ISN Special Issue February 2008: The struggle for Gorkhaland ‘The First European Article on Gorkhaland’

An article by Corinne Zurfluh, ISN (www.isn.ethz.ch )

Dear Reader,

The Himalayan foothills of Darjeeling are boiling again after 20 years of relative calm. Residents there have taken to the streets in the quest for independence from West Bengal and a separate state, Gorkhaland, within the framework of the Indian Constitution.

As with other low-intensity conflicts in India, such as Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, the Gorkhas seek independence from the state, but not the country. Within many Indian states, one ethnic group often dominates a number of linguistic, ethnic or religious minorities. This holds true for majority-Bengali West Bengal.

Separatist leaders have used complaints from the Gorkhas of neglect and domination by the Bengalis to mobilize the Nepali-speaking minority of the Darjeeling hills, emphasizing their common Gorkha identity. Yet, that very identity is controversial, and there is a lack of agreement among the locals on what “Gorkha” means.

The Gorkhas, an ethnic group originally from Nepal, migrated to India during and after British rule. Many were recruited for service in the colonial army. In today’s Darjeeling, however, the term Gorkha tends to be applied to all Nepali-speaking people. It is a political rather than an ethnic label to embrace a multi-ethnic group consisting of indigenous tribes of the area and Nepali immigrants with Indian citizenship. What unites them all is probably their common aversion to the Bengali majority.

The Bengalis own most places of business in the hills’ main towns. The Nepali-speaking locals, however, often perform menial jobs and resent the success of the Bengalis, whom they consider outsiders in the hills. Moreover, they blame the government of West Bengal for their underdevelopment.

But the Gorkhas are all but united. While the four-month-old Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJMM) party and its leader Bimal Gurung want nothing less than an independent Gorkhaland within India, the former radical Subash Ghisingh has dropped that idea in favor of a more viable solution: greater autonomy.

Ghisingh and his Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led a violent two-year conflict in the 1980s for a separate state. In 1988 he accepted a political settlement, signing a tripartite agreement with the governments in Kolkata and New Delhi that gave a great deal of autonomy to the newly founded Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), the governing body for the district of Darjeeling. Ghisingh has been the chairman of the DGHC since its inception.

In 2005, the same parties signed another tripartite in-principle memorandum of settlement to include Darjeeling in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which addresses administration of tribal areas. In the agreement, the DGHC would be granted more power. A standing committee in New Delhi is currently hearing arguments for and against the proposed constitutional amendment.

For the opposition parties, especially the GJMM and its leader Bimal Gurung, the Sixth Schedule solution is a betrayal to Gorkhaland. In fact, the sudden rise and appeal of a party like the GJMM is only possible in the light of the deep dissatisfaction of the Gorkhas of Darjeeling. In spite of Ghisingh’s many promises, not much has improved for the hill people in the last 20 years: Unemployment is high, towns face water shortages every summer and road conditions deteriorate with every monsoon and landslide.

Pay-up and boycott blots on Morcha

Darjeeling, March 6: The “fee” for joining the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is Rs 5,001 and villagers who cannot pay the amount are being ostracised, the CPM has alleged.[Inset: GNLF supporters in Siliguri on Thursday. A Telegraph picture]

K.B. Watter, a district secretariat member of the CPM, today said the diktats were issued by the Morcha to his party supporters in the Badamtam, Liza Hill, Singtom and Pokhriabong tea gardens.

“They were told to pay Rs 5,001 and join the Morcha. Posters have come up in Badamtam, where our supporters have been threatened with social boycott if they were unwilling to comply,” the CPM leader alleged.

Social boycott has been the norm for quite some time in the hills with most of the GNLF leaders being ostracised by the “people” of the respective localities.

Posters announcing social boycott had been put by the janata (people) against GNLF leaders like Gopimaya Gurung in Ghoom-Jorebungalow in the past.

The Morcha, however, has denied that the party has anything to do with either the “membership fee” or the boycott drive.

“But, yes, local units have not allowed certain people from the villages to join the Morcha. This is because when these people were in power, they had threatened our supporters. The Morcha was then in its initial days,” said Binay Tamang, the press and publicity secretary of the newly formed party.

“No directive on any sort of fees for enrolment or social boycott has been issued by the central committee. But if anybody is found collecting money, the party will take stern action against him or her,” said Tamang.

The CPM has also accused the Morcha of adopting undemocratic practices. “Why is Ghisingh being denied entry to the Darjeeling hills? It is his democratic right to stay wherever he wants to. The Morcha is scared of Ghisingh’s political acumen,” said Watter.

Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha who is currently in Delhi, said over the phone that there was nothing “scary about a leader without mass support”. He stressed that it was the “people” who were denying Ghisingh entry to Darjeeling.

“We have categorically told them that Gorkhaland is the only solution for the people of the hills, Dooars and Terai region,” said Giri. [The Telegraph]

Morcha ready for ‘last war’ in hills

New Delhi, March 6: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has warned that if its demands go unheeded, the movement for Gorkhaland might spiral into something more than a call for statehood.

“This (the demand for Gorkhaland) is our last war,” Morcha president Bimal Gurung told in an interview.

Gurung, who met a host of political leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, here today, said the “Bengal government should utilise the community living in the hills” and in return, give it its due.

“We have been staying in a sensitive zone for years. Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and China border our land and for more than 100 years, we have been guarding Mother India. Now is the time for a correct decision, otherwise there might be problems later.”

Having started the agitation for Gorkhaland afresh, almost two decades after the GNLF led by Subash Ghisingh had launched it in the eighties, the Morcha leader hinted that the call for something “beyond statehood” might not be far away if the current demand is ignored. He, however, refused to elaborate on “beyond statehood”.

Ghisingh, who later settled for autonomy under the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) and more recently for Sixth Schedule status for the hills, has been branded a traitor by the Morcha. Gurung’s party has been against the special status, the bill on which was stalled in the Lok Sabha after a parliamentary panel recommended a review. As things stand now, the bill is most likely to be withdrawn.

Sources in the Morcha delegation, which met Sonia and Opposition leader L.K. Advani, said they believe that the Centre might not push for the Sixth Schedule bill.

Ghisingh continued to be holed up in Siliguri after his return from Delhi today,

The GNLF chief, who has been shut out of Darjeeling by the Morcha, however, promised to return to the hills after stepping down as caretaker administrator of the DGHC on Monday.

“The old Subash Ghisingh will then be back in the hills as a common man, spearheading the statehood movement,” he said.

Hills to soon get back ‘old Ghisingh’

Siliguri, March 6: The people of Darjeeling hills will get back “the old Subash Ghisingh” after March 10, when he resigns as caretaker administrator of the DGHC and once again takes up the cudgels for Gorkhaland.

On his return to Siliguri from Delhi today, the GNLF chief said once he quits, he would be “freed” of all administrative responsibilities. “The old Subash Ghisingh would then be back,” the GNLF leader told reporters at the rest house of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. “I have told the Prime Minister that a fresh dialogue on Gorkhaland should be opened.”

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has “banned” the GNLF chief’s entry to the hills and in the face of indefinite bandh and hunger strike, Ghisingh was forced to take shelter in Pintail Village on the outskirts of Siliguri the last time he came from Delhi on February 18.

He had been to the capital then to mobilise support in favour of the Sixth Schedule bill, which the Morcha has been opposing. At that time the Morcha had even set up blockades in front of Pintail.

This time, police did not take any risk and Ghisingh was whisked away to the rest house at Second Mile off Sevoke Road after he landed at Bagdogra in the afternoon.

The GNLF chief also said he has asked the district magistrate of Darjeeling to keep a draft of his resignation letter ready. “I will submit my resignation on March 10, irrespective of my place of stay.” [The Telegraph]

Ghisingh to ultimately quit on 10 March only!

Siliguri, March 6: The GNLF chief Mr Subash Ghisingh today said that he would resign as the caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) on 10 March, which happens to be the last day of a ten-day deadline fixed by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on the issue. Mr Ghisingh, who returned from New Delhi today only to get stranded in Siliguri, stated that irrespective of his physical location on 10 March, he would give his resignation from the DGHC top post on that date. “I have already asked the DM Darjeeling to draft my resignation papers,” the GNLF leader said. The DM Darjeeling has been functioning as the DGHC principal secretary since last month.

Detailing on his renewed demand for the proposed Gorkhaland state, Mr Ghisingh said: “Since neither the Centre nor West Bengal government was sure about passing the Darjeeling Sixth Schedule Bill, a fresh dialogue on statehood should be initiated immediately.” Referring to the letter he sent to the Prime Minister on Wednesday on the issue, the GNLF chief, said that he had not served any deadline for the statehood talks, but insisted that the dialogue should begin at the earliest to ‘honour the sentiment of the Hill mass.’ Mr Ghisingh also promised to rejuvenate his original demand of statehood and take on his political opponents. “Being the DGHC caretaker administrator, I am under some constraints. But after I resign on 10 March, I would be the same old Ghisingh ~ a common man,” he said hinting a revival of the movement. Mr Ghisingh further said that resignations by MLAs Mr Pranay Rai and Mr Gaulan Lepcha from the GNLF, would not affect the party at all. The GNLF chief also declined to pay any attention to his loyal-turned-rival Mr Bimal Gurung. A large number of GNLF activists turned up at the Bagdogra airport to welcome Mr Ghisingh back from his New Delhi trip. They reassured the 72-year-old Hill politician of their allegiance. The police escorted Mr Ghisingh to the inspection bungalow of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited at Sevoke Road in Siliguri instead of the DGHC resort ‘Pintail Village’ for “security reasons.” [The Statesman]

GJMM activists oppose GNLF chief’s return to Darjeeling

Kurseong, March 6: Demanding the resignation of Mr Subash Ghisingh from the DGHC, before he entered the Darjeeling Hills, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) supporters staged road blocks in different areas of the Hills every alternate hour from 11am today. Mr Ghisingh, who arrived in Siliguri today from New Delhi, could not make it to Darjeeling due to the agitation. The GJMM, Kurseong branch, chief, Mr Pradeep Pradhan said that Mr Ghisingh has hurt the sentiments and aspirations of the Hill people, so he must resign from his post of DGHC administrator caretaker before entering Darjeeling. Mr Ghisingh is expected to resign from the DGHC by 10 March. Regarding the GJMM opposition to Mr Ghisingh’s entry to Darjeeling, the AIGL chief, Mr Madan Tamang, said that Mr Ghisingh was reaping what he had sowed in the last 22 years.

The GJMM resistance has made the GNLF unhappy. According to its leadership, Mr Ghisingh has already made it public that he would resign by 10 March. Stopping him now from going to Darjeeling is undemocratic. On the other hand, regarding the resignation of some senior party men, the GNLF Kalimpong branch president Mr Dawa Pakhrin said that it was their personal matter. He also rejected reports of his resignation from the GNLF. “It is a rumour to mislead the people,” he said. [The Statesman]

Gorkha Welfare Society Meeting

Hi,

You are invited to a general meeting to be held on Sunday, 09 March 2008 (3pm onwards) at 130 / B Humayunpur, Near NCC Gate, Safdarjung to introduce ourselves, to formulate a working committee, to make suggestions and share ideas on the running of the Gorkha Welfare Society, etc.

I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to attend this meeting in support and to move forward our aims and objectives to help, advise and support our brothers and sisters.

Please confirm your attendance by reply e-mail. Thank you.

With kind regards.

Bishal Rai.

–
Gorkha Welfare Society  

98733 20 866

Please forward this e-mail to everyone possible.