Court directs John Barla to Quit ABAVP Over GJM Ties

9:20 AM

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Politics

The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP), which had expelled its president of the Dooars-Terai regional unit, John Barla in 2011, today claimed that the Siliguri Court has ruled that Mr Barla is no longer associated with the tribal body.

John Barla and GJM chief Bimal Gurung

ABAVP had suspended Mr Barla after he led some tribal leaders from the Dooars and the Terai to join hands with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) and demand a separate state of Gorkhaland and an Adivasi Territorial Administration (GATA) comprising the Hills, Terai and the
Dooars.

ABAVP state president Birsa Tirkey today said the court had ruled that both Mr Barla and Sukra Munda, the former chairman of the Progressive Tea Workers’ Union (PTWU), affiliated to the ABAVP, were not associated with the two organisations.

"The court has stopped them from using ABAVP letterhead, organising any meeting under the banner of the ABAVP or representing ABAVP or PTWU in any meeting," Mr Tirkey said.
The ABAVP had also terminated Mr Munda, who later joined the Trinamul Congress in 2013.

The state general secretary of the ABAVP, Tejkumar Toppo, said that despite the expulsion, Mr Barla has been using the ABAVP name in his activities and dealings.

"Mr Barla using the name of the organization despite his expulsion is unethical. We were forced to move the court," Mr Tirkey said.
Meanwhile, on the recent killings of tribals in Assam, Mr Tirkey said they would write to the Assam government and the Centre to provide adequate security to the tribal people in that
state.

"The tribal community has been targeted in Assam several times.
It was the duty of the Assam government to protect them, but the government has miserably failed to gather intelligence inputs about possible attacks. We will write to both the Assam government and the Centre asking them to take initiatives to protect the tribals," he said.

Mr Tirkey also praised CM Mamata Banerjee for taking initiatives to give shelter to Assam victims.

Source: SNS

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ABAVP and TMC to contest the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad polls together

9:06 AM

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Trinamool Congress

The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) today said the outfit would contest the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad polls as an ally of the Trinamul Congress.

“We will take part in the coming three-tier panchayat polls in Siliguri subdivision as an ally of Trinamul. I will visit north Bengal along with other state leaders to take stock of the political situation in the Terai,” the Parishad’s state president Birsa Tirkey said over the phone from Calcutta.

Elections to panchayats, panchayat samitis and the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad are scheduled for June.

Told about Tirkey’s statement, Trinamul north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said: “The Parishad has extended support to Trinamul in the Lok Sabha polls after seeing the consistent initiatives by the state government and the chief minister for the comprehensive socio-economic development of tribals in the Terai and Dooars. It is evident that the alliance will continue…. The same association will be in the SMP elections as well.”

The minister said talks would be held between the Parishad and Trinamul in due course over seat-sharing.

The Parishad has offered support to Trinamul in the Lok Sabha polls with directives being issued to cadres to vote for the ruling party in their respective constituencies.

The tribal outfit extended the support to Trinamul saying the Mamata Banerjee government had taken a number of initiatives for the progress of adivasis.

The alliance for the SMP polls with the Parishad is expected to help Trinamul bag tribal votes.

The SMP covers the entire Terai region. There are 42 tea gardens in the Terai with over 70,000 voters and most of them are adivasis.

A Parishad leader in the Terai claimed that tribal votes would be consolidated in favour of Trinamul in the SMP elections.

“The support base of the Congress and the CPM has eroded in the tea belt of the Terai after the Trinamul government brought about a hike of Rs 28 for workers in the tea gardens in the plains. Further, Trinamul is the only party which is strongly opposed to the demand for a separate state raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Leaders of other parties indirectly talk in favour of the Gorkhaland demand, although they know that the tribals are against the separate state. All these factors will work to the advantage of Trinamul,” he said.

Tirkey also said ahead of the polls, the Parishad would seek the cancellation of a recommendation by Justice Shyamal Sen commission to include three mouzas, which were under the jurisdiction of the SMP, in the GTA Sabha area.

“The state has already formed the Dooars Terai Development Council and there is no logic in including the three mouzas in the GTA,” he added.

The three mouzas are M.M. Terai, Gulmakhari and East Karaibari in the Siliguri subdivision. Two more mouzas in the Malbazar subdivision of Jalpaiguri district were recommended for their inclusion in the GTA by the commission in 2012.

Source: Telegraph

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BJP ,GJM and JMM - ABAVP and TMC alliances made tough for Congress in North Bengal

11:43 AM

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TMC

Siliguri, March 24: Four years since Rahul Gandhi’s last visit to the Dooars, the region has seen the emergence of Trinamul as a force.

Alliances  have made tough for Congress in North Bengal

Rahul, party sources said, would attend a workers’ meeting on the playground of Zurantee Tea Estate near Metelli under Malbazar subdivision of Jalpaiguri tomorrow morning, about 24 hours ahead of Mamata Banerjee’s visit to north Bengal.

The chief minister is scheduled to address two workers’ meetings at Gorubathan in Kalimpong and one close to Dooars, and in Birpara in the Dooars on Wednesday morning and afternoon.

On September 15, 2010, Rahul had been to Jalpaiguri to attend a convention of tea garden youths. “Back in 2010, the only considerable force that the Congress had to counter, was the Left,” a source said.

“But after 2011 when Trinamul came to power, it made bases in the Dooars. Also, the emergence of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and its directive to the tribals to vote for Trinamul, the alliance of the BJP and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and JMM, have made the turf quite tough for the Congress.”

Source: Telegraph

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Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad supports Trinamul in Lok Sabha elections

9:21 AM

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Trinamool Congress

The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad (ABAVP) today announced its support for Trinamul in the Lok Sabha elections.

The announcement, which could boost Trinamul’s chances in the Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar Lok Sabha seats, has come a day after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha announced it would support BJP candidates in Darjeeling, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri.

Mamata Banerjee is felicitated in Malbazar, Jalpaiguri, on February 12 by Somji Bhai Damor, the all-India president of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad. On stage is Birsa Tirkey (extreme right), the state president of the Parishad

The way the contest is set now, the Morcha, which wants statehood, and the BJP, known to favour creation of smaller states, are pitted against Trinamul, which is against dividing Bengal and the Parishad, which shares the state’s ruling party’s stand on the matter.

Of the tea garden unions in the Dooars and Terai, the Parishad-backed Progressive Tea Workers’ Union (PTWU) is the strongest. It has worker unions in almost every garden in the Dooars and Terai. Most of the workers in the tea gardens are tribals, except in few pockets where Gorkhas are larger in number.

The Parishad’s sign of support — this is the first time the outfit has officially said it would support a particular party — has come about a month after the tribal organisation felicitated chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Jalpaiguri for the development work done by the government for them.

Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad, said from Calcutta over phone today: “The initiative taken by Mamata Banerjee for the tribals is unprecedented in this state. We are overwhelmed by her sincerity to help the backward tribal population by initiating socio-economic development. So we have decided to issue a directive to the tribal community to vote for Trinamul candidates.”

Tirkey added: “Tribals will vote Trinamul across Bengal and also in other states where Trinamul will field candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.”

The sitting MP of Jalpaiguri, which is a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes, is the CPM’s Mahendra Roy. Alipurduar, a Scheduled Tribe seat, is held by the RSP’s Manohar Tirkey. Both have got tickets for the same seats this time.

Trinamul has fielded a new face in Jalpaiguri — Rabindra Bharati University assistant registrar Bijoy Krishna Burman. In Alipurduar, the candidate is Dasarath Tirkey, who switched from the RSP to Trinamul after the recent Rajya Sabha elections.

Trinamul is expected to benefit the most in Alipurduar where the tribals make up around 60 per cent of the voters.

Their percentage is around 15 per cent each in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, aware that his party is unlikely to get any Gorkha votes after the Morcha leadership’s directive to plains supporters to vote for the BJP, said he was “happy” with the Parishad’s announcement.

He said the Trinamul government had “tried to do our best to bring development to the tribal belt in north Bengal”.

As examples he cited revision of tea workers’ wages, the opening of Hindi-medium colleges and ration shops in tea gardens.

It is the Left, which is already under siege from Trinamul across the state, which could suffer the hardest.

“Since 2009, Trinamul has made inroads into the tea gardens and set up units of the INTTUC there,” said a CPM leader. “The Parishad-backed Progressive Tea Workers’ Union is the strongest union in the tea gardens here.”

He said that in such a scenario a signal by the Parishad to garden workers to support the Trinamul would have a “significant bearing” on the voting pattern here in the coming elections.

“We used to depend a lot on the tribal support to win elections here,” the CPM leader said.

Salil Acharya, a district secretariat member of the Jalpaiguri unit of the CPM told The Telegraph: “We are against identity politics. Whether it is the Morcha or the Parishad, they are just trying to create a rift between the different communities living here. We are opposed to such vote-bank politics. The people of this region will give a fitting reply to such outfits.”


Source:Telegraph

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