The Hills are Alive | West Bengal

The hill districts of West Bengal are again in ferment after news came in about the 'dilution' of Article 370 and Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh becoming Union Territories (UTs). The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), currently the top dog in the hills, and the rebel faction of the party led by Binay Tamang, have cranked up the demand for Gorkhaland (carved out of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and parts of the plains of Terai and Dooars in West Bengal). They want a separate state or UT status for the region.

'Gorkha pride' was the top concern of all political parties here, including the ruling Trinamool Congress, prior to the 2019 general election. The BJP's election manifesto even said the party was "committed to working towards finding a permanent political solution to the issue".

The GJM, along with other hill parties like the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), had sent a delegation a fortnight ago to meet Union MoS for home Nityananda Rai to discuss the issue. The new developments in J&K have added impetus to the dem­ands. "We want UT status with a legislative assembly in case statehood cannot be granted," says GJM general secretary Roshan Giri, currently an 'absconder' along with party president Bimal Gurung, following the lookout notices slapped against them by the West Bengal government.

BJP MP Raju S. Bista, an entrepreneur from Manipur with RSS links, has been hand-picked by Gurung to deal with the issue. "We want a tripartite meeting at the earliest to honour the sentiments of the Gorkha people. We are being unnecessarily harassed by the TMC," says Bista. He will be meeting Union home minister Amit Shah soon.

Bista has already reminded the Lok Sabha of the need for a "permanent solution". The BJP has had the support of the hill people (80 per cent are Gorkhas) for three terms now, beginning 2009, by dangling the carrot of a separate state. But nothing has happened so far. Even after the 104-day strike in the hills in June 2017, there was no firm commitment from the Centre. Then BJP MP from Darjeeling, S.S. Ahluwalia, did not even visit his constituency during the period.

Even after the bitter exp­er­ience, the GJM is hopeful the BJP at the Centre will come through. "We have no choice. We are fighting a state government (TMC) which is slapping false cases against our workers and leaders. We cannot fight the TMC without the BJP's help," says a GJM leader who refused to be identified.

However, unlike Ahluwalia, Bista is their own man, a son of the soil and, more importantly, has Gurung's backing. Bista has managed to convince the GJM leaders not to pick up the gun again. The 2017 agitation, which paralysed life for more than three months, did not go down well with the people.

The BJP is in a spot as it also has to counter the TMC campaign in the rest of Bengal that the saffron party is out to break up the state. If the charge gets traction, it could derail the BJP's plans to take Bengal in the 2021 assembly election. State president Dilip Ghosh has gone on rec­ord saying the BJP has not given any commitment on 'Gorkha­land'. Quick to pin Ghosh down, Bengal cabinet minister Goutam Deb says, "The BJP and GJM cannot keep talking in two voices. They should make their stand clear."

Sources say the BJP has asked Bista to focus on the "permanent political solution" bit and keep the separatist element under wraps till they can come up with a solution.