West Bengal: New deal in the offing

When Chief Minister Jyoti Basu said in Darjeeling last fortnight that his party was preparing a bill seeking regional autonomy for the hills, he was not merely seeking to assuage popular feelings with empty promises.With the demand for a separate identity gaining ground in the hills, Basu and his party, have realised that they will have to take definite steps to convince the people that they are aware that the problems of the hills can neither be fully appreciated nor properly dealt with by people in the plains. Therefore the Government has appointed a minister for hill development for the first time.The first incumbent to the post is Dawa Lama, who won the Darjeeling seat as a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate in the June by-elections. Though the appointment has been described as a "political stunt" by the Gorkha League, the major opposition to the CPI-M in the hill areas, it has met with general public approval. People feel they can now straightway approach a minister with their problems, even though his powers are limited and his actions may be controlled by the party headquarters in Calcutta.Big Jolt: The slogan for a separate state has long been the major political plank of the Gorkha League in Darjeeling. The CPI-M had to some extent also supported it when they were in opposition. However after coming into office four years ago the CPI-M did not give the issue much importance causing the Gorkha League to accuse them of political opportunism.The CPI-M received a jolt in the June by-elections when they found that though their candidate had won, many voters had stayed away from the booths in response to a Gorkha League call for a poll boycott. This brought home to the CPI-M that if some measures are not adopted immediately then it may become difficult to control a people whose longing for a separate identity is more than skin deep.Many Gorkha League leaders have received the Government's measures coolly. Dismissing the autonomy idea, Madan Tamang, 34, a leader of the Gorkha League's extremist faction said: "Our people must have their own state assembly. There is no point in sending a couple of representatives to the West Bengal Assembly in Calcutta where their voices are lost."Gorkha leader Tamang speaking in Darjeeling: Opposing half measuresWithin the Gorkha League, however, Tamang is in trouble. The elected Darjeeling District Committee has been recently replaced by an 11-member ad hoc committee, following serious differences between the extremists and the moderates. The moderates hold sway in the ad hoc body and the most notable exclusion is that of Tamang, who was secretary of the dismissed committee.Another of his close associates, P.S. Gurung, a retired colonel of the Indian Army, has also been kept out by the All India Gorkha League President, Pema Tshering Lama, who apparently wishes to soft pedal the issue of a separate state. Lama views things from a wider perspective and takes into account the mad scramble that may take place among Nepalese in other parts of the country for a place in Darjeeling state, if it ever comes into being.But the fact that they have been kept out of the ad hoc committee has had little appreciable impact on the functioning of either Tamang or Gurung. In open violation of Lama's directive, Tamang continues to maintain close links with other and more aggressively separatist organisations like Pranta Parishad and Tarun Gorkha."We are planning peaceful agitations in support of our demand," he said. Reports with local officials and even his political opponents suggest otherwise. They say, that Tamang has recently inducted into the hills a number of Nepalese from Calcutta who are trained in the art of making explosives and using them.Whether this is true or not Tamang himself admits: "The only reason for which I can be grateful to the Marxist Government is that I have still been kept out of prison. If the Congress (I) were in power they would have by now detained me under the National Security Act."Ideal Solution: Those advocating a separate Darjeeling state, however, realise that even with its tea gardens and forest resources, it would not be wholly viable. They say the ideal solution would be to merge with neighbouring Sikkim where 80 per cent of the population are Nepalese.The Gorkha leaders in Darjeeling say they had provided their counterparts in Sikkim with support and shelter during their long fight against the Chogyal and feel it is now time for the other side to reciprocate. Recently a Sikkim-Darjeeling Maitryee Samity (Sikkim-Darjeeling Friendship Association) has been formed with the purpose of winning Sikkimese support for the merger idea.The leadership in Sikkim is wary of such moves. Chief Minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari, who has recently joined the Congress (I) along with other members of his Sikkim Parishad, knows for certain that any merger with Darjeeling will mean a submission to the more advanced Nepalese of that area. Though a Nepali himself, Bhandari's political support within Sikkim is mainly among the strong but powerful Bhutia-Lepcha community.When Bhandari was returned to office two years ago, it was on a stridently anti-Indian platform and even today he does not support the merger of Sikkim with India. He told India Today at Gangtok: "In my heart of hearts I still oppose the merger but have accepted it as a fait accompli."No wonder then that one of Bhandari's most important actions after becoming chief minister was to put a stop to the inflow of Nepalese from Darjeeling to Sikkim. At present about 1,700 Darjeeling Nepalese occupy jobs in Sikkim.Sikkim Chief Minister Bhandari: WarySupport: But though against any merger, Bhandari extends support to the demand for a separate state in Darjeeling. He said: "I am prepared to go to Darjeeling itself and fight out the issue in the streets if the Marxist Government of the state continues to remain indifferent to the hill people of West Bengal.Bhandari is confident that the Union Government and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself will support his stand. Says Bhandari: "Why should Indiraji object? She is always fighting for the downtrodden and that is exactly what I will be doing if I go to Darjeeling."Bhandari also felt that the Congress(I) in Darjeeling had no leader worth the name and said, "Indiraji will actually be happy if I seek to fill up that vacuum from Gangtok." He also announced his decision to send volunteers from Sikkim to Darjeeling during next year's general election to help defeat the CPI-M in the chia kamans (tea gardens).Local political observers like R.C. Poudyal feel, however, that much of Bhandari's rhetoric is aimed at consolidating his position with the Congress (I) high command, which is happy to hear any criticism of the CPI-M Ministry in West Bengal.Apparently unsure of who's who in the small Himalayan state the high command in Delhi recently nominated some people to the party's state unit who belonged to his arch enemy and former chief minister Kazi Lhendup Dorji's faction. Bhandari had to rush to Delhi to get the nominations changed and has come to realise that he will have to consolidate his own position.Whatever motives Bhandari may have, his words have given the protagonists of a separate state in Darjeeling a shot in the arm. Hopes have been aroused among the Gorkha League militants that with a Congress(I) chief minister supporting their cause, the local unit of the party will also fall in line.This they hope may even cause the high command in Delhi to think twice before dismissing the issue. Thus encouraged the militants have started putting the final touches to their blueprint for a separate state which they hope to release before the month is out.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 14, 2013 13:38 IST--- ENDS ---

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West Bengal: New deal in the offing

When Chief Minister Jyoti Basu said in Darjeeling last fortnight that his party was preparing a bill seeking regional autonomy for the hills, he was not merely seeking to assuage popular feelings with empty promises.

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