The GJM has been running the administration in the Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong sub divisions through the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), an autonomous body, for the last five years. Its first tenure ends in a few days. Fresh elections are round the corner.
The GTA had a wide range of administrative powers sans the police and land reforms legislation. The GJM had indicated that it was accepting the GTA arrangement as a step towards securing its eventual objective: a separate Gorkha-run state.
Led by Gurung, Roshan Giri and Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the GJM had been elected unopposed to run the GTA. These leaders, participating in long tripartite official discussions prior to the formation of the GTA , were fully aware of the limitations of their powers.
During its five year tenure, the GTA received more than Rs 1400 crore by way of assistance from the central and state governments. Never before has there been such an inflow of official funds to the region. As its tenure ends, the state has asked for an audited report of its expenditures as standard procedure.
But the GJM is livid and calls it a ’blatant administrative interference by the state government.’ Visiting state audit officials in the hill districts found most GTA offices locked or deserted as they went about their work.
Gurung threatens to resign from the GTA with his colleagues because the state has not cooperated with it. The ruling Trinamool Congress(TMC) Government made it difficult for the GTA to function ‘at every step.’ Keeping his options open, he is yet to announce whether the GJM will fight the coming polls, where other parties will contest this time, including the TMC.
Before declaring a bandh in the hills, the GJM held an all party meeting where its bête noire, the Gorkha National liberation Front(GNLF), the BJP and the CPRM (a left offshoot of the CPI(M) , participated. They supported the demand for a separate state and urged upon GJM members including Gurung to resign immediately from the ‘ineffectual’ GTA. The BJP was not a signatory to the joint statement.
GTA leaders claimed that all political forces now supported the cause of Gorkhaland. They were ‘seriously considering’ the suggestion of other parties to resign. So far, they have neither resigned, nor indicated whether they would fight the coming elections yet--- clearly with an eye on bipartite or tripartite talks that usually follow any eruption of violence in the hills, involving the centre and the state.
Meanwhile, state BJP leaders from their Kolkata headquarters dissociated themselves from the violence unleashed by the GJM, including the torching of government offices, police and media vehicles. However, the BJP held chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her assertive style of politics responsible for the deterioration in the situation. The Cong and the CPI(M) too felt Mamata’s call for hill people to learn Bengali voluntarily was both ill-advised and provocative .
The GJM pounced on this announcement as a direct assault on the local ‘Nepali’ culture, conveniently ignoring Mamata’s repeated assurances that Bengali was not being imposed officially. Clearly the GJM was bent on twisting facts to whip up ethnic passion.
However, Mamata could not play the victim card on other counts. There was no doubt that with the TMC”s aggressive policy of decimating all opposition by hook or crook, she had encouraged GJM men to join the TMC, which now has a foothold in the hill sub divisions. Worse, by announcing autonomous development boards for smaller and older communities in the hills, such as Lepchas, Bhutiyas, and Limbus, she effectively reduced the administrative ambit of the GTA’s functions.
Further, she repeatedly visited the hills and held administrative meetings to drive home the message that the TMC was the party that mattered, not the GJM. No wonder Gurung once complained, ’Why does the chief minister inaugurate even small village schemes here? These are normally left to our junior GTA functionaries!’
The bonhomie between the TMC and the GJM
The GJM suffered a major setback when Chhetri broke away to fight the Darjeeling-based domination within the GTA and formed the separate Jan Andolan Party(JAP) at Kalimpong. He exposed how the GTA’s policy of sabotaging development efforts of the state and centre and its misuse of official funds.
Gurung and the GJM lost ground to the TMC, the JAP and other parties. True, it has won recent civic elections at Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong riding on assertive Gorkha sentiments. But the TMC won at Mirik, recording the first success by a party coming from the plains. And despite its losses to the GJM, it won a healthy 30-35% of the aggregate votes cast.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Gurung had no option but to fall back on the old Gorkhaland slogan for a fresh round of agitation, breathing fire and aggression, characterised by selected acts of arson. However, the instant deployment of both army as well as CRP units ordered by the state ensured that the GJM could not go too far.
No wonder Giri was forced to rush to Delhi to ask the Centre for talks, helped by BJP MP Surinder Singh Ahluwalia. But Mamata, unlike left chief ministers, was not keen to provide an exit route to the GJM so easily. She promptly rejected the call for talks.
The BJP-ruled Centre, which views West Bengal as an area for expansion for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, cannot afford to be overly sympathetic to the GJM.
In the hills, the police raided Gurung’s office and home at Patlebas and sealed Bhanu Bhavan and other buildings run by the GTA as its offices. There are reported to be divisions within the GJM, as to whether Gurung’s timing and decisions have really helped the Gorkhaland cause.
At this writing Gurung remains incommunicado even as the arrest of GJM members and supporters continue, along with continuing arson and police raids. Mamata Banerjee has declared, ’A few goondas cannot be allowed to run the hills as their zamindari.’
The GJM is yet to find an answer. (IPA Service)