Brewing trouble

Published : Feb 27, 2009 00:00 IST

BIMAL GURUNG, GJM leader.-

BIMAL GURUNG, GJM leader.-

THE divide between the Darjeeling hills and the plains of north Bengal widened further this year, with clashes breaking out between supporters of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and the tribal people of the Dooars region. Tension from the hills has spilled over to the plains and taken on an ethnic colour ever since the GJM demanded the inclusion of the Dooars up to the Sankosh river and the Terai areas of Siliguri, along with the Darjeeling hills, in the Gorkhaland state it has proposed. It even repeatedly tried to organise rallies and processions in the foothills, in what looked like a blatant attempt to create trouble.

The Gorkhaland movement, which was wrested from Subash Ghisings Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) by his protege Bimal Gurung and his GJM, was, until mid-2008, mainly confined to the Darjeeling hills. It was only when the GJM started to stake claim to the plains through meetings and rallies since April last year that the tribal people and the local population of the region reacted angrily.

The latest of clashes took place between GJM cadre and the anti-Gorkhaland tribal outfit, the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), near Malbazar in Jalpaiguri district in the Dooars. Trouble started brewing with the Gorkha Janamukti Nari Morcha (GJNM), the womens wing of the GJM, planning a five-day-long campaign in the Dooars beginning January 16. Defying prohibitory orders clamped under Section 144, thousands of Morcha supporters marched towards Malbazar, only to be stopped by a mob of supporters of the ABAVP and other anti-Gorkhaland groups.

With the two groups pelting each other with stones, the police resorted to tear gassing and firing in the air to disperse them. However, fighting soon resumed and continued sporadically throughout the day in different parts of the area. A number of houses, shops and vehicles were burnt and more than 50 people injured, including Special Inspector General (Jalpaiguri Range) Zulfiqar Hassan and District Superintendent of Police Manoj Verma.

The GJM immediately called for a bandh in the hills, while the ABAVP declared a shutdown in the Terai and the Dooars. Though both parties called off their bandhs the following day, intermittent clashes continued. At Nagrakata, several houses were torched and vehicles set on fire, and at Salugara, just outside Siliguri, GJM supporters set ablaze three autorickshaws on NH-31.

The incident prompted another clash, this time between the GJM and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) supporters. On several occasions, the police had to resort to tear gas shelling to disperse mobs.

Stray incidents of violence continued until January 19, when the GJM accepted Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees invitation to talks and promised to keep its programme in the Dooars on hold.

Since the GJM had categorically stated during the second round of tripartite talks over the Gorkhaland issue in New Delhi on December 29 last year that henceforth they would not sit for bipartite talks with the State government on the issue, it was surprising that it agreed to meet the Chief Minister on January 21. Its leaders, however, justified it by saying that the topic of discussion would be the developments in the Dooars and not Gorkhaland.

The Chief Minister asked the seven-member GJM delegation to desist from organising rallies in the Dooars for the time being, given the volatile situation there. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee assured the delegation that the State government would bear the medical expenses of those injured in the clashes and would consider disbursing compensation to those whose houses and property had been damaged in the violence.

State Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty, who also took part in the meeting, told the press later that carrying out agitational programmes would only vitiate the atmosphere for the tripartite talks on the Gorkhaland issue. The talks involve the GJM, the Central government and the government of West Bengal.

Addressing the press after the meeting, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri, said, Siliguri and the Dooars will be part of Gorkhaland. We will not budge an inch from this demand. He added that the GJM would go on a hunger strike if it was not allowed to hold public meetings in the plains later.

The GJM launched an indefinite hunger strike on January 29 in Garubathan in the foothills. With this, the peace that the Chief Minister managed to buy seemed almost shattered.

Representatives of the ABAVP, who met the Chief Minister on January 29, categorically stated that the tribal people of the Dooars were against the Gorkhaland movement. They also placed before the Chief Minister a charter of demands that included more schools and colleges in the region and increased job reservation for the tribal people.

Addressing the press after the meeting, ABAVP president Birsa Tirkey said, The map of the proposed Gorkhaland circulated by the GJM includes land that has traditionally and historically belonged to the tribal people. Under no circumstances will we allow that land to be a part of Gorkhaland Only a handful of tribal people are supporting the GJM.

Subash Ghising, who has been practically hounded out of the Gorkhaland movement and from the Darjeeling hills, too had demanded the incorporation of Siliguri and the Dooars in the proposed Gorkhaland prior to the signing of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord in 1988. According to political observers, the GJMs insistence on the inclusion of the Dooars in the proposed new state may be another attempt by the party to come out of the shadow of Ghising and take up what he had forsaken for political expediency one of the many betrayals of Ghising, as the GJM likes to put it.

The GJMs lack of political opponents in the hills is probably another reason that is driving it down to the plains to keep the embers of their agitation glowing. While in Ghisings time there were other parties challenging it in the hills, the GJM now stands supreme. It has successfully quelled all opposition to its movement in the hills.

Meanwhile, Bimal Gurung has proclaimed that from March onwards, every packet of Darjeeling tea will have to carry the Gorkhaland label on it. He announced this at a rally in Gorubathan in the Kalimpong subdivision on January 17. He added, We have so far taken the path of non-violence advocated by Gandhiji. But considering the state of affairs, we would not think twice to take the path of Subhas Chandra Bose.

The GJNM will be entrusted with the task of opening counters in the various tea gardens to sell tea directly; this is to ensure that the revenue from Darjeeling tea does not go out. The tea gardens, according to the new exhortation, will also not pay tax to the Centre. The GJM has also proposed that Darjeeling tea, instead of being sent to auction houses the closest ones being in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri will be auctioned in a DGHC guest house in Pintail village near Siliguri.

The present situation in north Bengal is a matter of grave concern for the State government. The Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP) has decided to step up its demand for a separate state of Kamtapur. Of late, the movement for a Greater Cooch Behar has also resurfaced. It is no secret that there is an understanding between the GJM, the KPP and the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party (GCBDP) that is spearheading the Greater Cooch Behar movement.

Regarding the overlapping of areas in each groups proposed states, Gurung had reportedly said in 2008: The demarcation of areas has already been settled we have come to an understanding. To make matters worse, Maoists have also become vocal in their support for a separate Gorkhaland state.

The emergence of two posters in the hills, allegedly put up by the Gorkhaland Liberation Army (GLA), threatening to pierce the heart of Bengal with bullets in order to achieve Gorkhaland, has caused considerable embarrassment to the GJM. Its leadership has brushed it aside as a prank by mischievous elements out to smear the GJMs reputation. The GLA was last heard of in 2006 when it was suspected to be involved in the murder of a GNLF activist.

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