Ruling Marxist hegemony in Bengal treats Gorkhaland as a foreign territory!
Palash Biswas
Tourists should not visit Darjeeling - the popular hill station of West Bengal - this summer due to unrest!Darjeeling hills have come alive with fresh demands for a separate state for the Gorkha people, with protests threatening tea and tourism industries.
West Bengal Urban development minister, the Don of Marxist gestapo in North Bengal warned amidst High Voltage Tension in Hills with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha declaring separatist agenda.
We all know the incidents in nandigram where the ruling Left Front depeneded on Laxman Seth. CPIM not only gave Seth freehand to acqire land for a Chemical Hub for notorius Salem group in Indonesia allied with Dows, the specialists of Chemical warfare. We all know the results.
But the Gorkhaland issue happens to be more suicidal not only for the ruling Hegemony in Bengal , but also for the nationstate India. Indian Foreign Policy always has been dictated by US Imperialism after the disintegration of Soviet Union. We have virtually no friends in neighbourhood. Particularly, Indian ruling class did its best to try for the impossibl survival of Hindu monarchy in Nepal. New delhi never had the vision to see the wall writing and at last the Maoist romped home with landslide Victory.
Mind you, Naxal Bari insurrection failed not politically, but militarily. Indian statepower had the deadly strikepower to crush the maoist Insurrection. Even in North east, the insurgency is dealt with some trouble because the Militants have hardly any lifeline as they enjoy in Kashir or they enjoyed in Punjab. The scenerio has changed. Naxalites had no outside help. Naxal leadersd visited china and china did not oblige.
In the Himalayan region, it has to be noted, Gurkhas, Kumaoonies, garwalies, Nagas and other militant nationalities do happen as the supply line of manpower in Indian Defence forces. you may get so many of them expert in Military affairs. If they get a lifeline opened via Nepal, thgey are militarily capable for playing Havoc this time. forget seventies and eighties. This awesome challange is underestimated by Delhi as well as Kolkata. The marxist Gestapo is well equipped to crush any popular Insurrection like nandigram, true. But it is not well efficient to cope with any Military Challange. The maoist have proved that in different parts of Bengal.Even the statepower has to face unwanted complications to deal with Civil war like situation in Mid himalaya zone as it is already engaged in Kashmir and entire North East. Since Independence, Indian State never addressed the nationality issue and always opted for Military solution like continuing AFPSA alon the Himalayan zone. rather the tried to sort out the problems relating Nationality movements in three parts of mainstream India. The Ruling class led by Sangh Pariwar, the torch bearer of Hindu Nation, created three minor states to dilute nationality Movement in Jharkhand, chhattish gargh and Uttarakhand.But the Ruling class have miserably failed as the Nationality movement continues in all the three states led by Maoists!
It is quite a vague affair why the Ruling marxist Hegemony depend so much on gestapo Heads like laxman Seth and Ashok Bhattachary?
Thus, the Ruling marxist Hegemony neglecting central advice for dialogue, treats the Hills, Gorkhland a foreign territory. The situation is well fit for another Armed Forces Special Power act zone as the State Power is well accustomed of. Bizarrely, it was a television show, India’s version of American Idol, that lit the fire of Gorkhaland in September, two decades after the end of an insurgency among ethnic Nepalis in eastern India that left more than 1,200 people dead.Frenzied canvassing for a local boy, ethnic Nepali, or Gorkha, policeman Prashant Tamang, metamorphosised into a political upsurge that has ushered in a new king of the hills. Politician Bimal Gurung surfed the wave of ethnic pride unleashed by the television contest and now is hoping it will carry his people towards Gorkhaland, a separate state carved out of West Bengal they have been demanding for many decades.
“We are anticipating political unrest revolving around the fast-till-death resolution of Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) supporters starting Thursday in demand of organising political meetings and rallies at Siliguri town in Darjeeling district. Tourists are requested not to visit Darjeeling this summer, or else they will have to face problems like scarcity of water, black outs and frequent road blockades,” Bhattacharya told IANS.
“The GJM supporters led by Bimal Gurung have asked the hill people to stop paying all taxes, electricity and telephone bills. So there is every possibility that the communication between the hills and the plains in the district will suffer,” he added.
The morcha supporters want complete statehood for Darjeeling instead of a Sixth Schedule status that has granted greater autonomy for the region since 2005.
Gurung was expelled from Subash Ghisingh’s Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) for “anti-party” activities.
“This is the last fight,” the 44-year-old Gurung said. “Till the last drop of my blood, I will fight this battle until we have a Gorkhaland state for the Gorkhas.” The green, white and yellow flags of his Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) fly from homes, shops and cars all around Darjeeling and nearby towns, bunting criss-crosses above the main streets.
Over the past few months, the GJM has been organising rallies and protests in Darjeeling Hills to press their demand for a Gorkhaland state.
The powerful Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has favoured the Central Government's move to create an autonomous self-governing Gorkha Hill Council in Darjeeling under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
But the GJM, a breakaway faction of the GNLF, led by Bimal Gurung, has vehemently opposed it.The party’s symbols are the sun, the Himalayan mountains and two crossed kukris—the heavy, curved knife used by the famously fierce Gorkha soldiers from Nepal and India.
In what would only add to the state government’s trouble on the Darjeeling Hill issue, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha has called for non-payment of all sorts of central and state taxes including the BSNL telephone and electricity bills across the Hills from 1 May.
The GJMM’s call to boycott taxes comes as a mark of protest to the state government’s persistent de-nial in allowing the GJMM to hold a public rally in Sil-iguri in favour of its Go-rkhaland demand.
The Hill party has also called for an indefinite hunger strike on the same issue from 1 May, which is to be simultaneously carried out in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, Siliguri and the Dooars.
In December 2007, the Central Government deferred the consideration by Parliament of a Constitution Amendment Bill to create an autonomous self-governing Gorkha Hill Council in Darjeeling reportedly under pressure from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The government has referred the Bill to a Parliamentary Standing Committee as demanded by the opposition.
GNLF launched the agitation for a separate state in 1980, but dropped the demand for Sixth Schedule after New Delhi agreed to confer partial autonomy in 1988 for the Nepalese-speaking people.
Meanwhile,Vete-ran Naxalite leader and the CPI-ML general secretary, Mr Kanu Sanyal has come down heavily on the state government for persistent-tly denying permission to the Gorkha Jan Mukti M-orcha for holding a public rally in Siliguri.
“This is completely an undemocratic decision and the way the CPI-M led state government is beha-ving, it feels like as if we are living in an autocracy,” the Naxal veteran said today.
Terming the denial to GJMM to hold a public rally in Siliguri as a CPI-M ploy to ‘incite communal tension’, Mr Sanyal alleged that the ruling party was ‘trying to exploit’ the issue for electoral gains in the ensuing panchayat polls in the state.
“I don’t think that the sky would break upon if the GJMM holds a public rally in Siliguri. If the administration is apprehensive of a law and order situation in view of such a meeting, it can always de-ploy additional force to ward off the same. But by making law and order an excuse, the democratic right of peaceful gathering can never be curbed,” Mr Sanyal said.
Carrying on his criticism at the CPI-M, Mr Sanyal alleged that the CPI-M ru-led Siliguri Municipal Corporation had also denied the CPI-ML to organise a public meeting at the Baghajatin Park in Siliguri on 23 April, despite the fact that a permission was sought almost a week before.
“In that case, we had organised the meeting right at the Venus More in the town. It resulted in public inconvenience, but we had no other option to give a befitting replying to the autocratic gesture,” the CPI-ML general secretary said.
Announcing the boycott in a Press conference at the DGHC resort ‘Pintail Village’ in Siliguri this afternoon, the GJMM president Mr Bimal Gur-ung said, the tax and bill boycott program would continue unless and until the state government granted the GJMM permission for a rally in Siliguri.
Adding further on the issue, the Darjeeling Hill’s new strongman said, in ca-se of telephone bills, the b-oycott would be applicable only to the BSNL landpho-ne, while the state-run telecom giant’s mobile services would be spared.
Reacting to a query as what would happen if the power-supplying agency disconnected the lines due to non-payment of the bills, Mr Gurung said: “In that case, we would cut off the main supply lines that carry power to the plains from the various power plants located in the Hills.”
Alleging that it was the state urban development minister and the Siliguri MLA, Mr Asok Bhatt-ach-arya who was actually instrumental in not allowing a GJMM rally in Siliguri, the GJMM president cautioned that if the state government does not budge from its stand, the people of the Hills would come out on the streets and thus a grave law and order situation would be created.
Mr Gurung also deman-ded that the state urban development minister sh-ould seek a public apo-lo-gy for allegedly referring the Hill people as ‘foreigners’.
“Instead of making indirect comment that he has not termed the Hill people ‘foreigners’, let Mr Bhattacharya seek a public apology for the remark and once he does that, he would be free to move anywhere in the Hills and carry out public meetings,” Mr Gurung said. Referring to the proposed indefinite strike slated for 1 May, the GJMM president today said, in case of Siliguri, the fasting venue would be the Siliguri SDO office campus. Earlier, the party was planning to organise the Siliguri leg of the hunger strike near Darjeeling More in the town.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung threatened to blackout Siliguri by disrupting work at the hydro-electric plants in the hills that feed the trade hub’s power lines.In Darjeeling, Morcha secretary Roshan Giri said the party had postponed its march to Calcutta with 10,001 supporters. It will be held after May 25, when the matches of the Indian Premier League get over.Tourists to the hill town had to make last-minute changes to their travel plans today as taxi syndicates in Darjeeling decided to take a large part of the day off to espouse the cause of Gorkhaland.
With the party's stakes high in the next month's panchayat elections in West Bengal, the CPI(M) on Tuesday said 'anti-Marxist forces' were ganging up to thwart it and the Left Front to retain control in the zilla parishads and the panchayats.
"The Polit Bureau heard a report on the forthcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal. All anti-Marxist forces are combining in a mahajot (grand alliance) to fight the Left Front," Karat told reporters after a Polit Bureau meeting.
His comment came in the backdrop of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, BJP and other opposition forces in the state striking ground-level adjustments in several districts for the three-tier panchayat polls, though Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was against a tie-up with Congress or the BJP.
The CPI(M) has already alleged that the Trinamool Congress had links with Maoists in Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapur and Birbhum districts.
He said the Politburo strongly condemned the killings of CPI(M) cadre, and activists by Maoists.
"What is most disturbing in the panchayat election campaign is that the self-styled Maoists have now started killing important cadres and activists," he said, adding that 13 had been killed this year.
With Lok Sabha elections scheduled next year, the panchayat elections are crucial in the Left-ruled state where the Marxists dominate most of the zilla parishads and gram panchayats and panchayat samities with a stronghold in the countryside.
Subash Ghisingh also took his rivals’ line in demanding Gorkhaland, trying to pave the way for a comeback to Darjeeling a day before putting in his papers as the hill council’s caretaker administrator. His party, the GNLF, had been harping on statehood since it realised how the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was making use of it to muster support.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ghisingh’s “subject” reads: “Carving out separate state of Gorkhaland within the framework of Constitution of India.”
Meanwhile, the man who has earned the wrath of the Morcha the most urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharjee appealed to the agitating hill leaders to come to the negotiating table both with the centre and the state. He said agitations and violence would not solve problems and pointed out that the state chief minister was always ready for a dialogue. The minister has become persona non grata in Darjeeling because he called the Morcha leaders ‘outsiders’. The minister was elected from North Bengal and is in charge of CPI (M) affairs in the hill district.
Gorkaland is the name given to the area around Darjeeling and the Duars in north West Bengal in India. Residents of the area, mostly Gorkhas have long demanded a separate state for themselves to preserve their Nepali identity and to improve their socio-economic conditions.
Historically, Darjeeling and its surrounding terai areas formed a part of the then Kirat kingdom called Bijaypur. After the disintegration of the Bijaypur kingdom, it fell to Sikkim and Bhutan. From 1790-1816, Darjeeling and its immediate contiguous area were overrun by the Gorkhas of Nepal. After the Anglo Nepalese War (1814-1815), Treaty of Sigauli was signed between the Gorkhas and the East India Company. Darjeeling was wrested back from the Gorkhas of Nepal by the Britishers and handed back to the Sikkimese after the Treaty of Titaliya. In 1835, Col Llyod became the representative of East India Company for Darjeeling. During his tenure Darjeeling was annexed into the British India Empire. However the original map of Darjeeling came into existence only after the induction of Kalimpong and Duars area after the Anlgo-Bhutanese war of 1864 (Treaty of Sinchula). Darjeeling as we know of today was organised in 1866. The ethnic identity "Gorkha" comes from the district of Gorkha within Nepal which was the kingdom of the Prithvi Narayan Shah.
By the start of the twentieth century, Gorkhas made a modest socio-economic advance through government service, and a small anglicized elite developed among them. Following this in 1907, the first ever demand for “a separate administrative setup” for the District of Darjeeling was placed before the British government by the “leaders of the hill people”. The “Hill people” here referred to the Lepchas, Bhutias and the Gorkhas. Their main reason for doing so was the superior attitude of the Brown Sahibs (from Dhaka and Calcutta) shown towards the people of the hills and their growing sense of insecurity against the educated hordes of the plain. The demand was ignored. In 1917 the Hillmen's Association came into being and petitioned for the administrative separation of Darjeeling in 1917 and again in 1930 and 1934. In 1923 the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (All India Gorkha League) was formed at Dehradun.It soon spread to Darjeeling. On 15 May 1943, All India Gorkha League came into existence in Darjeeling. It gained additional support after World War II with the influx of ex-soldiers from the Gurkha regiments who had been exposed to nationalist movements in Southeast Asia during service there.
On 19 December 1946, the party's heart and soul, D.S. Gurung even made a plea in the Constitution Hall before the Constituent Assembly for recognition of Gorkhas as a minority community "Sir, the demand of the Gurkhas is that they must be recognized as a minority community and that they must have adequate representation in the Advisory Committee that is going to be formed. When the Anglo-Indians with only 1 lakh 42 thousand population have been recognized as a minority community, and Scheduled Castes among the Hindus have been recognized as a separate community, I do not see any reason why Gurkhas with 30 lakhs population should not be recognized as such."
But leaders within its own ranks such as Randhir Subba, were not satisfied with this meagre demand. Soon after the death of D.S. Gurung, Randhir Subba raised the demand for a separate state within the framework of the Indian Constitution called Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand could be comprised of the following options.
Darjeeling district only or
Darjeeling district and Sikkim only or
Darjeeling district, Sikkim, Jalpaiguri, Dooars and Coochbehar or
Darjeeling district, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar
This movement was discussed even by the masses. Initially Randhir Subba was in favor of a militant movement but was dissuaded by other leaders. Sadly the movement never gained momentum as its leaders were moblised to other purposes.
On April 6, 1947, two Gorkhas Ganeshlal Subba and Ratanlal Brahmin members of the undivided CPI (Communist Party of India) submitted a Quixotic memorandum to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Vice President of the Interim Government for the creation of Gorkhasthan – an independent country comprising of the present day Nepal, Darjeeling District and Sikkim (excluding its present North District). The demand was more of an attention seeker. It never was genuine.
During the 1940s, the Communist Party of India (CPI) organized Gorkha tea workers. In presentations to the States Reorganisation Commission in 1954, the CPI favored regional autonomy for Darjeeling within West Bengal, with recognition of Nepali as a Scheduled Language. The All India Gorkha League preferred making the area a union territory under the Central government. In all from the 1950's to the 1985, first the CPI (1954), then the Congress (1955), then the triumvirate of Congress, CPI and AIGL (1957), then the United front (1967 & 1981), then again Congress (1968) and finally CPI(M) 1985 dangled along with the carrot of Regional Autonomy for Darjeeling
Gorkhaland movement
The Gorkhaland movement has its roots in the demand of Gorkhas living in Darjeeling district and Duars of West Bengal and the aspirations of all Gorkhas within India and abroad, who see India as their motherland, for a separate state for themselves, within the constitutional framework of India. The Gorkhaland National Liberation Front which led the movement in the 1980's, was the first party ever to use the proper noun Gorkhaland for the desired dream. The movement disrupted the district with massive violence between 1986 and 1988. The issue was resolved, at least temporarily, in 1988 with the establishment of the Darjiling Gorkha Hill Council within West Bengal.
The Gorkhaland movement distinguished Darjeeling Gorkhas from nationals of Nepal legally resident in India, from Nepali-speaking Indian citizens from other parts of the country, and even from the majority in neighboring Sikkim, where Nepali is the official language. The movement was emphatic that it had no desire to separate from India, only from the state of West Bengal. Gorkhaland supporters therefore preferred to call the Gorkhas' language Gorkhali rather than Nepali, although they did not attempt to claim there is any linguistic difference from what other people call Nepali. The 1981 census of India, whether in deference to this sentiment or for some other reason, called the language Gorkhali/Nepali . However, when the Eighth Schedule of the constitution was amended in 1992 to make it a Scheduled Language, the term Nepali alone was used.
In 1986 the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front, having failed to obtain a separate regional administrative identity from Parliament, again demanded a separate state of Gorkhaland. The party's leader, Subhash Ghising, headed a demonstration that turned violent and was severely repressed by the state government. The disturbances almost totally shut down the districts' economic mainstays of tea, tourism, and timber. The Left Front government of West Bengal, which earlier had supported some form of autonomy, opposed it as "antinational." The state government claimed that Darjeeling was no worse off than the state in general and was richer than many districts. Ghising then made lavish promises to his followers, including the recruitment of 40,000 Indian Gorkhas into the army and paying Rs. 100,000 for every Gorkha writer. After two years of fighting and the loss of at least 1200 lives, the government of West Bengal and the central government finally agreed on an autonomous hill district. In July 1988, the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front gave up the demand for a separate state, and in August the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council came into being with Ghising as chairman. The council had authority over economic development programs, education, and culture.
However, difficulties soon arose over the panchayat elections. Ghising wanted the hill council excluded from the national law on panchayat elections. Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government was initially favourable to his request and introduced a constitutional amendment in 1989 to exclude the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, along with several other northeast hill states and regions (Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and the hill regions of Manipur), but it did not pass. However, in 1992 Parliament passed the Seventy-third Amendment, which seemed to show a newly serious commitment to the idea of local self-government by panchayats. The amendment excluded all the hill areas just mentioned except Darjeeling. Ghising insisted this omission was a machination of West Bengal and threatened to revive militant agitation for a Gorkhaland state. He also said the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front would boycott the village panchayat elections mandated by the amendment. A large portion of his party, however, refused to accept the boycott and split off under the leadership of Madan Tamang to form the All India Gorkha League, which won a sizable number of panchayat seats.
In 1995 it was unclear whether the region would remain content with autonomy rather than statehood. In August 1995, Sherpa complained to the state government that Ghising's government had misused hill council funds, and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu promised to investigate. Both Gorkha parties had showed a willingness to use general shutdowns to forward their ends.
In May 2005, the organisation organised a huge rally to revive the dormant demand for a separate state but failed to go forward on the issue since then.
“We have decided not to pay any tax or bills due to the government from May 1 and they include electricity bills. If power supply to households in the hills is disconnected for non-payment of dues, we will stop work at all the power generating plants that feed Siliguri,” Gurung told reporters at Pintail village on the outskirts of Siliguri this evening.
“Rammam, Jaldhaka and a number of other hydel projects are located in the hills, along with transmission networks through which power flows into Siliguri. In the hills, we may have to light candles after dark, but the people of Siliguri will have to do the same,” Gurung added.
In Darjeeling, Morcha supporters picketed the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd to prevent people from paying their power bills. The Morcha-affiliated All-Transport Joint Action Committee, too, has said its members would not pay road taxes until the condition of the roads improve.
The Morcha chief added that his supporters would definitely sit in an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Siliguri subdivisional office from May 1. The Morcha called the fast in protest after the Bengal government refused to give it permission to hold political programmes in Siliguri.
“Let us hold one meeting in Siliguri and we are sure that the political equation of the town will change overnight,” Gurung said.
The Morcha will also start changing the number plates of vehicles across Darjeeling district from “WB” to “GL (for Gorkhaland)” from July 7, said Gurung. “We have assigned serials A, B, C and D for the three hill subdivisions and Siliguri,” he said.
“We have also sorted out our differences with the Kamtapur Progressive Party (KPP Atul Roy-faction) and Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party about the boundaries of the separate states that we are demanding. We will not disclose the boundaries right now but Siliguri will be in Gorkhaland,” Gurung added.
No hired vehicles were available here from 10am to 2pm as members of the All Transport Joint Action Committee, an affiliate of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, brought out a procession and held a public meeting at Chowk Bazar.
“The meeting is being held to strengthen Bimal Gurung’s stand in the Gorkhaland agitation. We also want to tell the administration to stop harassing our drivers in Siliguri and improve roads,” Narbu Lama, the president of the committee, said.
The Morcha had earlier insisted that unlike the Gorkhaland agitation in the 1980s, its movement for a new state would not inconvenience tourists. However, the scenes in Darjeeling today told a different story.
Abhijit Majumdar from Calcutta was one of those who cut short their trips and left Darjeeling before 10 in the morning. “We have to board a bus from Siliguri in the evening and were supposed to start off from here in the afternoon. But we have decided to push off right away instead of taking a risk later in the day,” said Majumdar as he boarded a vehicle around 9am.
Others who were planning to go on local sight-seeing trips were also disappointed.
“I came to know about the transporters’ meeting last evening. Although I could go to Tiger Hill early this morning and visit places like Batasia Loop and the Dali monasteries, I had to give the nearby tourist spots a miss. Since we are going off to Gangtok tomorrow, it was quite a waste of a day here,” said Sikna Brahma who had come from Bongaigaon in Assam.
Tourists usually visit places like the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, the Darjeeling zoo, the rock garden and the nearby tea estates during the day. “The driver said I could visit some of the places in the evening but after a tiring walk, I do not feel like going out,” Brahma added after he had trekked 3km up hill to the Peace Pagoda.
The transport business is heavily dependent on visitors to the hills, particularly during the tourist season. Tourism is also one of the pillars of the hill economy.
Tour operators are still bullish about the prospects of the next few months. “It is true that there were some cancellations during the first week of April, but business has been picking up from the third week. We are expecting a good tourist inflow in May,” Pradeep Tamang, the secretary of Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents, said.
Tamang, however, added that it was time to take up new forms of protest.
“In Darjeeling, everyone is in favour of Gorkhaland. Every community is supporting the cause. Perhaps it is time to look beyond rallies and meetings in Darjeeling. The transporters had earlier made an appeal to political parties asking them not to call strikes during the tourist season and I think we should all act accordingly,” he said.
Lathicharge probe
The second phase of the inquiry into the police lathicharge on a rally of Morcha-affiliated ex-servicemen near Siliguri on April 9 will begin from May 5 at the Darjeeling Circuit House, the information and cultural affairs department said on Tuesday. Anyone wishing to submit a written statement on the issue should do so on May 4 between 2pm and 5pm at the circuit house. The deposition will start at 10am on May 5.
The Guardian 30 April, 2008
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve08/1363india.html
Achievements of Left Front in India
John Bailey, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Australia, attended the Congresses of the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held in March/April. Here are his observations of the situation in India.
The present national government in India is promoting economic policies geared towards providing more concessions to big business and foreign finance capital. Many of the measures taken are the result of US imperialism’s influence on the government. Over the past three years this influence over domestic, economic, political and foreign policy has grown.
The growth in the GDP in at eight percent, however, this is due mainly to booms in real estate, the stock market and credit-driven consumption by the urban elite. This economic growth, far from improving the living conditions of the working people, is increasing inequalities at an alarming rate.
While big business and urban elites are enjoying the benefits of faster income growth and rising purchasing power, the working class in the urban areas and almost all the agrarian classes in the rural areas are experiencing dwindling opportunities of income and employment.
So bad is the situation that while India has produced 48 billionaires in recent times 77% of the working population earn less than 20 rupees a day (35 rupees is worth 1$A) or 600 rupees a month. The per capita income in India is 1,937 rupees a month but this per capita income is more than three times what is earned by more than 77% of the population.
This is happening at a time of steep price rises in essential commodities and when workers in India are facing increasing levels of exploitation due to the casualisation of labour, outsourcing and widespread use of contract workers.
The prices of basic food items such as cereals, edible oils, sugar, fruit and vegetable have risen sharply. The successive rises in fuel prices have added to inflationary pressures.
A National Commission of Rural Labour has found that approximately 50% of male workers and 87% of female workers in urban areas and 47% of male workers and 87% of female workers in rural areas get wages below the national minimum wage. Unemployment in rural areas has risen from 9.5% in 1993-4 to 15.3%
Impoverishment and unemployment in the rural areas is leading to large scale immigration to cities where they are subjected to high levels of exploitation.
The corporatisation of the health system and the lifting of price controls on drugs have made medical treatment and medicines prohibitively expensive. A National Family Health Survey shows that 40% of children under three in India are underweight, 23% are wasted (stunted) and 70% anaemic. The survey also found that one-third of women are underweight and 55% of women are anaemic, all this points towards the level of malnutrition in the country.
The privatisation of basic services like water and electricity supply has also added to the burden of the people.
It is obvious that the plight of the common people in India has worsened due to imperialist globalisation and the neo-liberal policies being pursued by the central government.
Prosperity for the upper classes on the one hand and deprivation for the majority of the working people on the other has become the hallmark of the neo-liberal regime in India.
However, the central government has not had it all its own way. The Left parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, have championed the interests of the people and have put forth alternative policies on many issues. Whether it be protecting the interests of workers, women, the poor, the oppressed caste, tribal people or minorities, the Left has checked or halted some of the more harmful measures proposed by the Congress led National Government.
These measures include handing over vital control of the financial sector to foreign capital; opening up the retail trade to foreign interests; privatisation of pension funds; and taking away the rights of workers in the name of labour reform.
Under pressure and mobilisation of the masses by the Left forces, the Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed with improvements to the bill.
The Tribal Forest Rights Act was also adopted and the struggle for its implementation is under way. Other measures fought for by the Left forces such as the Right to Information Act and the Domestic Violence Act have been adopted and child labour is now prohibited by law.
Due to pressure from the left forces there has been some increase in the allocation of funds for education and the midday meal scheme has been expanded throughout the country.
The passage of these measures through parliament has been accompanied by national campaigns and movements to ensure that the necessary laws are passed and implemented.
The Left has also registered impressive victories in three states; West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. In all three states the Left-led forces increased their percentage of votes and the number of seats they hold in the state assemblies. These governments are playing an important role in strengthening the Communist and Left movement in India.
The Left Front Government of West Bengal has been re-elected in every election for the last 30 years while a similar government in the state of Tripura has now won six elections.
Faced with the neo-liberal policies of the national government the Left governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, have had to struggle hard to pursue policies which ensure pro-people and balanced development.
The central government’s policies have led to a further erosion of the state’s autonomy and capacity to boost resources. The unequal share of resources between the central government and the states and the limitations imposed on public investment and allocation of resources have had an adverse impact on the ability of state governments to provide expenditure for the public sector and welfare.
The problems of Central-State relations have entered a new era under liberalisation and deregulation. On the one hand, there is a withdrawal from economic and investment activities and, on the other hand, the Central government seeks to push through neo-liberal reforms by setting conditions on the transfer of funds to the states. Every grant or devolution of resources is attached with conditions.
In spite of the limitations imposed on them by the central government, Left-led state governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura have taken measures to reduce poverty, create new welfare measures and improve living conditions. The success of these policies can be measured by their achievements in three key areas.
In all India in 2006 the infant mortality rate was 57 per 1,000 live births. In West Bengal it was 48; in Tripura 31 and in Kerala 15 which is the best record in the country.
In all India life expectancy is 61 for males and 62.5 for females. In West Bengal it is 64.5 for males and 67.2 for females. In Kerala it is 70.7 for males and 75 for females. In Tripura it is 71 for males and 74 for females.
The all India literacy rate is 63.4%. In West Bengal it is 69.2%; Kerala 90.09% and Tripura 80.14%.
In order to reverse the economic, social and foreign policy trends being adopted by both the major parties in India, the BJP (a right-wing Hindu Nationalist Party) and Congress, the Left forces are proposing the formation of a third alternative based on a platform of policies for which the Left, democratic and secular forces can work together.
Such a platform would address the problems faced by the people and advocate pro-people economic measures. It would make provision for social welfare and strengthen the public distribution of resources; defence of national sovereignty and an independent foreign policy.
Given the present policies of the Congress and BJP parties and their allies there is a need for a Left and Democratic Front based on a platform which can meet the aspirations and defend the interests of the working class, peasantry, artisans, small shopkeepers, middle class and intelligentsia.
It is envisaged that the third alternative would emerge through joint campaigns by the Left, democratic and secular forces based on a common program and would be more than a mere electoral alliance to meet current exigencies.
Such a program would be based on:
defence of secularism and national unity
a democratic transformation of agrarian relations and land reform
an economic system which would develop the productive forces in a way to maximise employment and reduce economic and social disparities
a democratic and federal political system
defence of the rights of working people to a higher standard of living
access to health and education services and social security
social justice and protection of the rights of women, dalits (untouchables), minorities and tribal people
an independent foreign policy.
At both the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of India held in Hyderabad and the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held in Coimbatore, concrete plans for such a front have been made as an initiative of the left forces for creating and presenting a third alternative before the people. In this way the left forces can find a way immediately to combat the ruling class drive towards a highly iniquitous and socially unjust society.
Both parties are determined to build on the achievements of the past and maintain a united approach to achieve their goals.
The combined membership of the CPI and the CPI (M) is now just over 1.5 million. The Left Front led by the CPI (M) and the CPI has 44 members in the Lok Sabha (central parliament) of India.
The CPI (M) publishes five daily newspapers, seven weeklies, five fortnightlies, six monthlies and four ideological publications reflecting the numerous ethnic groups and languages across India.
Trade Union membership increased from about 2.78 million in the early 1980s to the current figure of 3.98 million today.
The population of West Bengal is 80 million, Kerala 32 million and Tripura just over three million. These three states are led by Left Front governments. The all India population was 1,129 million in July 2007.
INDIA-TERROR
India among countries worst affected by terror: US report
Sridhar Krishnaswami
Washington, Apr 30 (PTI) India was among the countries
worst affected by terror with militant attacks in Jammu and
Kashmir and in the northeast, strikes by Naxalites and attacks
elsewhere in the country taking a toll of more than 2,300
lives in 2007, the US State department said.
The State department, in its annual report on terrorism,
said terrorist activities along the Line of Control in Jammu
and Kashmir are on the decline but Pakistan-based militant
outfits like the Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terrorist groups
continue to plan attacks in the valley.
"Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba and other Kashmir-focused
groups continued regional attack planning. In 2007,
Kashmir-focused groups continued to support attacks in
Afghanistan, and operatives trained by the groups continued
to feature in Al-qaeda transnational attack planning,"it said.
The report said Indian government's counterterrorism
efforts remained hampered by outdated and overburdened law
enforcement and legal systems.
"The Indian court system was slow, laborious, and prone
to corruption. Terrorism trials can take years to complete.
Many of India's local police forces were poorly staffed,
lacked training, and were ill-equipped to combat terrorism
effectively," the report said.
Noting about the attack on Samjhauta express in February
last year, the report said, it was carried out by extremists
who tried to incite anger among the Hindus and Muslims.
"These attacks, which killed and injured both Muslims
and Hindus, were probably conducted by extremists hoping to
incite anger between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
"Indian officials claim that the perpetrators of these
attacks have links to groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh,
particularly Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and
Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, among others," the report said.
"These groups also have links to terrorist activity in
Jammu and Kashmir. The number of civilians killed were
approximately half of that in the previous year.
"In May, the Indian government acknowledged that the
level of infiltration across the Line of Control had fallen,
but noted that insurgents had in some case shifted routes to
enter India through Bangladesh and Nepal," it said.
The report also took note of the formation of the
anti-terrorism mechanism between India and Pakistan to
coordinate and exchange information on terrorists.
"Pakistan's leaders took steps to prevent support to the
Kashmiri militancy, and the number of violent attacks in
Kashmir was down by approximately 50 per cent from 2006,
according to public statements made by the Indian Defence
Minister," the report said.
The report also took note of the US-India Joint Working
Group on Terrorism (CTJWG) which has so far met nine times
since its formation in 2000.
India participated in CTJWGs with 15 other countries,
and in multilateral CTJWGs with the EU and with the Bay of
Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation, an organisation that promotes economic
cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
In October, the Indian government held the second
round of consultations with Pakistan under the bilateral
counterterrorism joint mechanism, and hosted a ministerial
level meeting of the South Asia Association for Regional
Cooperation on Counterterrorism," it said.
PANCHAYAT-PARTNERS
CPI(M) putting up dummy candidates against official nominees
of partners
Kolkata, Apr 30 (PTI) With the panchayat elections in
West Bengal just 11 days away, two Left Front constitutents,
Forward Bloc and RSP, today accused alliance leader CPI(M)
of putting up dummy candidates.
"There is a confrontation among Front partners in all
districts over seat-sharing and dummy candidates have been put
up on a large scale against official nominees even though we
have been talking about on Left unity," state general
secretary of Forward Bloc Ashok Ghosh told reporters here.
For instance, he said, in Cooch Behar zilla parishad in
North Bengal where FB has a strong support base, it was agreed
earlier that it would contest nine seats and have friendly
fights with CPIM) in the remaining two seats.
"But dummy candidates have been put up against the nine
FB nominees. Is this an example of Left unity?" he said
without naming CPI(M).
RSP leader and PWD minister Khiti Goswami claimed there
was no seat seat adjustment in 85 per cent cases because of
CPI(M)'s 'high-handedness and intimidatory tactics'. PTI
THE STATES/WEST BENGAL
Smouldering hills
SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fline/fl2424/stories/20071221501702700.htm
| A fresh call for a separate Gorkhaland plunges Darjeeling again into political uncertainty. |
Bimal Gurung, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha leader, in Darjeeling.
A FRESH spell of political uncertainty looms over the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal following a renewed call for a separate Gorkhaland State. Only, this time the campaign is being spearheaded by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), a breakaway faction of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) which agitated for Gorkhaland in the 1980s. Sporadic disturbances, which even prompted the local administration to requisition the Army on standby duty, and strikes and counter-strikes by the two rival parties have rekindled memories of the crippling violence associated with the Gorkhaland movement of 1986.
At a public rally in Darjeeling on October 7, Bimal Gurung, once considered a close associate of GNLF supremo Subash Ghising, announced the formation of the GJM, a new political outfit, and gave a fresh call for a separate State of Gorkhaland, seeking the united support of people cutting across party lines. The huge turnout at the rally gave a clear indication that Ghising’s supremacy in the hills was finally facing a challenge. On the dais, Gurung was joined by representatives of the All Gorkha Students’ Union, GNLF rebels and leaders of the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist, a breakaway faction of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
According to knowledgeable sources, Gurung’s expulsion from the GNLF on the grounds of anti-party activities has weakened the party and fuelled speculation that all is not well within the GNLF. It has also further strengthened the anti-incumbency sentiment among the hill people. “People are fed up with Ghising and want a change for the sake of change, which is not a healthy sentiment,” an informed source told Frontline. Moreover, since the disbanding of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), the GNLF has lost direct contact with the masses through its elected councillors and, as such, its support base has suffered serious erosion.
The GJM does not support the GNLF’s demand for an autonomous Gorkha Hill Council, Darjeeling with greater powers under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in place of the DGHC established in 1988 by a statute. (On November 30, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of the Council under the Sixth Schedule.) The DGHC was wound up in March 2005 when the GNLF called for the formation of a new council with constitutional instead of statutory status. Gurung, a former councillor of the DGHC, called Ghising’s demand “a betrayal of the promise made to the hills people by him in 1986 for a separate Gorkhaland State”.
Meanwhile, the rising popularity of the GJM has prompted the GNLF to hold public meetings to “educate” the people about the benefits of the Sixth Schedule. The Front decided to call a 48-hour general strike across the hills from November 6 to pressure the Union government to pass the Sixth Schedule Bill in the winter session of Parliament, which began on November 15. The strike was, however, withdrawn in view of the festival season. Instead the GNLF called a 108-hour bandh in Kalimpong on November 22. Ghising was reported to have stated that the inclusion of the council in the Sixth Schedule was better than the creation of a separate State, as it would promote greater equality among the people and help establish a more egalitarian government.
The GJM retaliated by calling a 96-hour bandh in the Darjeeling hills on the same day to protest against the implementation of the Sixth Schedule and State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s scheduled visit to attend the CPI(M)’s three-day conference in Darjeeling from November 23. Gurung called off the strike when the venue of the conference was shifted to Siliguri in North Bengal. A five-member GJM delegation led by K.S. Ramudamu, the party’s vice-president, went to New Delhi on November 22 to garner the support of top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, against according Sixth Schedule status for the hills.
Inclusion in the Sixth Schedule is expected to lead to the establishment of a 33-member council, in which 10 seats would be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and 15 for non-tribal communities. Three seats would be open for all communities and five members would be nominated by the State Governor from the unrepresented sections.
Subash Ghising, GNLF leader.
However, according to sources in Darjeeling, people of the hills are confused about the Sixth Schedule. “Nobody really knows what the Sixth Schedule is all about and it has polarised the community totally on ethnic lines,” a prominent citizen of Darjeeling told Frontline. Ajay Edwards, convener of the GNLF youth wing, agreed that the Opposition now led by the GJM was successful in mobilising a large section of the people against the Sixth Schedule. “The GNLF failed to reach out to the people in time and inform them of the benefits of the Sixth Schedule,” he said. Conceding that it was still the dream of the hill people to have a separate Gorkhaland, he said: “We have to be practical. We are still smarting under the impact of the agitation for Gorkhaland. An entire generation was practically lost in that struggle. Now, whatever the problems may be in Darjeeling, at least there is peace. Gurung is precipitating a repeat of the bloody agitation of the 1980s.”
Edwards’ words found an echo in a peace march organised on November 27 by citizens of Darjeeling. Residents of the town from all walks of life participated in it and demanded a “bandh-free” Darjeeling. Neeraj Lama, one of the main organisers of the march, said: “The turnout was overwhelming. We expected barely 50 people, after all it was during an indefinite bandh called by Subash Ghising; but more than 5,000 people participated. Earlier nobody would step out during a GNLF strike. This was a clear sign of the frustration among the people of the hills. They have had enough of bandhs.”
A few thousand members of the GJM’s women’s wing, the Gorkha Janamukti Nari Morcha, joined the march holding pens in their hands, in contrast to the GNLF’s “khukuri march” in Kurseong on November 23, following a khukuri (knife) attack on party leader Kul Bahadur Gurung in Darjeeling that morning, allegedly by some GJM activists.
The GJM, however, denied any hand in the incident. The incident was followed by clashes between supporters of the two parties in which 11 persons were injured and houses of GNLF activists were ransacked. Anticipating major violence, the local administration requisitioned the services of the Army. The GNLF again called for an indefinite strike from November 24. The strike was called off on November 27.
Any move to carve a separate Gorkhaland out of West Bengal may create a public reaction that the CPI(M)-led Left Front government will find hard to withstand, for the memories of two unfortunate partitions in the past – first in 1905 and then in 1947 – are still alive. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sought to quell the agitation when he said at the CPI(M) conference in Siliguri: “We want unity between the hills and the plains … The Sixth Schedule means that the council’s powers will be further enhanced; it will be a constitutional body with consequential permanence in status. It will mean also that Darjeeling and Siliguri will stay together in peace and friendship.” •
| Vol. XXIX No. 10 March 06, 2005 |
People's DemocracyWEST BENGAL
CPI (M) Wants Democracy To Return In
The Hill Areas Of Darjeeling
B Prasant
BENGAL CPI(M) has declared unequivocally that its strongly demands the restoration of democracy in the hills of the Darjeeling district. The elections to the Darjeeling hill council approach fast; and yet, the unpopular and discredited chief of the GNLF, Subhas Ghising clings to his way of pressurising the state government into agreeing to a postponement of the elections that he knows he is sure to lose in a massive manner.
Following the meeting between Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the union home minister, Shivraj Patil on February 24, Ghising kept up his blustering mood in Darjeeling where he again said that the “people of the hills yearns for ‘Gorkhaland.’” When pressed further on this score by media persons, Ghising lost his temper (something he does quite often now, whether by design or otherwise) and cried out that “nobody either in the hills or on the plains gets to be harmed if Gorkhaland is formed,” before crying off and stalking away from the press meet.
In the circumstances, the district secretariat of the Darjeeling unit of the CPI(M) met on February 25 and discussed the situation in the hills in some detail. Elsewhere, at Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in Kolkata the same day, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), Jyoti Basu said that there would be an election held for the hill council and he rejected the idea of a ‘Gorkhaland.’
Basu dubbed as an unqualified and motivated lie the misinformation Ghising had been engaged in spreading about how Basu had supported the ‘Gorkhaland’ idea back in the mid-1980’s when the separatist agitation first began under Ghising’s tutelage and which could be checked only by the determined efforts both of the Bengal Left Front government that Basu headed as chief minister, and the CPI(M) many of whose workers were martyred at the hands of the separatist extremists.
From the secretariat meeting, the CPI(M) leaders, Sandopal Lepcha, Ananda Pathak, and Jibesh Sarkar emerged to tell the media that peace and development and not ‘Gorkhaland’ constituted the principal issue for the people of the Darjeeling district, now as earlier. The CPI(M) leadership were firm in their opinion that should elections be postponed for any reason to the hill council, the term of the council must not be extended, and that even if an administrator was appointed, the polls should never be deferred for too long a period.
On February 26, a meeting of five political parties was held on the emerging issues in the hills of Darjeeling. Held at Siliguri, the participating parties were: CPI(M), CPI, CPRM, Gorkha League, and GNLF (CKP). Ananda Pathak presided over the meeting. The leadership present included: Ananda Pathak, Sandopal Lepcha, and Ashok Bhattacharya of the CPI(M), Dawa Lama and Saon Rai of the CPRM, Ujjwal Chaudhuri and Harisadhan Ghosh of the CPI, Madan Tamang of the Gorkha League, and D K Pradhan and C K Pradhan of the GNLF (CKP).
Explaining the decisions of the meeting, Ashok Bhattacharya said that the leaders of the parties desired that elections to the hill council should be held as early as possible. Ghising would never be accepted as the administrator of the council. Ghising, the meeting felt, had no right to cling to his hill council chairmanship. Ghising must take part in the polls or tender resignation as the chairman of the council. Decisions of the meeting were arrived at based on full consensus, the leaders of all the parties taking part in the meeting assured representatives of the media. (INN)
 |
| Trouble in the “Queen of Hills” Pushpita Das |
| March 14, 2008 |
| Peace in the picturesque town of Darjeeling and adjoining areas has been shattered for the last month by an agitation demanding a separate Gorkhaland and the removal of Subhash Ghisingh from the post of Chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). The agitation is part of a protest movement against the Indian government’s plan to grant Sixth Schedule status to the region. The movement is led by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJMMM), which gave a call for an indefinite bandh on February 13 in support of these demands. It has been reported that the movement is being supported by many regional parties that are opposed to the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Ghisingh. A prominent player in the ongoing agitation is the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurba Sainik Morcha, an organisation that was recently formed under the aegis of the GJMM by the roughly 40,000 strong Gorkha ex-servicemen who are settled in and around Darjeeling. Interestingly, the services of these ex-servicemen were earlier utilised by Ghisingh (himself an ex-serviceman) during the Gorkhaland agitation in the mid-1980s. But on February 13 they changed their allegiance from Ghisingh to the newly formed Morcha. Faced with popular opposition, Ghisingh resigned as the caretaker administrator of DGHC on March 10. But his resignation is unlikely to restore calm because the demand for a separate state including not only Darjeeling Hills but also the Dooars is getting shriller. The ongoing agitation for a separate state has its roots in history. Darjeeling and the surrounding areas were part of Sikkim in the seventeenth century. They were overrun by Gorkhas during the reign of Prithvi Narayan Shah. After the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814-1815, the British wrested Darjeeling from Nepal and restored it to Sikkim. But in 1835, this area was incorporated within British India and subsequently Darjeeling district was created, comprising of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong, within Bengal. The district is predominantly inhabited by Gorkhas, Lepchas and Bhutias, collectively called the “Hill People”. During the course of the next few decades, the Hill people, especially the Gorkhas, became increasingly dissatisfied with the administrative system. Unhappiness with the patronising attitude of administrative officials in Calcutta and a growing sense of insecurity against plainsmen led the Gorkhas to demand a separate administrative set-up for Darjeeling District as early as 1907. In 1917, they organised themselves under the banner of Hillmen’s Association and repeatedly petitioned for the administrative separation of Darjeeling District from Bengal Province. The formation of the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) in 1943 provided a sense of direction to this movement and support began to gather pace with the return of ex-soldiers from World War II. Over the years, the demand for a separate administrative set-up gave way to the demand for a separate state of “Uttarakhand”. From independence till 1985, the movement was peaceful and it was intermittently courted by many political parties who proposed different alternatives. The Communist Party of India favoured regional autonomy for Darjeeling within West Bengal. AIGL demanded the status of Union Territory. The Congress, the United Front and the CPI (M) all supported the demand for a special status for Darjeeling district within the Indian Union. In 1980, Subhash Ghisingh formed the GNLF and revived the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. By 1986, the movement had not only intensified but also turned violent claiming some 1200 lives. It also severely crippled the District’s economy, which is based on three Ts – tea, tourism and timber. The movement was wound up in July 1988 after the Government and GNLF reached an agreement on the setting up of a hill district council. In August 1988, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) came into existence with Ghisingh as the Chairman. Subsequently, in 1992, Nepali was included as one of the languages in the Eighth Schedule. But matters did not rest there and tensions between the Council on one hand and the West Bengal and central governments on the other soon rose on the issue of panchayat elections. The Seventy Third constitutional amendment of 1992, while exempting all other autonomous hill councils in the Northeast, stipulated that panchayat elections should be held in DGHC. Ghisingh, who was opposed to the holding of any elections in what he saw as his domain, blamed the state government for the omission and refused to participate in these elections. He also threatened to revive the demand for a separate state. The issue of panchayat elections generated a split within the GNLF. A faction led by Madan Tamang broke away and formed a new party called the All India Gorkha League (AIGL), which participated in these elections and won a sizeable number of seats. In due course of time, the AIGL also became a platform for airing public grievances against Ghisingh for his allegedly autocratic and corrupt ways. In May 2005, the AIGL organised a massive rally to revive the demand for a separate state, but failed to mobilise mass support. |
| 01 February 1998 |
Ghisingh goes global
Come elections and the Gorkha supremo of Darjeeling, Subash Ghisingh, lets fly his kites high above the hills. This time he has shown nothing but disdain for the polls, saying he is right now busy with the far more important issue of the ``legal and constitutional status'' of Darjeeling. He has raised the issue before but what is unique this time is that he has taken it to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Ghisingh got six lawyers from Nepal last October to file a petition at the international court, pleading that not only Darjeeling but also Kalimpong and the Dooars, in both West Bengal and Assam, could not be called Indian territory because of anomalies in India's treaties with Nepal and Bhutan.
The lawyers from Nepal had first tried to involve the Nepal Government in their effort. They belong to the Nepal Gorkha Rashtriya Mukti Morcha, a fraternal outfit Ghisingh helped set up in that country.
Last July, leader of the Nepal outfit, Nagendra Lama, approached the Nepal Governmentto take up the issue of Darjeeling's status at the international court.
After the Nepal Government refused to oblige, some of NGRMM leaders came to Darjeeling and met Ghisingh. Soon, the Darjeeling leader publicly lent his support to the cause. At a function in Darjeeling, he even promised to support China and Pakistan if these countries helped him internationalise the Darjeeling issue. And, when the elections were announced, he seized the opportunity to drive it home.
He now shows no interest in the elections, saying he is too busy with the case at The Hague. He has turned down proposals from Mani Shankar Aiyar and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, two leaders of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, that he support their candidature from Darjeeling. He brushes aside all questions about the polls and would not spell out if his party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front, will once again boycott them. Boycott calls have come too easily for Ghisingh ever since he launched his crusade for a separate Gorkhaland statecomprising the hills of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. During the 1982 Assembly elections, voters in some parts of the hills sent empty ballot boxes for the first time in response to the GNLF's boycott call to press its demand for a separate State.
Ghisingh repeated the boycott calls during the 1984 parliamentary polls and the 1987 Assembly polls. By the time the 1987 Assembly polls came, the Gorkhaland agitation was at its peak and Ghisingh had sent all other political parties in the hills, including the ruling CPI(M), scurrying for cover. His total command of Darjeeling politics was proved when the three hill subdivisions returned 460 empty ballot boxes out of a total of 510. Only diehard CPI(M) activists cast their votes in the party's last few strongholds.
By the time the next elections came, Ghisingh had settled for a truce, having signed the Dargeeling accord with the Centre and the West Bengal Government in August 1988. But the statehood demand never quite died down. It has been thecornerstone of Darjeeling's politics since the early 1950s. In fact, the first poll boycott call, in support of the statehood demand, was given way back in 1968 by the Blue Flag party.
All this time Ghisingh was claiming that Darjeeling was never part of West Bengal and should now be made a separate state. But at the time of the 1991 general elections he went one step farther. Darjeeling, Kalimpong and the Dooars region in Bengal and Assam, he now said, had no legal and constitutional validity to be part of India. His argument runs like this. The East India Company got Darjeeling from the Nepal Government by virtue of the 1815 Treaty of Segouli. But when the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty was signed in 1950, it ``cancelled'' all previous treaties. So Darjeeling, to him, is a ``no-man's land'' and he has repeatedly urged the Union Government to properly ``incorporate'' Darjeeling into the Indian Union.
Similarly, he argues that Kalimpong and the Dooars regions continue to be ``leasehold'' lands becauseBhutan ceded these territories to the British Government only on lease in the 1865 Treaty of Sinchula. Bhutan still retained sovereignty over these territories and received annual payments from India for the lease.
Ghisingh says he has tried to serve the national interest by focussing on the issue. He set ultimatums to successive Union Governments to take up the issue but received no response. When he moved the Supreme Court on the issue in 1994, the apex court turned down his plea, calling it a political issue.
In disgust, he asked three GNLF MLAs from the hills to resign from the West Bengal Assembly. They had been elected from the three constituencies of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong when the GNLF took part in the Assembly polls of 1991. That year and also in 1989, the GNLF supported Congress candidate Inderjit from the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency. But in 1996 the GNLF boycotted the polls again in protest against the Centre's ``failure'' to clarify the ``status'' of the Darjeelinghills.
Every time the boycott call benefited the CPI(M). With the GNLF not in the fray, the Marxists practically had a walkover, the Congress being merely a signboard in the hills.
But the CPI(M) too has had its share of problems in Darjeeling. The party split several times and its MP in the last Lok Sabha from Darjeeling, R.B. Rai, was expelled from the party after the latest show of rebellion of the hill comrades. The party has this time put up veteran Ananda Pathak who will take on another old warhorse of the region, Dawa Narbula, who left the Congress and joined the Trinamool Congress. Still hoping to strike a deal with Ghisingh, the Congress has not yet announced its candidate.
Curiously, no political party or group has spoken up against Ghisingh for taking the Darjeeling issue to the international court. Both the CPI(M) and the State Government have repeatedly gone out of their ways to avoid another confrontation with him. The party's poll campaign so far has also steered clear of the issuesraised by him.
During a visit to Calcutta last month, Nepal's Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa described Ghisingh's issues as a ``load of rubbish''. Although the Indo-Nepal treaty of 1950 would now be reviewed, Thapa was emphatic that there was no question of the new treaty addressing Darjeeling or any other territorial issue.
His critics say Ghisingh has kept these issues alive to divert the people's attention from the failures of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council of which he has been the chairman since its inception in December 1988. They have also levelled charges of corruption at the council. The other view is that he has sought to attract international attention only to cover his old demand for the separate state. Ghisingh has consistently compared the present status of Darjeeling with that of Goa and Sikkim before these two were incorporated into the Indian Union. Their statehood followed their incorporation into India. After all, there has always been a method in the maverick Gorkha's madness.
