Stalemate in Darjeeling

The two sides agreed to disagree at Thursday’s meeting between the Chief Minister and a delegation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Janamukti Morcha. By all indications, attitudes have hardened and the stalemate shall persist. That Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would turn down the demand for statehood was only to be expected. But the Chief Minister would do well to assess the mood of hill people, and the extent of support for the GJMM, before reaching peremptory conclusions. Of course, the decision has eventually to be taken by the Centre, but for so long Mr Bhattacharjee continues to rely on inputs from his Urban Development minister he will have only one side of the picture. Does the Chief Minister have an alternative to break the impasse? Quite apparently he doesn’t. Without mentioning the Sixth Schedule specifically, he has expressed a willingness to accord increased autonomy to the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, now under a government administrator and wilting in the political wilderness after having avoided democratic elections since its inception. Into this political vacuum have stepped in the GJMM and the Gorkha ex-servicemen’s morcha. The Chief Minister’s offer on increased autonomy precisely involves bringing Darjeeling under the Sixth Schedule, a proposal that is now before the parliamentary standing committee, but one that restive agitators have spurned. It is a safe guess that neither the Centre nor the state nor for that matter the present Lok Sabha will risk a decision before the next parliamentary elections. So possible legislation shall be in abeyance for some time yet. With no attempt either by the Centre or the state to work towards an agreeable arrangement, the hills will continue to fester. Waters can only get murkier still if Cooch Behar’s Kamtapuri agitators also throw their hat into the ring. Both the Centre and especially the state have allowed matters to drift. Worse, the hills tell a sad story of neglect, one orchestrated by Kolkata and compounded by continued bumbling as in the matter of allowing protests earlier this month at Siliguri. The portents are more sinister than what the government had to contend with in Nandigram. [The Statesman Editorial]