In the process of their election coverage, Catch News had interviewed TheDC Editor Ms. Rinchu... but perhaps her answers were not what the national media were looking for... perhaps they wanted to hear her rants on GJM vs. JAP rivalry again, perhaps they were not happy with the fact that our editor highlighted the TMC failures instead of going on anti-GJM or anti-JAP tirade... they didn't publish the interview... so we are putting out the same...
Thanks Catch News, our time was well spent after-all
CATCH NEWS: In the past 5 years, how much development/improvement in infrastructure have you seen in Darjeeling?
RINCHU: One of the most visible signs of improvement in the infrastructure is in the sphere of road constructions; relative improvement has been seen in the road connectivity from Siliguri to Darjeeling. Our’s is perhaps the only border region in India which touches three countries Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and Tibet (China) is just beyond a hill, and yet our National Highway – 55 is shut down since 2010. Given this, we did not have a proper highway connecting Darjeeling with the rest of India. Thanks to powers that be, they repaired and widened the existing Rohini Road which has gone on to become the lifeline of Darjeeling hills. Of late we have seen slight improvements in the subsidiary road connectivity as well. Even within the Darjeeling municipality, the roads are finally being looked after, after many years of utter neglect.
Most important infrastructure development has been in terms of rural electrification, where numerous villages that had never gotten electricity finally got connected to the grid. Earlier around 167 villages did not have electricity connection in Darjeeling region, today around 60% of those villages do.
In terms of education new College buildings have been completed in Mirik and Bijanbari, and other colleges are being constructed in Pedong, and Gorubathan, model schools have been constructed in Sukna and other parts of Darjeeling hills.
In terms of Darjeeling municipality region, they have started a few pay toilets which were much needed, and over all cleanliness of the municipality region is currently being undertaken.
Other than these there have been minor improvements in terms of provisioning drinking water and proper drainage in small streams, cemented roads or stairs that reaches right up to people’s doors in rural areas and so on.
However, I must highlight that there is way more avenues and scope for improving infrastructure in our region. There are numerous villages that don’t have road connectivity, numerous villages that don’t have basic infrastructure in place – access to drinking water, proper hospitals, schools and colleges, roads and so on.
Even Darjeeling town reels under acute water-crisis every winter, and so do the town of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik. So the infrastructure development we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg in relative terms of what needs to be done.
CATCH NEWS: How happy are the locals since the implementation of GTA?
RINCHU: To be honest, NO ONE is happy with the formation and implementation of GTA. Everyone feels that GTA is a premature baby that was thrusted upon us as a compromise, that our idiotic politicians conceded to. GTA does not fulfill any of our aspirations, and it does not do justice to the sacrifices numerous Gorkha brave-hearts have made for our nation as well as for the cause of Gorkhaland.
However, the blame primarily lies with Bengal government, as they did not live up to their side of the bargain. They did not transfer all the departments that they were supposed to, they also did not transfer the powers associated with the functioning of those departments they had transferred to GTA; they continued and have continued to interfere in the day to day running of the GTA.
Moreover, with the Bengal government establishing the so called “Development boards” on divisive ethnic lines has created a huge chasm in the hills, and these boards are being run as a proxy representation of Trinmool party in the hills.
Furthermore, Darjeeling region hasn’t seen Panchayat elections since 2005, we are perhaps the only region in India where the provision for Panchayati Raj Under Article 40 of our Constitution and guaranteed by the73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (1992) has not been implemented. Even after the formation of GTA in 2011, the Bengal government hasn’t taken any initiative to implement Panchayat raj in our hills, which is why our rural population is suffering as none of the Central government schemes have reached our rural regions.
The youth are particularly unhappy, as the Bengal government was supposed to have established a separate Subordinate Services Commission, School Services Commission and College Services Commission for GTA region, yet in the past 5 years none of these have been done. All our educated youth are today forced to head to other parts of India or abroad for employment opportunity.
I feel that GTA is today much less powerful than the Zilla Parishad, hence none of the locals are happy with GTA.
As if that was not enough, the party in power Gorkha Janmukti Morcha ran GTA as their fiefdom and allegations of rampant corruption and nepotism abound against GTA and its functionaries.
Having said that, there is a section of population, I call them “Perpetually Optimists” that is moderately happy with GTA, as they feel that even though the real power is vested with Bengal, yet for them GTA represents (to some extent) a degree of autonomy and authority that the Gorkhas have earned for ourselves. Moreover, GTA provides a political space where we can elect our own representatives, whose aspirations align with the aspirations of the majority of the local people.
Most important of all, people are thankful that we don’t have to rely on Bengal to meet our basic needs and wants. GTA is after all something we have earned through our struggles, and to a certain extent it has kept the focus on Gorkhas and our aspiration for Gorkhaland state in the national psyche, imagine in a country with over 1.2 billion populations - that is something which we keep in mind.
CATCH NEWS: Among The Candidates In Darjeeling, Who Do You Believe Is A Better Bet For Darjeeling?
RINCHU: I think from among the choice of candidates that we have, definitely Prof. Amar Rai is hands down the best candidate for Darjeeling MLA seat. He is first an educator, and has over 35 years of experience teaching Political Science to graduate students. From what I have heard from his students, he is very popular among his students. Unlike some other “intellectuals” who require appointments to meet them made through their PAs, Prof. Rai is grounded and accessible, with no unnecessary airs or sense of “intellectualism” about himself. He is the current Chairman of the Darjeeling Municipality so he has enough administrative experience as well; moreover he is perhaps the only Municipal Chairman in Darjeeling’s history who does not use government issued vehicle. He walks to his office and back and uses his private vehicle for all his personal needs. He is widely respected and with this background he is more inspiring as compared to all other candidates.
CATCH NEWS: Do you want the TMC to find its ground in the hills? Do you think that will be good or bad or the people of the hills?
Rinchu: NO I would never want any Bengal based party to find grounds in the hills, be it TMC or earlier CPI(M), as the moment they gain power in Bengal, they tend to treat the hill people as 2nd class citizens. They tend to distort our history, narratives surrounding our place and people and threaten our language, diverse culture and tradition, our unity, question our identity – in short our very existence.
TMC, Good?? Hahaha... what worries me is the fact that TMC has already through its various proxies started to dig its roots in the hills. The formation of so called “development boards” is in and of itself an indication of how low they are willing to stoop to gain power in the hills. What the British did in India, TMC is already doing that – divide and rule. One of my main concern is that TMC is a autocratic party and has no room for dissent, we have already seen how they managed to curtail all voices of protest and dissent during the Gorkhaland agitation. We have seen how deceptive they can be in their not living up to the GTA agreement. We can feel how divisive they can be in the boards that they are forming, I fear that if TMC comes to power in the hills, then the Gorkha community will be divided in such a way that the umbrella term Gorkha which defines us will cease to exist, eventually our very existence, our history, our connections to our place will be eradicated... we will become so distorted that we will cease to exist. It will be genocide of the other kind, a more modern, a more evil and a more pervasive form of genocide.
TMC doesn’t has a fixed ideal or ideology, they are the most opportunistic and power hungry party that will never stop till it devours all that stands between them and power. Sadly some of our hill leaders, particularly of the “intellectual” variety are paving the way for TMC to walk on.
CATCH NEWS: How will the formation of Gorkhaland help the cause of the people of the hills according to you?
RINCHU: Gorkhaland statehood itself is the primary cause of the people of the hills, Terai and Dooars. In India, the Gorkhas are seen as immigrants, where as our history is proof that the majority of us did not immigrate, rather we came with the land. When someone says they are a Bengali, people in India naturally assume they are from West Bengal and no one asks them if they are from Bangladesh. If someone says they are Punjabi, people naturally assume they are from Punjab, and no one asks them if they are from Punjab in Pakistan. If someone says they are Tamil, everyone assumes they are from Tamil Nadu, and no one questions if they are from Sri Lanka. Whereas when we say we are Gorkhas, people ask us if we are from Nepal. When we say we are from Darjeeling in West Bengal, people ask us if we are Bengali, then we say no we are Gorkhas, then they ask us when did we immigrate? This is the “CRISIS OF RECOGNITION” that we have lived and continue to live with. Ironically we are asked this question even in Kolkata, which is supposed to be the capital of the state we live in. We do not have a place-based identity - Our identity was derecognized, when Bengal colonized us after absorbing our district on the 13th of April 1954.
Moreover Bengal has always treated Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars as its colonial outpost, from which they have drained out our resources and wealth for the past 7 decades without making any repatriation. We are literally to Bengal, what India was to the British, a colonial outpost meant to be plundered, robbed and pillaged from.
So formation of Gorkhaland state means restoring back our existence, our control over our land and resources, our control over the wealth that we have always created through tourism, hydro, trade and other avenues.
Our languages will get due recognition and respect. Though Nepali is one of the recognized national languages of India under the VIIIth Schedule of our Constitution, recognized so since 1992, and it is also the Official Language in West Bengal since 1961; and we can choose Nepali as an optional paper in IAS examination, yet till date we cannot opt for Nepali as an optional paper in WBCS. Our language is treated as a 2nd class language, just as we are treated as a 2nd class citizen. When Gorkhaland is formed, this discrimination towards us and our language will end.
Gorkhaland statehood will ensure that we will be able to “live the kind of life that we value living.”
CATCH NEWS: Who will you vote for and why?
RINCHU: I won’t tell you who I am voting for, but I will tell you what I am voting against. I am voting against the division of our community on the lines of development boards. I am voting against the injustice – discrimination, apathy, indifference and subjugation that our people have had to face under Bengal for decades. I am voting against the systematic and systemic marginalization of our community. I am voting against the short-sighted vision of the “intellectual” leaders. I am voting against those people who are power-hungry and put themselves before the cause of Gorkhaland. I am voting against those forces and alliances that are threatening our very existence.
I am not voting for change this time, I am voting for the continuation of the 100 year old struggle that our forefathers had initiated, so that we – the Gorkhas could live the life with dignity, equality and opportunity that our great nation has promised us.
I am voting for Gorkhaland.
Via TheDC
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