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GTA should HELP restoration of peace in Darjeeling
By P. K. Chakravarty
IT is indeed a landmark agreement initiated by the Governments of India and West Bengal with the Gorkha Jan Multi Morcha which has been agitating for the just cause of the Nepali speaking people living in picturesque Darjeeling Hills with a population of an estimated seven lakh at the foothills of the mighty Himalayas which has influenced and shaped to a great extent, India’s socio-cultural identity over thousands of years. Although it is too early to predict whether some vested interests will create trouble in the hills in the future or not, the agreement signed in the presence of the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,
who has taken the initiative in restoring peace in the district comprising three sub- divisions spreading over 3,149 square kilometres, with the Union Minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha President Bimal Gurung and other leaders, will go a long way in meeting the hopes and aspirations of the people of Darjeeling district close to Nepal and Bhutan. Gorkhas, tribals and Bengali speaking people of North Bengal will have to live harmoniously and peacefully committing themselves to the ‘live and let live’ principle despite differences in their way of life. The tripartite agreement on Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), according to political analysts, has rightly stopped short of the major demand of the GJM for a full fledged state. The Agreement, however, does provide the maximum autonomy to the proposed GTA. There is no denying that the pact has for the first time acknowledged the overriding importance of ethnicity in the troubled region and to protect the identity of the proud Gorkha people who are part and parcel of the country and their contribution to various walks of life can not be overlooked. Most of them have been in West Bengal ever since Independence in 1947 and the forefathers of many Gorkhas had migrated from neighbouring Nepal, speak fluent Bengali and are in employed not only in the hills but also elsewhere in the state.
| It was a people’s movement in the Darjeeling District and the state government headed by Mamata Banerjee has done well to respond to them by not opposing their genuine demand. |
The fact remains that recognition of their ethnicity should not be misconstrued and no one should encourageseparatism from the state of West Bengal. Formation of separate states in India should not be considered as a panacea for resolving all problems as we have noted with a heavy heart in the Northeastern part of India and the Northwestern region how in smaller states the common people continue to suffer while politicians fight for power and positions. Small states may satisfy the ego promoted by political parties and vested interests. But who cares for the common people as development suffers and corruption not only continues but also multiplies at the cost of the national exchequer?
The Central and the West Bengal Governments, by signing the tripartite agreement have advanced an emotive gesture in the name of the new entity with more decision making powers and direct election by the people. GTA will have 59 departments and control over the 86 tea estates growing about 25 per cent of the tea in the country. It will not be like the GNLF the outdated mechanism under the leadership of Subhash Ghising who failed his own people despite an annual financial allocation of 22 crore INR given by the State Government and with almost matching funds received from the Centre as he allowed himself to be remote controlled by the erstwhile Marxist Government. There was no accountability and transparency on the part of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council which was under the constitution mandated to ensure autonomy for the DGHC headed by Ghisingh. But he played in the hands of the Marxist party antagonizing the Gorkha people. The people in the hills should not be faulted for taking to the streets under the banner of GJM to protest against maladministration and corruption during his regime. It was a people’s movement in the Darjeeling District and the State Government headed by Mamata Banerjee has done well to respond to them by not opposing their genuine demand. It is her political sagacity which has resulted in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. The agreement envisages the formation of the GTA through direct election reviving the process which was demanded by the people. And its jurisdiction should be confined to Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling hill sub-divisions. The Government will open a Pandora’s Box, if any attempt is made to bring two other sub- divisions in North Bengal Doors and Terai which are Darjeeling districts inhabitated by close to 56 tribes under the ambit of the GTA which is replacing DGHC. They are dead against such a move which is to be looked into by a 9-Member Committee announced by Mamata Banerjee.
It is regretted that her predecessors Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had not envisioned participation of the Gorkha people in direct electoral process through DGHC. If they had taken some measures in this direction, peace would have returned to the hills on the lap of the Himalayas long ago. They made a lot of mistakes and had taken wrong decisions on Darjeeling since they were dead against the formation of another state comprisingDarjeeling District. Subhash Ghisingh was allowed to head the now defunct Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council without allowing him to face the people through direct elections as long as he was at the behest of the Writers’ Building in Kolkata. It was a major mistake which alienated him from the masses. It can not be denied however that it was under the charismatic leadership of Ghisingh that the suppressed and neglected people of the hill district had agitated for a resolution of their grievances for several years and the prolonged movement resulted in the tripartite agreement on the birth of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988. Unfortunately, it could not satisfy the people who forced Ghisingh to leave his home district.
The GTA should be called a watershed agreement and it must be ensured that it is implemented in total without giving any opportunity to disenchanted politicians to disturb peace in the hills.
