Protest over ‘misplaced fear’
TROUBLE IN HILLS The basis of protests in Darjeeling seems to be losing significance after Mamata clarified that Bengali would be optional
The crisis that has paralysed Darjeeling, one of the country’s most popular hill stations, seems to be the result of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s (GJM) apprehension of the Mamata Banerjee government forcing Bengali as a compulsory subject for school students in the hills.
The origin of the fear — which seems misplaced now — lies in the May 16 announcement by Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee that Bengali should be a compulsory subject from Class 1 to 10 in the state.
The statement was enough to provoke GJM, which rules the semi-autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), that interpreted it as an imposition.
Nepali is the official language in the hills of Bengal, recognised as an official language of Bengal in 1961. In 1992, Nepali was recognised as one of the official languages of India.
“The people in Mirik and other places would switch off their lights every day from 6 pm to 8 pm till June 8 as a mark of protest against the state government’s decision to make Bengali compulsory,” Binoy Tamang, GJM assistant secretary, said on June 4. The state government ignored the initial reactions of the GJM and chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the morcha leaders were making “an issue out of a non-issue”.
GJM president Bimal Gurung led protest rallies in the hills between June 5 to 8, when the CM was present, to highlight their opposition to the state’s decision. They demanded that there should be a cabinet resolution stating Bengali will not be compulsory in Darjeeling. The government softened its tone after GJM stepped up protest.
After the cabinet meeting at Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling on June 8, the chief minister clarified that Bengali will be an optional subject in the hills.
But Gurung and other GJM leaders refused to take the decision just on face value and decided to intensify agitations. When the situation went totally out of control, the state administration sought army help.
Peace came temporarily and on June 10, the chief minister repeated her announcement that Bengali will be an optional subject. But the GJM refused to relent, scaling up the agitation to the old demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
On June 13, the statehood demand got a push after an allparty meeting attended by all hill-based political outfits and the BJP, where a unanimous resolution in favour of Gorkhaland state was adopted. The battle of attrition reached a flash point on Thursday when the police raided the office of the GJM at Darjeeling and seized weapons, cash and radio sets. Later in the day, different pockets in the hills turned into battlefields with clashes between police and GJM activists. Intelligence failure was at the root of the flare-up in Darjeeling on June 8, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday. Without naming GJM leaders, she also alleged that that there was a conspiracy to kill some of her cabinet colleagues. “They had designs to attack the ministers on June 8... It was intelligence failure,” the chief minister said at a police function in the city.
The BJP’s one-seat gambit to include the Gorkhaland issue in its 2014 election manifesto to gain an edge in the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency might come back to haunt the party as it looks to expand its footprint in West Bengal.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which has launched a violent agitation in the Darjeeling hills for a separate Gorkhaland state, wants the saffron party to deliver on its promises. “Bengal is just a chowkidar (watchman) of Gorkhaland, and it’s time for its retirement. The West Bengal assembly will never pass it (resolution for creation of a separate state); the Centre will have to do it on its own. We ensured victory for the BJP (in Darjeeling) in 2009 and 2014. This issue is part of its manifesto too. The BJP government at the Centre must now