The Himalayan Beacon

News, views and insights from Gorkhas World Over! A Blog by Barun Roy

Archive for March 13th, 2008

Ghisingh’s pride, hunger for power did him in

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

By Anand Soondas, TNN

If one looked at Subash Ghisingh closely, gaunt, bare-boned, unsmiling and perpetually wrapped in the sartorially killing feather-jacket and tie combination, nobody could remotely imagine he was capable of such atrocious lies or flabbergasting flights of fancy.

A sample: Gautam Buddha was 18 feet tall and each of his ears weighed 10 kg.

Another sparkling gem: Earthquakes occur when gods angrily stomp in the heavens and so it’s essential to periodically get Ganesha drunk on tongba, the local beer.

Ghisingh, who’s just stepped down as the strongest, often meanest, power centre in the Darjeeling hills, lording over 20 lakh people for 20 miserable years, could well have been India’s own version of Papa ‘Doc’ Duvalier, the Haitian dictator of the 1950s who believed more in voodoo than vox pop and once got all black dogs killed in his country because someone told him Clement Barbot, his rival, had turned into one to avoid prosecution.

In the years since Ghisingh marched for Gorkhaland and got Bengal to submit to a settlement that was half way between independent state and autonomy, the Gorkha Hill Council, no dogs were killed in Darjeeling. Darjeeling went to the dogs instead. Read the rest of this entry »

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Rolling down the hills - Subhash Ghisingh paid the price for sleeping with the enemy

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

By Dr. Mahendra P. Lama

 At best, Subhash Ghisingh had become redundant to the aspirations of the people of Darjeeling and its adjoining Dooar areas of northern West Bengal. At worst, he was an obstacle and was perceived to be ‘sleeping with the enemy’, the Left Front government. So very few will be disappointed as the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief, literally hounded out of Darjeeling by the Gorkha Mukti Morcha (GMM), resigned as administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) on Monday.Over the last few months, the violence of the Gorkhaland agitation that affected Darjeeling in the mid-1980s seemed to be re-emerging. Ironically, this time the GNLF and the state government, which were at loggerheads then, were pitted against the people of Darjeeling. The GNLF that spearheaded the movement for separate statehood has been in tatters for some time now — the baton being taken by the DGHC. The immediate cause for this has been the way the DGHC, set up in 1988, was being brought under the purview of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The real resentment was against the Sixth Schedule Amendment Bill, 2007, that is based on the ‘in principle’ tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed on December 6, 2005, by Ghisingh, the Union Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary of West Bengal Government. The GNLF chief, after losing his political clout, negotiated the MoS and signed it as an DGHC ‘administrator’, not as an elected representative or even as president of his party. Read the rest of this entry »

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The silent coup in Darjeeling

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

By Subrata Nagchoudhury

The spreading unrest in the Darjeeling Hills during the past fortnight has culminated in Subash Ghisingh, the caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), relinquishing power on Monday. With his unceremonious and rather humiliating ouster from power, the curtains were drawn on a 20-year-old enigma that Ghisingh, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief, had come to represent.

The old order has changed but a clearly defined new order is yet to emerge. The political roadmap for the Darjeeling Hills not only looks blurred but there are also grave portents for the region, in the vacuum that Ghisingh’s removal has created.Darjeeling delivers a grim but clear message to all the key players that ad hocism has its inherent limitations. Ghisingh’s dictatorial manners and manipulations, to cling to power for far too long, and the West Bengal government’s failure to stand up to him have finally boomeranged on both. With Ghisingh at the helm, the hill people were denied the opportunity of fair governance. The GNLF rank and file, barring Ghisingh, lost their identity and importance. Many of the GNLF councillors were disenchanted with Ghisingh’s ways and earned the legitimacy to plot against their own chief. The election to the Hill Council had been kept in abeyance since 2005, with Ghisingh pressing for the Sixth Schedule status for the DGHC and asking for the extension of his caretaker administratorship over half a dozen times. The state government obliged. Read the rest of this entry »

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Power officials object to Ghisingh’s stay

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

SILIGURI, March 12: Senior officials of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) today expressed unhappiness over the continued occupation of the department’s inspection bungalow at Sevoke Road, Siliguri by the former Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chief Mr Subash Ghisingh.

Denied access to Darjeeling by the agitating GJMM, Mr Ghisingh has been putting up at the WBSEDCL facility since his return from New Delhi on 6 March. It was expected that Mr Ghisingh would go back to Darjeeling after tendering his resignation from the DGHC on 10 March, which has not happened for a number of reasons, Mr Ghisingh’s indisposition being one.

Not just the power department officials, residents of the housing clusters within the complex, which has offices and the bungalow Mr Ghisingh is putting up in, are also aggrieved with the excess security at the gate and inside the premises, which allegedly has disrupted the rhythm of their normal life. Read the rest of this entry »

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New radio channel launched

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

SILIGURI, March 12: A local Frequency Modulation (FM) station NINE 91.9 FM went on air today. Announcing the launch at a press conference in Siliguri, Mr Bobby Gupta, chief executive, Chinar Circuits Limited, the promoter of the company, said that the Union information and broadcasting ministry had awarded the company with a license to operate two FM stations, one in Siliguri and the other in Gangtok. “The Gangtok FM station would start operating very soon,” he said. He further said that the newly launched FM station would cover Jalpaiguri, Kurseong, Dooars and some other parts of the north Bengal region.“Our motto is to provide the listeners with the best available quality and the technology. We would not compromise on these two things,” he added.

Mr Aayan Banerjee, the programme director said that the station would carry the right mix of music and information. “We would mostly play the current hits, but apart from it we would also introduce the new generation with the ever green hits by playing the original recordings and not the remixed versions,” Mr Banerjee said. Mr Bunty Agarwal, the managing director, said that all the programmes would be interactive. “Listeners would be encouraged to call in live or write in through e-mail and SMS to share their views on the topics that we would discuss and also to request the songs they would wish to listen to or wish to dedicate to someone,” he said.

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GJMM activists ransack ex-councillor’s house

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

DARJEELING, March 12: Gorkha Janamukti Morcha supporters allegedly ransacked the house of former DGHC councillor and Himalayan Plantation Workers’ Union (HPWU) president, Mr NK Kumai last evening.

The GJMM activists entered Mr Kumai’s residence forcefully and seized a number of DGHC files. They allegedly pelted stones at his house and damaged pipelines and tanks. Mr Kumai alleged that the police were not present at the time of attack. “They arrived an hour later,” he said today.

I found a lot of my belongings missing and undesireables were planted in my house,” said Mr Kumai. He further added that the files seized were related to the HPWU and had nothing to do with the DGHC. Read the rest of this entry »

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GCDP hints at talks over Gorkhaland

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

COOCH BEHAR, March 12: Here is a situation where interests are clashing over a hypothesis. Or how would one describe the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party’s (GCDP) worry over the proposed Gorkhaland state’s territory? The GCDP is worried that the proposed Gorkhaland state would eat into its proposed Greater Cooch Behar state. And that according to the GCDP leadership has necessitated a dialogue with the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha.

According to the GCDP president Mr Ashutosh Barma, his party has been keeping a watch on the developments in the Darjeeling Hills. “A dialogue may take place in near future over the boundaries of the two proposed states,” he said. The anxiety comes after the GJMM claimed that it wanted parts of the Dooars in the proposed Gorkhaland state. The GCDP also wants the same areas of the Dooars in its proposed Greater Cooch Behar state.
The GCDP would observe a 12-hour hunger strike on 25 March in support of its demand for the withdrawal of all cases brought against 56 activists including Mr Bangshi Badan Barman and their unconditional release. On the other hand, the Greater Kamta United Forum (GKUF)would sponsor a 72-hour bandh in the six districts of north Bengal and 11 districts of Assam from 31 March to press for their demand to recognise their mother tongue and proper implementation of the merger agreement by which, the erstwhile Cooch Behar State was included in the Indian Union. Mr Barma, who is also the general secretary of the GKUF, declared that they would organise movements in future in support of their demands. [The Statesman]

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Airport strike hits Bagdogra

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

Mahima ChaudharySiliguri/Kolkata, March 12: The countrywide indefinite “non-cooperation” movement by Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees, which began from midnight, partially affected ground services at Bagdogra.

Trolleys had to be procured and dispensed with by the passengers, toilets were not cleaned, the lift in the terminal building had to be self-operated, and different airlines’ staff managed the conveyor belts for registered luggage leaving and arriving with different flights. [inset: Actress Mahima Chaudhury and child struggled to find trolleys on arrival at Calcutta airport on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya]

“There was, however, no disruption in the landing and taking off,” said Bagdogra Airport director K.K. Bhowmik. “All eight arrivals and departures scheduled for today were on time.”

The one thing going in favour of Bagdogra is that air force personnel man its ATC, fire tenders and other essential airport services. However, passengers have been advised to carry as little luggage as possible as long as the agitation continues, an airport official said. Read the rest of this entry »

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Family suicide pact far from home

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

Kalimpong/Kolkata, March 12: A family of three travelled over 600km from their home in Hooghly to Lava near Kalimpong apparently to commit suicide.

The 65-year-old mother succeeded, but her two children are battling death.

Kalpana Moitra, a widow, Jyotirmoy, 30, and Anusuya, 29, had checked into a hotel in Lava on March 8.

Its employees found them lying unconscious in their room last evening. [Inset: (Top) The Konnagar house where the Moitras lived, and Lava, where they tried to commit suicide. Pictures by Krishna Chandra Mishra and Chinlop Fudong Lepcha]

The three were taken to Kalimpong Subdivisional Hospital, 35km downhill, where Kalpana died two hours later.

Police said they had taken sleeping pills. The siblings are not yet out of danger and will be under observation for the next couple of days.

Before leaving Konnagar, 25km from Kolkata, on February 28, Kalpana had handed over the keys of her rented apartment to her landlord and taken back the Rs 5,000 she had paid as advance.

“She told me that the furniture, utensils and the gas oven would be taken away by a rickshaw-puller later. The family left in a private car with two shopping bags and a suitcase,” said Ranendra Nath Ghosh, the landlord.

The police are trying to find out where the family was between February 28 and March 8.

Ghosh said Kalpana had told him they would visit a relative in Bally, Howrah, about 10km away.

The police found Ghosh’s address in the hotel room. The family had told the reception that they were from Konnagar.

Ghosh said: “The Moitras owned a flat in nearby Debpara. They sold it off in 2005.”

He added that financial distress could be a reason for the suicide pact.

Kalimpong additional superintendent of police K.B. Dorji said Jyotirmoy appeared to be mentally unstable.

Ghosh said he was a good student and had graduated with chemistry. His sister apparently dropped out of college midway.

Their father was a chemist in a pharmaceutical company.

On Monday, the Moitras had cleared their hotel bill and left for Rishap, a popular tourist spot. However, they returned in the evening and checked into the same room.

“Before leaving, they had told the staff to divide among themselves the belongings in the suitcase they were leaving behind,” said Dawa Lama, the secretary of the Lava Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association.

Kalimpong police mana ged to get in touch with Kalpana’s brother Kanak Sanyal. “He told us he was in Guwahati and would try to be here at the earliest,” police officer Dorji said. [The Telegraph]

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Morcha meet on Rangit bank - Lunch & music help create ‘informal’ atmosphere

Posted by barunroy on March 13, 2008

Singla (Bengal-Sikkim border), March 12: An interactive session, interspersed with lunch and music, was how the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha would like to describe its gathering on the banks of the Rangit today.

“The idea was to develop a personal relationship with cadres who have worked tirelessly for the past six months. We wanted to hear them speak their minds in an informal atmosphere,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha. No public address system was in place, nor were there any sombre speeches. In a reversal of roles, Gurung stood listening as party workers shared their experiences.

Hundreds of Morcha supporters holding various portfolios in local village committees came here, 33km from Darjeeling, on vehicles decorated with the party colours. A music system set up next to a hastily constructed dais belted out popular Nepali songs. Young Morcha members danced till late in the evening.

Apart from party members, the Morcha had also invited professionals from different walks of life. The invitees garlanded Gurung with khadas (traditional silk scarves) and the Morcha leader obliged everyone who wanted to be clicked with him.

Lunch consisted of rice, dal and mutton.

Tenzing Khambachey, a Morcha central committee member from the Tungsung area of Darjeeling town, said the experience was “rewarding”, especially after months of agitation.

“We were constantly on our toes because of developments that followed one after the other: the indefinite hunger-strike, the tabling of the standing committee report and then Ghisingh (GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh) trying to garner support for the bill. Today, our president listened to the cadres and their requirements,” Khambachey said.[The Telegraph]

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