Gorkhaland and the turn of 2015 - chat with Gurung

Writes Jyoti Thapa

A morning chat in New Delhi, 15 December with Bimal Gurung over his achievements in 2015 and what he looks forward to in 2016.

Bimal Gurung, the Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, is looking slimmer since I last met him a few years ago. He attributes the weight loss to the Gorkhaland Jagran Padyatra that he has undertaken to reach the people of the Darjeeling Hills and Dooars. Non-violent protest marches is the 21st century’s most popular philosophy. The foundation was set eighty-five years ago in British-India, when on 12 March 1930, sixty-one year old Mohandas Gandhi set forth on his historic Salt or Dandi Satyagraha (Truth-Force) march from Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujerat. The 290 km foot-march triggered the Quit India movement drawing in much attention and admiration as a non-violent form of protest for rightful assertion of justice. Gandhi’s approach of self-suffering to uplift the sufferings of the people continues to influence many national and global leaders till date and Bimal Gurung is one of them.

As the Gorkhaland agitation stretches into a further period of uncertainty, Gurung has launched his long journey to boost the spirit of the hill people, listen to their grievances and reassure faith. The firebrand leader of the demand-for-Gorkhaland-state terms the Padyatra as the most significant event of 2015 for him. He has already notched up 1200km of footsteps starting on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Composed and soft-spoken Gurung reminisces of the pre-2008 era when violence was rife in the hills and how he has succeeded in bringing it down considerably. It may be remembered that Gurung rose to power in 2008, after breaking away from his mentor the late Subhash Ghising, leader of the Gorkha National Liberation Front. Gurung formed the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha Party taking over the torch for Gorkhaland and the hopes of the hill people. Between coping with situations at home, the WB State Government and the Central Government, he daily faces the question of when will he deliver Gorkhaland to the people.

Gurung is much satisfied with the Padyatra as he directly gets to meet the people. He seeks to reassure people who were terrified, saying that earlier their leaders would represent them but now he is listening to their issues directly. The march itself is a very taxing ordeal but what keeps him going is that only by suffering himself he can reach the sufferings of the people. Gurung’s Padyatra seeks to keep the hopes of the people’s demand for Gorkhaland alive against all odds.

On the statehood issue, Gurung asserts that the granting of Gorkhaland will create security for India in the most delicate region—the Chicken’s Neck, a narrow corridor through which India connects with the North-eastern states, extremely vulnerable to infiltration as it lies surrounded by three foreign nations, namely Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Where the issue of West Bengal is concerned, Gurung is emphatic that the problem is not with the Indian Bengalis. However, there is no doubt that the Darjeeling Hills is an economically profitable region which the WB state does not want to give up. He says that nobody was ever interested in the region of the Darjeeling Hills till the British from Calcutta decided to build a sanatorium there and try some tea cultivation. Now with its valuable source of tea, tourism and timber the region has become invaluable. But the hill people want their identity as a separate state and not as West Bengal. He has a point there as hills and plains have been and are totally different cultures. That is why it was considered essential to separate the hill states of Himachal Pradesh from Punjab in 1971 and Uttarakhand from Uttar Pradesh in 2000.

Year 2016 for Gurung is to complete the record-breaking 9000 km stretch of the Gorkha Jagran Padyatra. With 7000 odd km more to go he sure has many a mile to walk and talk. It will amount to about two and half months of journeying through backward terrain and some sensitive areas too. It may be recalled here that in February, 2011 while Gurung was conducting a Padyatra in the Dooars, there was police firing on them at Sibchu, resulting in the death of three of the party workers.

Gurung wishes Happy New Year to all with a special message to Gorkhas in all corners of the world ‘Desh-bidesh ma basey bhayo, Hamro Jaati Maya huna parcha’-- ‘Settled in India or abroad, we should always love our community’

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