Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today struck all the right chords after nearly
two months of a stand-off in the wake of a renewed movement for
statehood in the Darjeeling hills.
While Banerjee assured all possible
cooperation and support to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
(GTA), the GJM pledged it would refrain from calling bandhs. A beaming
and happy chief minister emerged after about an hour’s closed-door
meeting at the Richmond Hill guest house with the three MLAs of the GJM
and party general secretary Roshan Giri.
Briefing media persons, she said, “We
held an hour-long meeting and discussed in details all issues pertaining
to the GTA. The meeting went very well and was fruitful; I am very
happy.”
She also laid to rest the animosity
between the state government and the Morcha saying everything was in
order now. “The meeting was one of friendship. We are all happy. There
can be grudges against me, but I will not accept people being
inconvenienced,” she said.
In the same breath, Banerjee also
reiterated her long-professed stand in the presence of top GJM leaders
there was no question about Bengal being divided.
“They (GJM) have been helpful and also
hopeful. The MLAs told me they want to work together to develop the
hills. I told them it was a good decision and since Darjeeling is a part
of West Bengal, we must work together,” she said.
To further bond the new bonhomie, the
chief minister said the state government would definitely be part of a
tripartite meeting as was communicated to the GJM by the Centre. The
meet had been scheduled to take place on October 23 and has been
rescheduled to a later date.
“We will participate in the tripartite
meeting, but before that we will hold a bilateral talk in Kolkata during
the winter session of the assembly. Since the festival period is not
yet over, we will convene the meeting afterwards,” said Banerjee.
She also took the opportunity to
announce various development projects to be carried out in the region
now with things being back on track and the GTA functional.
“We have plans for developing the road
leading up to Tiger Hill, maintaining a proper traffic system and
beautification projects. Besides, we will also organise sports
activities and yearly cultural programmes to woo tourists to the hills.
We will focus and try to implement the 100 days job scheme in a better
way,” said the chief minister.
GJM spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka
Bahadur Chhetri expressed satisfaction with the meeting saying the
recent spate of events was due to miscommunication. “There was some
miscommunication, but that has been sorted out now. The CM has the
capacity to ease any complicated issue. In fact, we were amazed that
Madam had more programmes to offer than expected. We discussed all
issues with regard to the GTA,” he said.
Singing paeans of the chief minister,
the MLA also did a volte face from the GJM’s previous stand of the GTA
being a failure just after a couple of years of its existence.
“In one year we managed to do work that
did not take place in 34 years. We achieved the GTA after 11 rounds of
tripartite meetings and much time and effort,” said Chhetri.
On Banerjee’s remarks about a bipartite
meeting, the GJM spokesperson said it was a welcome announcement. “We
have always felt a bipartite meeting was more relevant and important
because the issues we are dealing with relates with the state
government. It first needs to be sorted out here and then taken to the
Centre,” said Chhetri.
When asked if the issue of the release
of arrested GJM leaders and sabhasads was discussed with the chief
minister, the Kalimpong MLA answered in the affirmative.
“The CM has asked her officials to take up the arrest cases one at a time and take necessary measures,” said Chhetri.
However, the GJM will go ahead with its
public meeting in Darjeeling on October 27, which observers here see it
as a counter to the TMC’s programme and also to show it is still ruling
the roost. Plans are also on to hold similar programmes in Kurseong,
Kalimong and Mirik.
