Adivasi rebel leaders to convince colleagues in the Terai and the Dooars that they stand to gain from joining a proposed hill set-up

Jalpaiguri, Nov. 6: Adivasi rebel leaders today sought to convince colleagues in the Dooars and the Terai that they stand to gain from joining a proposed hill set-up because of their numerical strength.

The hardsell came in the middle of a stand-off in the Adivasi organisation, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha persuaded a section to accept a role in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

The Morcha has promised to add the word “Adivasi” to the authority’s name but the state government has so far not agreed to such a modification.

John Barla, one of the five leaders who had been showcaused by Parishad state committee, told several office-bearers today that for the sake of development in the Terai and the Dooars, “we had decided to go into an agreement with the Morcha”.

The closed-door meeting at Jalpaiguri’s Malbazar was attended by the Parishad’s block, zonal and regional committee leaders and members from the Terai and the Dooars.

A public meeting will be held on November 15 at Nagrakata where details will be revealed, said Tezkumar Toppo, who had also been hauled up by the state committee. The outfit has considerable clout among the Adivasis in north Bengal.

Barla and four other leaders from the region were showcaused by Parishad state president Birsa Tirkey last week after they signed a pact with the Morcha “unilaterally”. The five, at a joint news conference with Morcha chief Bimal Gurung on October 30, said the entire Dooars and the Terai should be brought under the jurisdiction of the GTA.

The Morcha had been demanding that the Gorkha-dominated mouzas in the Terai and the Dooars be brought under the GTA.

“We had protested against this because then, the majority of the Adivasi-dominated Terai and Dooars would remain underdeveloped. The chief minister, while promising an effective administration in the hills, did not give us any assurance. In fact, Mamata Banerjee told us that there was no need for any separate arrangement for the Dooars and Terai. That is why, for the sake of development in the region, we decided to go into an agreement with the Morcha,” Barla said after the meeting.

“We have convinced our local leadership that if the Terai and the Dooars were included in the hill set-up, we would have a sizeable representation in it and could work for our own development,” he added. He said the Morcha would try and convince Mamata about the need for a Gorkhaland Adivasi Territorial Administration (a GATA, rather than a GTA).

Asked about the Parishad plan to pursue a large number of seats if the GATA came into being, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri was non-committal. “At the moment, what is most important is that we (Morcha and Parishad) are together,” he said.