It is clear that it will not be just a problem for North Bengal alone. The question of Gorkha autonomy goes beyond the state’s jurisdiction and involves the Central Government. Seeing that the TMC has already declared a war against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the centre, relations between Kolkata and Delhi could become acutely acrimonious in the days ahead.

However, the GJM, which runs the autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) following a tripartite settlement involving the state and central governments, faces a major challenge from a resurgent TMC.

There was a time when the GJM could effectively cripple all administrative work and bring life to a halt in the three hill sub-divisions Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.

The situation remained in GTA’s favour until 2011, when the Left front was ruling the State. Left leaders had virtually surrendered all political initiative in the face of the GJM’s prolonged agitations. No left leader from then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee downwards dared visit the hills, let alone carry out any effective programme opposing the GJM.

GJM leader Bimal Gurung was the new unofficial ‘king’ of the hills, having eclipsed his own mentor the late Subas Ghishing who had headed the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and secured a measure of autonomy for his community.

Today, Mr. Gurung still heads the GTA, but has lost much of his earlier authority. The GTA is weaker than before, with divisions and defections to the TMC among its ranks and leaders. The political credit for turning the situation around goes to West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee. She had visited the hills even while being in the opposition, before 2011, unlike Left leaders.

Once she took over as Chief Minister, Ms Banerjee lost no time in clearly declaring that there would never be a separate state for the Gorkhas, when Mr Gurung threatened to launch a fresh round of agitations. Instead, she asked for details of expenditure incurred by the ruling GTA in different projects announced for the three hill sub divisions, for which the state had released funds.

The GTA alleged that it had not been receiving funds from the state government. Ms Banerjee countered by declaring at public meetings held in the hills that the state had handed over Rs 3000 crore to the GTA. But there had been no development in the hills. She added that there were major allegation of corruption and inefficiency against the GTA. She argued that the GTA always avoided giving details of expenses incurred for five years and resorted to the separate statehood demand, now that civic elections were round the corner.

Her point of view gained support in the hills, much to Mr. Gurung’s chagrin. First, Ms Banerjee effectively reduced the GTA’s authority by declaring separate autonomous boards for different communities in the hills. Tribes like Lepchas, Bhutiyas, Tamangs and other smaller communities considered themselves the original people of the hills. The Gorkhas in bulk had come last to North Bengal, mostly as refugees from Bhutan. The Bhutan administration had thrown them out for their allegedly criminal activities and attempts to organise an insurrection against the ruling monarch.

Both the Congress and the BJP were in favour of a regional autonomy package, not a separate state, for the Gorkhas. Gurung and other GTA leaders cultivated the BJP after they became upset with the lack of total support from the Congress. They began supporting the BJP candidates in Lok Sabha polls. The BJP promised to consider their case ’sympathetically’. But there was no progress on the separate statehood question.

The BJP had its own compulsions in not annoying the TMC over developments in the hills. Senior BJP leaders like Mr LK Advani felt that with only three small sub divisions, there could never be a sustainable economy for a separate state. There was also the fact that the BJP’s support base in Bengal as a whole was growing. The TMC’s support was also important for the BJP in passing certain bills in Parliament.

In addition, there were indications that the Bengal-based Gorkha leaders maintained close links with political leaders and their own relatives in Nepal. There were questions of national security raised in connection with the demand for a separate state, given the occasional tensions and misunderstandings between Delhi and Kathmandu over the new Nepalese Constitution and the Madhesia agitation.

The prospects for any immediate acceptance at the centre of the GJM’s demand were dim. Its confusion was confounded when a senior leader Mr. Harka Bahadur Chhetri, broke away to form a separate party in Kalimpong. He accused Gurung and other Gorkha leaders of neglecting Kalimpong’s interests and of monopolising powers within the GTA. He alleged that the GTA had deliberately gone slow on hill development, although the State Government regularly released funds.

In other words, Chhetri’s was a Gorkha voice which challenged Gurung’s authority directly. With eight smaller tribes like the Lepchas, Tamangs and the Bhutiyas earning their autonomy independent of the GTA and supporting the TMC, the GJM’s position became weaker then before. The loss of Chhetri effectively divided the local Gorkhas themselves.

Ms Banerjee drove the final nail in the GJM”s coffin by declaring Kalimpong as a separate district, evidently to accommodate and strengthen Mr, Chhetri’s position. For good measure the TMC held its own public rallies in the hills, ignoring the GJM. Further, a bandh called by the GJM during Ms Banerjee’s visit in the hills failed to evoke much response. People openly shouted slogans declaring they did NOT want a separate Gorkhaland state (Gorkhaland Chainona, Chainona).

Mr Gurung has announced plans to hold meetings in the hill districts until December when he would leave for Delhi to raise the Gorkhaland issue in Parliament. His senior lieutenant Roshan Giri says that they will explain the need for a separate state to the people.

Mr Rajen Mukhia, the head of the TMC in the hills, has also announced plans to organize counter rallies, threatening to expose the misdeeds and corruption among GTA officials. This may put the GJM in collision course with the TMC, it is feared. For unlike the Left leaders, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee will fight the GJM all the way, from the hills to the national capital, if past experience is any indication. (IPA Service)