Morcha to keep territory cause alive - Plains-on-mind message

VIVEK CHHETRI AND AVIJIT SINHA

A procession brought out by the Morcha in Darjeeling on Sunday. (Suman Tamang) March 25: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will convey to its supporters in the plains that their cause has not been abandoned and the campaign to include the Gorkha-dominated areas from the region in the new set-up would continue though the party has agreed to elections only in the hills. The message will be conveyed through a meeting on Tuesday in Kalimpong to be attended by leaders from the Dooars and Terai. A government appointed high-powered committee is looking into the Morcha’s territory demand. Earlier, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had said elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration would not be held till the territory issue was sorted out. Asked about his reaction to the party’s sudden U-turn on election, the president of the Morcha’s Dooars committee Padam Lama said: “Our party president had called me up to say that the developments are very encouraging. He has called us to Kalimpong on Tuesday where he will explain to us the details. I think we have reasons to be happy with the results of the Calcutta meeting.” Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said the party would continue to campaign for inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated plains mouzas in the GTA. “Although the padayatra from the hills to the Terai on April 7 stand cancelled, the proposed public meeting at Nagrakata would be held the next day,” he said. The Morcha’s rivals in the hills believe that plains people wanting to be included within the GTA have no reason to rejoice. “Everything is vague about the workings of the state government and the Morcha. They are talking about nominations (to the GTA Sabha) from the plains and holding elections only in the hills. This disparity is not there in the GTA agreement. If the Morcha already agrees to accept the recommendations of the committee, what is the guarantee that the plains areas will be included in the GTA? The committee might not recommend any inclusion. The government said it would ‘request’ the committee to submit its report by June. A ‘request’ is not mandatory. The plains people are being fooled,” said Govind Chhetri, spokesperson for the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM). During the meeting held between the Gurung-led Morcha delegation and chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta yesterday, it was agreed that the government would “request” the territory committee to submit its recommendations by the first week of June, when the elections are likely to be held. The recommendations would be binding on both the Morcha and the government and the polls to the 45 seats of the GTA Sabha would be conducted even if the territory report was not submitted. CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya, too, has raised questions on nominating representatives from the added areas to the GTA. “Only the governor can nominate members to the GTA from minority communities and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and women. How can the government and the Morcha nominate members from the added territory, even if some mouzas are added,” he said. The former minister from Siliguri also said nomination would lead to a disparity between the DGHC areas and the rest in terms of representations. “The DGHC or the hill area would be represented by those elected while the rest by nominated members. This would be a disparity,” he said.(Telegraph)