Bengal govt issues transfer orders to Hill teachers for raising voice for people democratically

9:01 AM

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West Bengal

The West Bengal government has issued transfer orders to two government employees for allegedly indulging in “anti-government activities” and “trying to stir up unrest”.

This comes after the district administration wrote to the state school education department, accusing the teachers of “trying to stir up unrest” in the Hills, and requested their transfer to Presidency, Midnapore or Burdwan divisions. The Indian Express is in possession of the letter from the district administration to principal secretary, School Education Department.

Political parties in the Hills, including the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), have slammed the move.

Joyoshi Das Gupta, district magistrate, Darjeeling, told The Indian Express, “There are government servants in different departments, including teachers, who have stayed back in Darjeeling for years without transfers. A section of such officials neglect duty and services, and welfare schemes do not reach the people. Moreover, it has been found that they have been involved in acts unbecoming of government employees and stirring up locals. Action is being taken according to rules. This is to ensure that people get the benefit of government initiatives.”

“In the recent case, the teachers have been found to stir up unrest by making false promises to locals in the name of forest rights. In one case, a teacher was also found spreading misinformation through social media,” she added.

“In the past one year, six or seven such people, comprising teachers and nurses, have been transferred for acts unbecoming of a government employee,” she said.

A senior government official said, “We are keeping an eye on government officials. In a surprise visit, it was found that a school was shut on a working day. We are also following up on cases against government servants during the 105-day shutdown here.”

Meanwhile, one of the teachers who faces action plans to knock on the court’s door.

“I received a transfer letter on Saturday from the state school education department. I will have to go to court. I was involved in a democratic agitation for rights of forest land. I spoke with the local residents and we demanded that Forest Rights Act 2006 be properly implemented in Darjeeling. I think that is why I am being transferred. Education is under Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), but the letter has been sent by the school education department,” Lila Kumar Gurung told The Indian Express.

Gurung, who is also general secretary of Himalayan Forest Villagers Association, has been transferred from Kumai High School in Kalimpong to Rimbik High School, near the Nepal border.

A government official said, “He (Gurung) has been found to stir up local residents. Despite being a government employee, he has been found to make anti-government statements on social media. In a surprise visit, it was found that he stayed absent from school on many occasions. He has been transferred within the Hills. But he wants to stay in the same area.”

GNLF spokesperson Neeraj Zimba criticised the move and targeted GTA chief Binay Tamang. “The transfer order of Sri Lila Kumar Gurung is part of Binay Tamang’s political dealings as openly declared by him in public meetings. For the first time in the history of Gorkha politics, we have seen a nominated stooge openly declare from a public platform that he will politically victimise all those who do not support him. All should protest against this,” Zimba said in a statement on social media.

Despite repeated calls, Tamang could not be reached.

Via indianexpress

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गोरखा जनमुक्ति मोर्चा प्रेस विज्ञप्ति

9:16 PM

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Trinamool Congress

गोरखा राष्ट्रिय मुक्ति मोर्चा (गोरामुमो) अनि जन आन्दोलन पार्टी(जाप)-का अध्यक्षहरू अब तृणमूल कंग्रेसका नेताहरूको अधीनमा परेका छन् जसले गत विधानसभा चुनाउ पनि जित्न सकेका थिएनन्। यो पहाड़वासीको निम्ति ठूलो अपमान हो अनि समतल केन्द्रित राजनैतिक दलहरूले पहाड़का राजनैतिक दलहरूको कहिल्यै सम्मान गर्दैनन् भन्ने उदाहरण पनि हो।

तृणमूल कंग्रेसका दार्जीलिङ जिल्ला अध्यक्षले कसरी अध्यक्ष या उपाध्यक्षको कुनै पनि पद पाएनन् अनि कसरी गोरामुमो अनि जापका अध्यक्षहरूले उक्त पदहरू पाए? यसले प्रत्यक्षरूपमै जाप अनि गोरामुमो तृणमूल कंग्रेसकै खेमाकाहरू हुन् भन्ने प्रमाणित गर्छ। हिल तृणमूलभन्दा पनि जाप अनि गोरामुमो तृणमूल कंग्रेसको निम्ति धेरै महत्वपूर्ण रहेको सत्य पनि यसले स्पष्ट पार्छ।

पहाड़का समग्र जनता यी दुई दल जाप अनि गोरामुमोदेखि टाँड़ा बस्नुपर्छ। उनीहरू गोरखाल्याण्ड बेच्ने दल हो अनि गोरखाल्याण्ड बेचेकोमा राज्य सरकारले उनीहरूलाई पुरस्कृत गरेका हुन्।

गोरामुमो अनि जापले गोजमुमोलाई भ्रष्टाचारको जुन आरोप लगाइरहेका छन् त्यो पूर्णरूपले निराधार रहेको छ। जबकि उनीहरूले नै गोरखाल्याण्डको मुद्दालाई नवान्नमा बिक्री गरेका छन् जो पहाड़को इतिहासमा सबैभन्दा ठूलो भ्रष्टाचार हो अनि यसप्रकारको भ्रष्टाचार पहाड़वासीले कहिल्यै देखेका थिएनन् अनि सोचेका पनि थिएनन्। उनीहरूलाई जनभावना अनि जातीय अस्मिता र स्वाभिमानको कुनै सरोकार छैन, यसैले गोरखाल्याण्डको मुद्दा बेचेर राज्य सरकारबाट पाएको पुरस्कारले उनीहरू गदगद भइरहेका छन्, त्यसैको पुरस्कारको रूपमा राज्य सरकारले उनीहरूलाई पद प्रदान गरेको हो।

गोरामुमो अनि जापले जनताको सपनामाथि घात गरेपछि अब गोरखाहरूको स्वाभिमान अनि जातीय अस्मिताको निम्ति निरन्तर संघर्ष गरिरहने एकमात्र इमान्दार दल गोरखा जनमुक्ति मोर्चामात्रै रहेको प्रमाणित गरिदिएको छ। किनभने गोरखाल्याण्डको निम्ति प्राणको बाजीसमेत लगाउने अब गोरखा जनमुक्ति मोर्चा अध्यक्ष विमल गुरूङमात्रै रहेको प्रमाणित भयो।

श्री रोशन गिरी,
महासचिव,
गोरखा जनमुक्ति मोर्चा।

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Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Mann Ghisingh in Mamata Banerjee's new committees

2:59 PM

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Politics

Mamata Banerjee has decided to include Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Mann Ghisingh in her new committees in a move to consolidate the anti-Morcha votes in the upcoming elections. With the GNLF and JAP presidents getting posts in the committees Gorkha Janmukti Morcha GJM  accused them for selling the statehood dream of the people for their respective posts.

Morcha barb at Mamata panels
Writes Vivek Chhetri and Rajeev Ravidas for Telegraph
Darjeeling, June 30: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today criticised Mamata Banerjee's decision to nominate Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Mann Ghisingh in the new committees she had announced yesterday and said that her efforts to consolidate the anti-Morcha votes will not have any impact on the hill party in the upcoming civic and GTA elections.

The Morcha accused the presidents of the Jana Andolan Party (Chhetri) and the GNLF (Mann) for selling the statehood dream of the people for the post of vice-chairmen in the panels.

"We congratulate both Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Mann Ghisingh for becoming the vice-chairmen of different government panels. They have been appointed as vice-chairmen despite being presidents of their respective parties. Could anything be more demoralising and humiliating for their parties?" asked Binay Tamang, the assistant general secretary of the Morcha.

Harka Bahadur Chhetri and Mann Ghisingh in Mamata Banerjee's new committees 

Yesterday, Mamata Banerjee announced four new committees in Siliguri and made some of the former ministers and Trinamul leaders who had lost the Assembly polls members of the panels.

Apart from her party leaders, Chhetri and Mann also made it to the committees.

While Chhetri has been made the vice-chairman of Uttarbanga Unnayan Parshad, Mann has been nominated as the vice-chairman of the North Bengal Board for Development of Sports and Games.

The Parshad will be headed by Abdul Karim Chowdhury and Bhaichung Bhutia has been named as the head of the sports panel.

Today, Tamang said: "Earlier, too, Harka Bahadur Chhetri's name had featured in TMC's candidate list but it was removed later. The recent development proves that the JAP and TMC are the same. Harka Bahadur Chhetri had said that he had made a roadmap for his party till 2025. It seems the roadmap was to get a chair for himself."

Criticising Mann's nomination to the panel, Tamang said: "The Gorkhaland martyrs' dream has been sold for a post of vice-chairman by the GNLF. Of late, the GNLF has been saying that they do not need Gorkhaland. We want to remind them that one should not forget one's community and its aspirations."

The Morcha said Mamata's decision to include the two hill leaders was aimed at consolidating anti-Morcha votes. "The decision was taken to ensure that the three parties (JAP, GNLF and TMC) fight the municipality and the GTA elections together. In the past, too, they had joined hands against us but it did not have any impact (on us). This development, too, will have no impact," said Tamang.

Mann Ghisingh, who is in Siliguri, said over the phone: "I have not received any official letter (regarding the committee and his post in it) and I need to know the details first before commenting. I came to know about the development through The Telegraph this morning."

In Kalimpong, Harka said: "I would like to thank the Bengal chief minister. This, in a way, is proof of her trust on my capacity and capability. I will try to live up to her trust and do whatever is required of me in the office ... I do not know yet what my responsibilities would be. I am yet to get a formal letter. Once I get it, I will go to the (council) office, and get myself acquainted with my responsibilities and work."

GJM denounces GNLF, JAP for selling-off statehood demand published in - EOI
DARJEELING 30 Jun 2016 With chief minister Mamata Banerjee announcing certain posts in various state government panels to GNLF president Mann Ghisingh and Jan Andolan Party president Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has slammed them for selling off and exchanging the statehood demand to secure these posts.

On Wednesday in Siliguri, the chief minister also announced the names of hill TMC leaders Shanta Chhetri as a member of the Advisory Council of Tea Directorate and Sardha Subba Rai as the director of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation. Ghisingh has been made the vice-chairman of the North Bengal Board for Development of Sports and Games while Chhetri has become the vice-chairman of the Uttarbanga Unnayan Parishad.

GJM assistant secretary Binay Tamang said, “We congratulate them, especially the hill TMC leaders, who were given important posts by the chief minister. We have nothing to comment on this as the chief minister can do so in her official capacity. But what came as a surprise was the GNLF and JAP presidents getting posts. Once again it has been proven that the JAP and the TMC are one and the same body as during the Vidhan Sabha election too, Chhetri's name had been initially announced by Mamata as a TMC candidate. When the JAP was formed, they had said they had prepared a roadmap for Gorkhaland, but now this has been proved otherwise,” said Tamang.

He added, “It seems that the GNLF too has sold-off the demand or Sixth Schedule and Gorkhaland for the post of a vice-chairman. They have also sold the dreams of the 1,200 martyrs of the Gorkhaland agitation in the mid eighties. Recently, a GNLF delegation met with the chief minister in Kolkata and the dole Ghisingh has received seems to be the main topic they discussed about.”

Tamang further said that the chief minister's announcements was a clear indication that the three parties would join hands in fighting upcoming elections, but this would not affect the Morcha at all.

When reminded that his party too was trying to improve relations with the state government, Tamang said, “Being the ruling party here and in charge of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, it is prudent to maintain a good working relationship with the state government. But this does not mean we have a political relationship as well as we demand statehood while the state government is against it.”

When Chhetri was contacted, he said, “I thank the chief minister for announcing my name as vice-chairman of the north Bengal development board and once I receive official intimation I will see what  I can do to help the people.” Commenting on the allegations made by the Morcha, he said, “It is the GJM who is not sincere about the Gorkhaland demand and use it as an issue only during elections.

They mainly criticise our party as we have done so much in such little time; they are afraid of losing popular support as they have not done anything.

Moreover, they are no one to comment on who we keep good relations with as such terms have to be maintained for the benefit of the people. As for the matter of being in love with an official post, please  do not forget that GJM chief Bimal Gurung had once quit as the GTA chief executive only to occupy it immediately afterwards.”

Chhetri also stressed that the JAP has not decided anything regarding forthcoming elections. While the GNLF president could not be contacted even after repeated attempts, party general secretary  Mahendra Chhetri said, “We have not received any official intimation about our president being given a post and what we know is through the media. Any decision to that effect will be taken once we  receive official confirmation and by holding a meeting. As for the allegations by the GJM, everyone can see that we are keenly pursuing the demand for Sixth Schedule, which we believe, is a step towards achieving Gorkhaland.” (EOIC)

Via EOI & Telegraph

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GNLF now second fiddle to TMC - Roshan Giri

10:23 AM

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Trinamool Congress

Writes RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, June 21: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri today accused the GNLF of kowtowing to Trinamul and said the party had "lost its plot".

Reacting to the meeting between GNLF president Mann Ghisingh and chief minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday, Giri told reporters in Darjeeling: "How can GNLF, under whose leadership over 1,200 people sacrificed their lives for Gorkhaland, join hands with a party whose chief has repeatedly voiced her opposition to the creation of a state for the Gorkhas? The party has lost the plot completely."

He added: "The GNLF will now be reduced to playing second fiddle to Trinamul in the municipality and the GTA elections. The party stands thoroughly exposed and is fast on its way to losing relevance in the hills completely."

GNLF now second fiddle to TMC - Roshan Giri

After yesterday's meeting, GNLF leaders had said they were open to contesting polls in alliance with Trinamul.


Via Telegraph

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GNLF - assembly election helped restoring democracy in the hills

8:41 AM

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Subash Ghisingh

Darjeeling 16 May 2016 The Gorkha National Liberation Front today heralded the recently concluded Assembly election as a force that has played a major role in restoring democracy in the hills even as it maintained winning or losing to be a secondary issue.

Indramani Rai, the GNLF Darjeeling town committee president, praised the part played by the district administration and the police, along with the election commission for ensuring polling went about peacefully. He said, “The election was peaceful and smooth and everyone could exercise their franchise freely. It is our opinion that democracy is not lost here and for this we must thank the election commission, administration and the police department.”

The GNLF did not field candidates from the hills for the state Assembly election, and instead chose to extend support to the Trinamool Congress in Darjeeling and Kurseong and to the Jan Andolan Party in Kalimpong.

 Gorkha National Liberation Front GNLF Flag

Rai said the election was only an exercise to test the waters for the party’s future activities in the hills and that victory and loss were not the end factors. “We thank the voters who rallied behind candidates we supported. But the bigger issue for us is the difference in victory margin achieved by the winning candidates. This will pave the way for our party’s future political activities,” the GNLF town committee president said.

On whether the GNLF would participate in the upcoming panchayat election in November-December, Rai said, “We are not concentrating on the panchayat election as our agenda of implementing the Sixth Schedule in the hills is more important. Besides, we will first have to go through the provision of the Sixth Schedule to see if things like panchayat election can be conducted.”

In December 2005, GNLF president Subash Ghisingh and the central government had signed a Memorandum of Agreement to bring the Darjeeling hills under the Sixth Schedule. A bill had also been placed in Parliament in 2007, but it was put in the backburner following opposition by the BJP when the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha objected to it.

“We still maintain that granting Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills is the best and only plausible solution to the problems that keep haunting the region. It was our Subash Ghisingh’s vision and political acumen to make the demand because Bengal had given us everything in its power then. The issue is still alive in Parliament and all that is needed is to pursue it properly,” Rai said.

He also said his party would take into consideration factors like time and the current situation and take a call on whether to participate in the municipality election or extend support to other parties. 

EOIC

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Darjeeling demanding Gorkhaland - Story of every election in West Bengal

6:34 PM

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West Bengal

Why Gorkhaland is still a hot issue in Darjeeling when azadi from West Bengal is a non-starter

Delhi and Kolkata have both effectively shut the door on a separate hill state for the Nepali-speaking district.

It is the story of every election in West Bengal: Darjeeling demanding Gorkhaland, a separate hill state, partitioned from the plains of Bengal. And it is the same as it votes on Sunday in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

Political demands are always contested, but it is true that the Darjeeling region was never politically a part of Bengal in any form. It was annexed by the British Raj in 1850, taken from an exceedingly weak Sikkim, a princely state itself annexed by India in 1975. Bundled into the Bengal presidency by the British, Darjeeling has remained in Bengal even after 1947. This is even after the 1955 States Reorganisation Committee had successfully arranged Indian states according to language. Nepali-speaking Darjeeling district, therefore, is an incongruous part of Bangla-speaking West Bengal.

Darjeeling demanding Gorkhaland

Amar Singh Rai, the Darjeeling constituency candidate for the Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha is clear that the demand for Gorkhaland is based on ethnic identity. “We want a homeland for ourselves ­–­ for our own identity,” he said. “Although we are bona fide Indian citizens, we are still called ‘Nepali’. To get rid of the stigma we feel it’s essential that we have our own state.”

Popular demand
The Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha is the largest party in Darjeeling and it campaigns on almost a single-point agenda: the creation of a Gorkhaland state. The popularity of the Gorkhaland demand can be seen from the fact that in the 2011 Assembly elections, the GJM picked up 79% of all votes caste across the three constituencies in Darjeeling district. In Darjeeling town, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), widely seen as a Bengali party in the hills, received all of 3.5% of the votes cast.

Rai alleges that there is ethnic discrimination at play here, with the hills being ignored by the Kolkta's Bengali rulers. “Gorkhaland is a right of self-determination for us since West Bengal is oblivious to us,” Rai charged. “They don’t care about the tea industry or the rights of the tea garden workers.”

Support for Gorkhaland is starkly visible across Darjeeling town. Stores invariably list their address as “Gorkhaland” rather than the “West Bengal” it officially is.

Anup Chhetri sells winter wear in the busy Chowk Bazar area of Darjeeling town and is clear in his support for a new state. “We who live here need to decide what will happen with our land,” he argued. “How can people sitting in Kolkata or Delhi decide things about our home?”

Pie in the sky
In spite of this fervour, the Gorkhaland demand is now widely seen as a pipe dream. The demand has existed in some form or the other for a century now, culminating in a violent agitation in the 1980s led by the Gorkha National Liberation Front. The agitation led to the creation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, a local government body to which the state government transferred some administrative powers. A 2007 agitation led by a new party and current incumbent, the Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha, led to the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, with its powers expanded vis-à-vis the earlier Hill Council.

The revenue from the tea and tourism industry, though, means that Kolkata is extremely reluctant to let go of Darjeeling completely. And while the final decision to create a new state rests with the Union government – and not West Bengal – given the tiny population of Darjeeling, no ruling party in Delhi would wish to antagonise Kolkata. The political trade-off in terms of support from Darjeeling is simply too small.

Cracks in Gorkhaland
Recognising this ground politics at play, critics of the all-or-nothing demand for Gorkhaland have also emerged. From the Kalimpong constituency, the Gorkhaland Janmukti Morcha is being opposed by Harka Bahadur Chettri, who broke away from the GJM in 2015, complaining that their voluble demand for Gorkhaland was simply a ploy to garner votes and one that was actually harming the development of the region.

This is not the only dissension at play. During her term as chief minister, Mamata Banerjee created multiple “development boards” aimed at specific minority ethnicities, other than the majority Gorkhas ­– a move that Amar Singh Rai angrily characterised as a “policy of divide and rule”. In the past five years, Kolkata has formed six boards for the Lepcha, Tamang, Rai, Sherpa, Bhutia and Mangar communities. Even the Trinamool candidate from Siliguri town, another Gorkha-Bengali contested space, is a Bhutia – India’s best-know footballer, Baichung Bhutia.

These ground realities mean that no matter the fervour on the ground and its use as a vote catcher, the creation of an actual Gorkha state seems quite unlikely.


Via scroll.in

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The hills have eyes: Can Sarita Rai Stop the Harka Juggernaut?

2:23 PM

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TMC

Writes: Priyata Brajabasi

GJM's Sarita Rai, a first-time contestant who, interestingly, once taught with Harka at St George's Higher Secondary School in Pedong. She is quite confident of her prospects.

"I have known Harka Bahadur Chettri as my colleague. We used to be in the same party but he was unable to take the responsibility and fight for the cause of the hill people. He is being backed by the TMC and the people of the hills will not support TMC because the party is against our demand for the state of Gorkhaland," she says.

"Every person in the hills faces a crisis of identity. We have been put in a state but are not part of it. We are called Nepalis and Sikkimese and Chinese, but we are Gorkhas and we have been part of India since time immemorial. People will vote for me because I understand what the people of this place want. They want to belong to a place that is theirs and I will fight for it till my last breath. The solution of our issues is the formation of Gorkhland."

Sarita Rai GJM Kalimpong

Sarita Rai isn't bothered by the decision of the Gorkha National Liberation Front to support the Trinamool in Kurseong and Darjeeling, and the JAP in Kalimpong. "GNLF is barely surviving. Their support or opposition doesn't matter to us. It will barely affect the outcome," she asserts.

Harka disagrees, saying GNLF's support could decide the contest. "Their support is welcome to us. The last time I contested against the GNLF, and they were able to get more than 8000 votes, which is not a small number here. So it could be a deciding factor."

The battle for ballot in Kalimpong is an interesting one to watch, indeed.


Via Catch News

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The end of Gorkhas' monopoly in Bengal legislative assembly from hills

8:57 AM

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TMC

After Gorkhas' monopoly, BJP may open account in Bengal legislative assembly with three seats

Writes Madhuparna Das

DARJEELING/KURSEONG: The hills look different this election season — there are lots of Trinamool and BJP flags fluttering around, indicating the mood of its people. And unlike many years of identity politics — often marred by violence — the demand is one of multi-party democracy in Darjeeling, in Bengal.

It has been three decades since GNLF (Gorkha National Liberation Front) chief Subhash Ghisingh monopolised politics in the region. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, or GJM — an offshoot of the GNLF — carried on the legacy after dislodging the late Ghisingh. Interestingly, this time hill constituencies are described as 'advantage' seats for the BJP since the party in power has allied with the Morcha, and it is widely-speculated that BJP will open its account in Bengal legislative assembly with three seats.

"We respect democracy and believe that every party has the right to place their issues before the people. TMC is trying to hold election using the government machinery," GJM chief Bimal Gurung told ET.

In Darjeeling, where no mainstream party could ever get a foothold, Trinamool Congress is doing its best to make inroads and has tied up with GNLF, which went defunct after Ghisingh's forced exile. But Mamata Banerjee injected life into it to counter the GJM. Even though TMC had allied with the GJM in 2011, the two parties fell apart over the autonomy of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

UNEASY ALLIANCE The alliance between GNLF and TMC is also a tenuous one, and is compared to the ties between Congress and CPM. TMC has always opposed the idea of a separate statehood, but has ironically joined hands with the party that once had spearheaded the movement for a separate state — Gorkhaland — decades ago. CPM too announced its support for GJM but did not field a candidate.


Source ET Bureau 

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