Morcha chalks out plan for added territory

Roshan Giri at Deolo on Tuesday. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha

Kalimpong, March 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to intensify its agitation for the inclusion of wide swathes of territory from the Terai and the Dooars in the new set-up for the hills and is working out its strategy with a section of adivasi leaders in the plains.

A meeting will be held in Gorubathan on Thursday to work out the plan to press for the inclusion of 396 mouzas from the Terai and the Dooars in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said the Thursday meeting would be attended by the John Barla-led rebel faction of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad.

“We will hold a meeting in Gorubathan on March 29 and John Barla and other adivasi leaders from the Terai and the Dooars will be present. We will chalk out a joint strategy to ensure that the 396 mouzas in the plains are included in the GTA,” said Giri after a meeting with party central committee members and the Morcha units from the Terai and the Dooars at Deolo near Kalimpong this afternoon.

A high-powered committee headed by Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen has been appointed by the government to look into the Morcha demand for added territory and submit its recommendations by June. “On the basis of the committee’s report, the Gorkha-dominated areas in the Dooars and Terai will be included in the GTA. Five members from the two areas will then be nominated to the GTA by the state government in consultation with us,” said Giri.

Asked if the party supporters from the two belts had any misgivings about the agreement reached between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Morcha leadership on holding elections in the DGHC area before the territory issue was settled, Giri replied in the negative.

“The meeting with our Dooars and Terai units was called to brief them on the agreement. Our central committee and study forum members explained to them our position,” he said without revealing anything.

Ganesh Alay, the secretary of the party’s Dooars committee, said the Morcha supporters in the plains were hopeful that all the mouzas demanded by the party would eventually be acceded to the GTA by the territory committee.

“We will thrash out our programme jointly with the Parishad at Gorubathan and launch an intensified campaign to seek the inclusion of the areas demanded by us in the GTA,” he said.

Observers said the scheduling of the Morcha’s meeting with its Dooars and Terai days after the party agreed to hold elections to the GTA without settling the territory issue suggested that it was wary about how the decision would be received by its supporters in the two places.

“The Morcha has not given any plausible reason for going back on its stand not to accept the GTA elections without securing the additional areas from the Dooars and Terai. Besides, the people from the Dooars and Terai had in the past felt betrayed by the GNLF when it settled for the DGHC for the hills though they had contributed a great deal to the agitation for Gorkhaland in the 1980s. This time, too, they have contributed immensely to the Morcha agitation, which is why the party is wary about the response it gets from the Dooars and the Terai,” said an observer.

Irrespective of the territorial committee’s report, the Morcha and the state government have agreed to hold the elections to the GTA by either end-June or early July.

“On the basis of the committee’s report, the Gorkha-dominated areas in the Dooars and Terai will be included in the GTA. Five members from the two areas will then be nominated to the GTA by the state government in consultation with us,” said Giri.(The Telegraph)