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Siliguri, March 20: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said Mamata Banerjee was “too occupied” with the railway ministry and appealed to people to decide if the new government had solved the Darjeeling issue as claimed by the chief minister.
The Bimal Gurung-led party also accused Mamata of prioritising the railways as it was a matter of her survival in the larger political arena while putting Darjeeling and its problems in the backseat.
“Trinamul leaders are too occupied with issues like the railway ministry and Dinesh Trivedi as these are directly related to the survival of the party in the political arena. The Darjeeling issue has taken a backseat,” said Morcha spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri.
Since the placing of the railway budget, a drama has been unfolding around railway minister Dinesh Trivedi and Trinamul chief Mamata, who replaced him with Mukul Roy for raising rail fares across the board.
Chhetri said as Mamata was busy in Delhi with issues like railways and Trivedi, the hills were no longer a priority for her.
“The party and the state government must understand that because of the delay in GTA formation with its extended territory, there is a simmering discontent among the people in the hills and plains,” the MLA said.
The Morcha does not want the election to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration to be held till some mouzas in the plains are brought under the jurisdiction of the new hill set-up.
“The people should check out whether the government has solved the problem, as it has been claiming over the past few months. They should even question the government as the situation is heading towards uncertainty,” Chhetri said.
The Morcha, which claimed that the onus was now on the central and state governments to meet the demands, reconfirmed that it would move ahead with the protest programmes in the Dooars and the Terai if the Gorkha-dominated areas from the region were not added to the GTA.
Gurung had earlier announced a string of agitation from April if the territory demand was not met.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday promised Parliament that a “practical and viable solution” to the Darjeeling situation would be found and recognised the “contribution” of the Bengal government in “facilitating this outcome”.
Told about the opposition that the Morcha would meet from the Adivasi Vikas Parishad, KPP and other organisations that did not want any plains areas to be added to the GTA, Chhetri said: “Times have changed. Unlike in 2007 and 2008 when we were at loggerheads with the Parishad, we now have a sizeable portion of the tribal population, led by John Barla, with us. It would be more of a Parishad versus Parishad situation this time. There would be a much less resistance this time.”
He insisted that both sides would have to face an acid test now. “We, along with (rebel adivasi leader) John Barla, would be able to reassert our support base in the Terai and the Dooars where a chunk of the population wants to be under the GTA. The other lobby of the Parishad that had always spoken against us will have to prove its clout this time. Our leaders and workers from the Dooars and Terai were present at the meeting held in Mungpoo last week. Specific instructions to garner support and prepare for the agitation have been passed on to them,” he added.
Parishad leaders have made it clear that they would not “give up” their territory.
“We will stop the Morcha if it tries to spread fresh unrest in the Terai and Dooars. Given the state government’s persistent silence over territory issue, we are facing twin challenges,” said Birsa Tirkey, the state president of the Parishad.
The first challenge for the Parishad is to prove that the Morcha and Barla do not enjoy the minimum support in the Dooars and Terai, said Tirkey.
“We have also to prove that people here do not want their fate determined by a high-powered committee which has Morcha MLAs as members. Under no circumstances, the plains areas would be included in GTA,” he added.(Telegraph)
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