The state government has declined to recommend tribal status to the people hailing from Darjeeling Hills as demanded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
Instead, efforts will be initiated to declare Darjeeling as a "backward district" so as to enable it to gain additional grants under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) scheme.
Inclusion of Gorkhas in the ST list is the most sought-after demand by the non-tribal communities in the Hills, apart from the statehood issue. Sources at Nabanna said recommending ST status for Gorkhas to the Centre is difficult since the communities of the region fail to match the main criteria of “social and economic backwardness along with tribal characteristics” of tribals.
"If GJMM places the demand for tribal status at the tripartite meeting, we will neither oppose them nor recommend it. Instead, we are trying to arrange additional financial assistance for development of the region," said a senior state government official.
A backward district receives funds under various heads of BRGF scheme for development and upgradation.
During a visit to North Bengal in January last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had herself assured that she would urge the Centre to include various indigenous communities from the region in the Scheduled Tribes list.
Following this, the GJMM had placed their demand before the state government several times. It had also urged the Centre to expedite the process of granting ST status to them.
Infact, a proposal recommending ST status for 10 Darjeeling Hill communities ~ Rai, Yakkha, Gurung, Bhujel, Newar, Jogi, Sunwar-Mukhia, Mangar, Khas and Thami ~ had been submitted by the state government to the Centre prior to the Lok Sabha polls.
However, the Union Ministry for Tribal Affairs has reportedly failed to approve it.
During yesterday's meeting with Miss Banerjee at Nabanna, GJMM chief Bimal Gurung has yet again requested her to take up the issue with the Centre.
Reacting to the news, noted hill based political observer Upendra said, "I think the hill people, other than a few gullible folks never actually believed any promise made by Mamata or Bengal for that matter, they have always been super sly and used dubious methods to control power in the hills. Their policy of saam, daam, danda, bhed which used to work in the past, doesn't work anymore, this is the reason why Hill people over-whelmingly voted for BJP despite GJM's colossal failure. People saw through Mamata's ploy to divide the hill community back before the MP elections itself. So it does not come as a surprise to anyone of us... In fact I had said exactly the same thing back in March... I had said that this whole ST status thing is a sham aimed at getting people to vote for TMC."
"More importantly, this is a Wake Up Call to all the hill people, irrespective of who you are or which party you support, to realize that we will never find acceptance in Bengal... granting a tribal status to us would have meant acknowledging the fact that we are indigenous to the land... and that does not fit with the Bengal sponsored narrative of Gorkhas being immigrants... so by saying they are not going to support Tribal status for the hill communities, they are letting us know, what they actually think about us... if we do not wake up now... a day will come when we may be by the Mechi banks asking ourselves what went wrong" he said.
Speaking on the need to ignore Bengal and march ahead he added, "Bengal is not the only state in India, Gorkhas in Sikkim, Assam and Uttarakhand should join hands with people from Darjeeling in demanding inclusion of Gorkhas as a whole in the Central Tribal list... after all Gorkhas came with the land, we are of this land... we are indigenous to the land... it is our right."
With Mamata rejecting Tribal status for hill communities outright, Mamata seems to have left the path of appeasement altogether, will this move unite the Gorkhas?
Source: SNS
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| Leaders from Various hill communities who had gone to meet Mamata on Mar 1, 2014 where she had promised them that she is pursuing Tribal status for all the hill communities |
Inclusion of Gorkhas in the ST list is the most sought-after demand by the non-tribal communities in the Hills, apart from the statehood issue. Sources at Nabanna said recommending ST status for Gorkhas to the Centre is difficult since the communities of the region fail to match the main criteria of “social and economic backwardness along with tribal characteristics” of tribals.
"If GJMM places the demand for tribal status at the tripartite meeting, we will neither oppose them nor recommend it. Instead, we are trying to arrange additional financial assistance for development of the region," said a senior state government official.
A backward district receives funds under various heads of BRGF scheme for development and upgradation.
During a visit to North Bengal in January last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had herself assured that she would urge the Centre to include various indigenous communities from the region in the Scheduled Tribes list.
Following this, the GJMM had placed their demand before the state government several times. It had also urged the Centre to expedite the process of granting ST status to them.
Infact, a proposal recommending ST status for 10 Darjeeling Hill communities ~ Rai, Yakkha, Gurung, Bhujel, Newar, Jogi, Sunwar-Mukhia, Mangar, Khas and Thami ~ had been submitted by the state government to the Centre prior to the Lok Sabha polls.
However, the Union Ministry for Tribal Affairs has reportedly failed to approve it.
During yesterday's meeting with Miss Banerjee at Nabanna, GJMM chief Bimal Gurung has yet again requested her to take up the issue with the Centre.
Reacting to the news, noted hill based political observer Upendra said, "I think the hill people, other than a few gullible folks never actually believed any promise made by Mamata or Bengal for that matter, they have always been super sly and used dubious methods to control power in the hills. Their policy of saam, daam, danda, bhed which used to work in the past, doesn't work anymore, this is the reason why Hill people over-whelmingly voted for BJP despite GJM's colossal failure. People saw through Mamata's ploy to divide the hill community back before the MP elections itself. So it does not come as a surprise to anyone of us... In fact I had said exactly the same thing back in March... I had said that this whole ST status thing is a sham aimed at getting people to vote for TMC."
"More importantly, this is a Wake Up Call to all the hill people, irrespective of who you are or which party you support, to realize that we will never find acceptance in Bengal... granting a tribal status to us would have meant acknowledging the fact that we are indigenous to the land... and that does not fit with the Bengal sponsored narrative of Gorkhas being immigrants... so by saying they are not going to support Tribal status for the hill communities, they are letting us know, what they actually think about us... if we do not wake up now... a day will come when we may be by the Mechi banks asking ourselves what went wrong" he said.
Speaking on the need to ignore Bengal and march ahead he added, "Bengal is not the only state in India, Gorkhas in Sikkim, Assam and Uttarakhand should join hands with people from Darjeeling in demanding inclusion of Gorkhas as a whole in the Central Tribal list... after all Gorkhas came with the land, we are of this land... we are indigenous to the land... it is our right."
With Mamata rejecting Tribal status for hill communities outright, Mamata seems to have left the path of appeasement altogether, will this move unite the Gorkhas?
Source: SNS
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