WAIT AND WATCH

Sumanta sen/TT-It was in the early 1980s that the chief of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, Subash Ghisingh, had reacted strongly to suggestions that he accept autonomous stature for the hills — which is usual in tribal-dominated areas elsewhere. He told his interviewer, “We Gorkhas are not tribals, we do not live in forests, hunting animals and worshipping trees.” His lieutenants had nodded in agreement — as they did when Ghisingh, as the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council boss, made a volte-face and claimed that the hill people were tribals and hence entitled to the same benefits. Today, Ghisingh is living in exile but his former comrades, and now his detractors, are behaving in much the same manner. Having first demanded large chunks of the Dooars as part of the proposed Gorkhaland, they are now suggesting the formation of a ‘Gorkha-Adivasi’ territory to make common cause with the tribals of the Dooars who have their own demand for autonomy. Some of the adivasi leaders are also in favour of this. A debate over this issue is now raging within the organization, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.

The tribal leaders who want to hitch on to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha bandwagon seem to be more pragmatic than the others. They see the GJM as having greater bargaining power and realize that they would stand to gain by being with that outfit. In their area, the tribals, as they see it, are a bigger force than the Nepalis and so live in no fear of being swamped in future by the latter. The other leaders of the Parishad are, however, more cautious. They know how the Nepalis managed to outnumber the original inhabitants of the hills — the Bhutias and the Lepchas.

Both the Centre and the state appear to be playing the game of waiting and watching. There is, of course, little else that the two governments can do. Having allowed the nomenclature, ‘Gorkhaland’, the demand for separation from West Bengal has been conceded in principle even though the chief minister would have the world believe that this is a minor concession and of no importance.

Further worry

Now Mamata Banerjee is finding it difficult not to be generous with the tribals, and would be happy if the arrangement of hill autonomy can be extended to cover the tribals as well so that the whole issue is settled. It is entirely a different matter that the GJM sees autonomy as the first step towards statehood. If it can get the ABAVP and the state government to agree to its wishes then the purpose of expansion will be served. This might take some time, but the GJM knows that the present state administration will never come down heavily on a dedicated anti-Marxist force.

What about the Bengalis of the region? As things stand, they appear to be outsiders, with no claims of their own. They will have to accept whatever is decided, perhaps more so because the ruling party believes that the last election gave it the mandate to reorganize things as it thinks is best for the state. The problem is that such a reorganization may also bring the Koch and the Rajbongshi tribals into play in a bigger way — which can only be cause for further worry for the Bengalis. Today, there is a genuine fear in Siliguri that the GJM will claim the town. Such claims, even if not met, can only make the Nepali-Bengali divide more pronounced than ever before.

When a ‘settlement’ with the GJM had been arrived at almost overnight, many had felt that this hurry would land the administration in the laps of the agitators. This may well turn out to be the case, particularly since the Centre, with the Telangana issue breathing down its neck, would not like to be dragged into further controversy. After all, neither the Nepalis nor the adivasis can be expected to feature in any way on the national scene. As for Calcutta, hasn’t the ‘Darjeeling matter’ already been ‘settled’?