Banerjee’s insensitivity and arrogance reignited Gorkhhaland

The renewed call for “Gorkhaland” this week is the result of Mamata Banerjee’s insensitivity and arrogance. As firebrand Opposition leader she had encouraged the reopening of an old, settled question, and as Chief Minister she slighted the Hills’ people

The demand for a separate State of Gorkhaland is perhaps the oldest among separate state demands in the country. Post Telangana announcement, fresh energy is in evidence on the streets of Darjeeling. The “if Telangana why not Gorkhaland” outcry was heard way back in 1996 when then Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda announced from the ramparts of Red Fort the decision to create Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. With time, however, the hills people reconciled to their limited autonomy. The question today is, how will the leaders of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha be placated this time round.

The Nepalese speaking people of Darjeeling who claim the generic description of “Gorkha” generally reject the faulty and oversimplified logic peddled by  Bengal’s ruling clique which explains away the Gorkhaland crisis in terms of “non-development.” In the alleged mixing up of the two issues of development and identity they see a “conspiracy” of the ruling class of Bengal to fool the Gorkhas.

Long before present Chief Minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee in her quest for narrow and instant political mileage messed up the situation in Darjeeling the Gorkhaland movement existed as an expression of the line of ethno-linguistic-cultural sentiment of the locals.

Thus far two mass movements have taken place in Darjeeling: the first was  under the Gorkha National Liberation Front of Subash Ghising in the mid-1980s and the current one by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha that started in 2007 by a former Ghising aide, Bimal Gurung.

Tradition

Before 1780s Darjeeling belonged to the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim which was essentially a Lepcha territory. And Kalimpong belonged to Bhutan. The Gorkhas of Nepal repeatedly attacked Sikkim and was threatening the heartland of the Lepcha kingdom.

After the British intervention and Anglo-Gorkha war of 1814-15 the British ensured the sovereignty and security of Choghyal from the Gorkhas. In 1835 the Chogyal gave Darjeeling-Kurseong to the British through a Deed of Grant. Through the Treaty of Sinchula Bhutan ceded Dooars and Kalimpong to the British.

Cut to the history of the Gorkhaland movement that goes back to 1907 when Darjeeling Hillmen’s Association submitted a memorandum during the Morley-Minto Reforms demanding a separate administrative setup. Ten years later the demand was repeated before the Lord Viceroy. The same issue was raised before the Simon Commission in 1929.

The next year HMA, Gorkha Officers’ Association and the Kurseong Gorkha Library jointly petitioned Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India, to separate Darjeeling-Dooars from Bengal. In 1941 HMA president, RN Sinha, requested Secretary of State Pethic Lawrence to make Darjeeling a separate Chief Commissioner’s Province.

Communist meddling

The Communists also fanned the movement when CPI leaders like Ratanlal Brahman petitioned the Constituent Assembly in 1947 for a separate State. The trend continued through the 1950s when NB Gurung, president of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, met Prime Minister Nehru with similar demands.

However things took a militant turn in the 1980s under GNLF chief Subas Ghising. A violent movement saw over 1,200 deaths. The movement ended through the formation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council under Ghising who signed the DGHC Accord in 1988 by dropping the demand for separate State.

But after two decades a separate Statehood demand was revived by close Ghising aide Bimal Gurung who formed the Gorkha Janmutki Morcha and banished his former boss from the Hills before drawing himself close to the then opposition leader Mamata Banerjee and contributed his bit in the downfall of the Marxist rule.

In 2011 GJM signed the tripartite GTA accord with the State Government and the Centre for the formation of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration replacing the DGHC.

However contrary to what Mamata Banerjee tried to propagate by telling “Pahar Haschey” (“Hills are smiling”) the GTA nose-dived before it took off thanks of course to a cluster of reasons which included bad diplomacy on her part.

Firstly, the seeds of the movement were embedded in the Accord itself. Unlike in 1988 when Ghising, at the request of Rajiv Gandhi, dropped the demand of separate state Banerjee failed to get Gurung to do the same.

Moreover she in her haste —apparently to prove her worth as a skilled administrator — got the Centre to concede on the issue of the Gorkhaland clause which was retained in the agreement.

Bizarrely, Banerjee announced that the Gorkhaland issue had been “solved”. Gurung insisted they had moved a step ahead towards the formation of a separate State. He was not fully wrong because the GTA treaty was signed “keeping in consideration the demand for the separate State of Gorkhaland.”

One cannot deny the fact that the UPA-II and the Congress leadership erred in not consulting the State party in this context. But it has also to be kept in mind that the Congress was leading an alliance where Trinamool Congress was a big coercive ally.

Concessions

One also hears from the GJM leadership how the present Chief Minister, in her long years as an opposition leader, had actually encouraged Gurung with  “bigger concessions” if she came to power. This happened at a time when all sides had almost agreed on bringing Darjeeling under Sixth Schedule.

Notwithstanding the congenital illness the GTA could have lived (though I firmly believe that it still can survive) a better life but for the Chief Minister’s repeated attempt at usurping its power. If she goes on to inaugurate bridges and distribute land pattas bypassing the GTA chairman then she has to face rebellion.

Besides, her Government has failed to transfer all the 42 departments that belong to the GTA. Apart from this the Chief Minister — like she has been doing in heartland Bengal by engineering defections in the Congress — engineered splits in GJM at various locations to create units of Trinamool Congress with these splinter groups. This did not go down well with Gurung.

Finally, when the issue of Gorkhaland was revived in the wake of Telangana — the two are different issues primarily because there are 17 MPs and 119 MLAs in Telangana whereas Darjeeling has only three MLAs — Banerjee despatched Central forces and RAF to ensure that Hills continue to smile. This was perhaps the last straw on the camel’s back.

Before dealing with such vexed and sensitive issue Ms Banerjee should understand that Gurung is no Kishenji or Sudipto Sen who can be used and kicked aside at will. The Gorkhas are hardened warriors on whom even the British repose supreme faith during the Falkland war.

They can only be convinced with honour and dignity and not browbeaten into submission. The sooner she learns the better.

            (As told to Saugar Sengupta)

Source : dailypioneer.com

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