It is no longer the more established parties which face an erosion of their support and mass base. Even regional parties like the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) now finds it hard to retain their popular support against a definite trend of growth for the TMC in North Bengal In part, this is owing to the malfunctioning of the GTA itself.

A couple of days ago, the JSTO, an organisation of temporary teachers in North Bengal schools, suffered a split, with 62 members quitting to set up a new unit. The JSTO had started off as a pro-GTA organisation. The first signs of restiveness among its members occurred a few days ago, following simmering tensions that continued for months. Eighteen members walked out to launch the Hill Secondary Temporary Teachers Organisation (HSTTO).

Even as local political circles studied the situation, there was much speculation about the new body’s political affiliations. HSTTO leader Mr. Roshan Gurung according to North Bengal media reports , told newsmen that there was ‘no plans to join the TMC as of now’.

Most political parties have their student and youth wings in Bengal. These are influenced in schools and colleges by different teachers’ organisations, most of which have some political affiliation or other.

The main reason for the JSTO split, according to local reports, was the failure of the GTA to ensure permanent status to the teachers, who have been working in different schools since 2003 on a temporary basis only. Despite several earlier assurances, the ruling GTA authorities did not respond to repeated appeals from these teachers to improve their standing and ensure some kind of economic security for them.

This angered the teaching community which felt that the GTA was not interested in improving their lot, or living up to its promises. In the changing perceptions of these teachers, as well as common people in the three hill sub divisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling, only the TMC was seemingly in a position to help them.

It may be recalled that the first major desertion within the GTA leadership occurred prior to the 2016 State Assembly elections. GTA leader Mr, Harka Bahadur Chhetri decided to leave the party.. His complaints were three fold, specifically directed against the GTA supremo Bimal Gurung.

First, Mr Chhetri accused Mr Gurung of keeping the GTA totally in the dark about the financial assistance regularly made by the State Government. This encouraged a misuse of funds, affecting administrative work. Second, he accused Mr, Gurung of neglecting Kalimpong, ignoring several development schemes proposed for the sub-division and favouring Darjeeling unduly. Third, Mr. Gurung rendered the GTA a non functioning organization through such tactics. His sole objective was to quarrel endlessly with the State government. So he deliberately did not bother to spend the moneys allotted to the GTA. Later Mr. Gurung blamed the state government for the ‘lack of progress in development schemes and its non-co-operation’ with the GTA.

Mr, Chhetri was on record claiming that Mr. Gurung’s tactic was to blame the state Government for what were really THE failures of the GTA. On the basis on this, he wanted to campaign among the people that a separate Gorkhaland was the only solution! Hpwever, the educated youths and other people in the hills were thirsting for development and they understood such GTA tactics which resulted in a loss of popular support for Gurung and his associates.

TMC leader Mamata Banerjee had made it clear to the GTA that under her, there would BE no further division of West Bengal. The Centre and State were willing to confer a certain measure of autonomy for the Gorkhas, Nepalis and other communities.

But Mr Gurung who frequently travels to Nepal and maintains political links there, was not satisfied with the GTA which he insisted, was only a step away from separate statehood. The centre’s objection to a separate state was twofold: first, there could be no separate state consisting only of 3 sub-divisions inhabited by a few lakhs of people, because it would not be economically self sufficient. Second, the centre whether under the Congress or the BJP was in no mood to encourage a separate state for Nepalis or Gorkhas, so close to Nepal itself.

It may be mentioned that most original and old inhabitants of the hills such as Bhutiyas, Tamangs, Limbus and the Lepchas, do not support the Gorkha separatist demand. Contradicting Gurung’s claims that the Gorkhas were indigenous to the North Bengal hills, they pointed out that most were Nepalis who had recently come over, after having been thrown out of Bhutan by the police for creating trouble there. .

Crossing over to India without any documentation, they settled in large numbers in North Bengal hills and even in the plains, with a view to destabilise the region and creating a Gorkha-dominated political domain having more in common with Nepal than India.

Ms Banerjee who at once stage threatened to expose the GTA”s Nepali links, responded by announcing seven separate autonomous development Boards for Sherpas, Limbus, Lepchas, Tamangs, Bhutiyas among others, during her 2011-16 tenure. She did this primarily to ensure that older settled communities had nothing to fear from the more aggressive and assertive Gorkhas. Her move received widespread support among non Gorkha segments on the population.

Making matters worse for the GTA, the erstwhile Gorkha National Liberation Front(GNLF) set up by the late Subas Ghishing, has staged a political comeback of sorts, dividing the Gorkhas themselves. The GNLF has good relations with the TMC.

Mr, Gurung has accused Ms Banerjee of indulging in the politics of dividing peoples instead of uniting them. This view is rejected by the TMC and not supported by the other ethnic groups and tribes in the region either.

To drive her message home further Ms Banerjee, recently inaugurating cultural programmes in the hills to commemorate the Nepali poet Acharya Bhanubhakta, announced the formation of three more autonomous boards, ignoring protests from the GTA. Her logic: if the Gorkhas could have their territorial autonomous organisation, other groups in the region could very well get similar autonomy. Living only as equals in every sense of the word, different ethnic groups and communities could leave in peace.

With the steam rapidly running out of the Gorkha militant movement headed by Gurung, and a revival staged by non-Gorkha groups and communities along with an inner division among the Gorkhas themselves., the GTA’s position is much weaker than before. Its poor record of governance has contributed in no small measure to its present state. The best that Mr Gurung has been able to achieve so far is an assurance from the North Bengal’s BJP MP and present Minister at the centre, Ms. S.S. Ahluwalia, to the effect that the GTA’s demands would be looked into.

Given the present delicate alignment of political forces at the centre, where both the ruling BJP and the TMC need each other and work together on certain issues, it is open to question how much help Mr, Ahluwalia can drum up for the GTA at the centre.- (IPA Service)