Vikas Parishad to prove their decision to join the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is correct

Siliguri, Nov. 4: The tribal leaders in the Terai and the Dooars, who have been showcaused by the state leadership, said they would go ahead with their public meeting on Sunday to prove that their decision to join the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is correct.

John Barla, the former president of the Dooars Terai regional unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and one of the five who had been showcaused, said the state leaders of the outfit had failed to read the minds of the grassroots supporters.

The state committee of the Parishad had on Wednesday asked the five regional leaders to reply within six days why they had agreed without approval that the Dooars and the Terai should be made part of the GTA, the hill set-up for the Darjeeling hills.

“Sitting in Calcutta, it is not possible to know the aspirations of the tribal people in the Terai and the Dooars. Several times, we tried to meet the state leaders, including the state president, and apprise them of the circumstances that made us sign the agreement with the Morcha but they refused to give us audience,” said Barla, who returned to the Dooars today after his attempts to meet the state leaders in Calcutta failed.

“The discourteous manner in which we were stopped from clarifying our stand has hurt us. It has also posed a challenge before us and we are determined to prove that what we had said earlier that the Dooars and the Terai should join the GTA is correct,” he said.

Barla said none of the showcaused leaders would speak at the November 6 meeting at Malbazar.

“It will be others, who had given us the feedback on the common man’s aspiration, who will do the talking,” he said.

Barla accused Parishad state president Birsa Tirkey, who had issued the show cause notices, of blowing the issue out of proportion. Tirkey, however, has denied the charges.

“They are facing action for violating the laid down norms of our organisation. Even if they had learnt that tribal people were demanding the inclusion of the Dooars and the Terai in GTA and a tie-up with the Morcha, they should have consulted the state committee first. Going ahead and signing a written agreement with the Morcha was an act of obstinacy on their part for which they are facing the consequences,” he said.

-TT