguri police alleging that she was murdered and her body was tied to the wooden pole. He also alleged that the Upadhayays were trying to portray the death as a case of suicide. “But we are not going to spare them. Her in-laws used to torture her regularly, both mentally and physically, demanding dowry,” he said. According to Acharya, he had “pleaded with his daughter’s mother-in-law and father-in-law repeatedly that they were not in a position to arrange for more dowry. But they kept torturing her.” Councillor of Ward 10 Tara Roy said Saraswati used to discuss her plight with the neighbours sometimes. “We knew about the problems she had been facing. But she had never complained against her in-laws,” said neighbour Krishna Sen. She added that the Upadhayays did not like her talking to the people of the area. Roy along with more than hundred women from the neighbourhood went to the police station last evening to protest the incident and demand action against the family. District superintendent of police Anand Kumar said: “The body has been sent for post-mortem. Only the post-mortem report can confirm if she had been murdered or she had committed suicide.” Tibetans vote for post-Dalai govt head VIVEK CHHETRI Tibetan women queue up with their green books in Darjeeling on Sunday to vote. Picture by Suman Tamang Darjeeling, March 20: Tashi Wangdi was a strapping man in his 20s when he left his phayul (fatherland) in 1959 to follow the Dalai Lama out of Tibet. Today, at the age of 79, Wangdi was expected to take another important decision of his life: to elect the nextkalon tripa (prime minister) of the Tibetan government in exile. With the Dalai Lama firm about relinquishing his political powers, Wangdi is among the 2,000 Tibetans in the Darjeeling hills and among the 1.5 lakh across the world whose votes will determine the future of the Tibetan struggle. “I will vote for anyone who follows His Holiness, the Dalai Lama’s path,” said Wangdi, moments before casting his vote at the Tibetan Welfare Centre in Darjeeling. The kalon tripa election is important in more than one way this time. If the Dalai Lama does give up his post as the head of the Tibetan government in exile (the Tibetan parliament and community members are opposed to the idea), the next prime minister will have to shoulder the responsibility of politically heading the 1.5 lakh Tibetan refuges. This is also the first time that three candidates, who are not part of the community’s religious hierarchy, are competing for the prime minister’s post. Direct elections to the prime ministerial post started in 2001 but during the last two terms Samdhong Rinpoche, a highly distinguished monk, had been elected virtually unopposed. Of the three prime ministerial candidates, Lobsang Sangay and Tenzin Namgyal Tethong have connections with Darjeeling. The third candidate is Kasur Tashi Wangdi. The new prime minister will appoint the seven-member kashag (cabinet) from among the 47 members of the parliament. Of the 47 parliament members, 10 will be elected by the Tibetan community from the three Tibetan provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham. The four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the traditional Bon faith (nature worshippers) will elect two members each, while four representatives from the West (Europe and North America) have their reserved seats. The Dalai Lama can nominate between one and three members in the parliament. “Each voter will cast 11 votes, 10 to elect representatives of the province he comes from and one to elect the kalon tripa,” said Dhendup, 68. Most of the older generation is rooting for 62-year-old Tethong. “He is more experienced,” said Dhendup. Tenzi Dhasel, 18, a first time voter, said all three candidates were capable. “The democratic process initiated by His Holiness must be strengthened and we are ready to respond to any campaign for Free Tibet,” she said. But like most of her generation, Tenzi is also backing 43-year-old Sangay. “We are hopeful that the next prime minister will forward our cause. We believe Sangay is the right candidate as he is young and capable of taking on China’s challenge,” said Sangay Rinchen, 23, another first time voter. While Sangay is a senior fellow at the Harvard Law School, Tethong is now a fellow at the Tibetan Studies Initiative, Stanford University. Wangdi is the Dalai Lama’s representative in the European Union. A census conducted by the Tibetan Planning Commission in 2009 showed that a little more than 89,000 Tibetan refugees are above 18 and possess the dhanglang chathel(green book showing refugee status), making them eligible to vote. The counting will start tomorrow at the Tibetan Settlement Office in Darjeeling and the results sent to Dharamsala.