Skip to main content

Darjeeling normalising? West Bengal govt feels "insulted": Rajnath Singh meets person with "shady" background

By Sadhan Mukherjee*
Darjeeling Hills are still burning but there are indications that they are slowly cooling down. The fire is not that intense as before. At the same time, it seems that the union government and the West Bengal government are on different wave lengths for the solution of the problem.
The second round of the all-party meeting took place between the West Bengal government and the various hill parties, including both the fact ions of Gokhaland Mukti Morcha, one led by Binay Tamang and the other by Bimal Gurung. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee accepted a number of demands of the hill parties.
At the same time, she assigned all responsibilities of lifting the bandh on the Binay Tamang group. But after the meet Bimal Gurung asked people to carry on the bandh expressing his dissatisfaction with the outcome of the all-party meet. He in fact wanted the bandh to continue along with the talks.
Binay Tamang has declared that an appeal will be made to all parties to lift the bandh. But the opposition of the Gurung faction creates a genuine apprehension if the bandh can be lifted at all. Binay Tamang of course has declared “no, Talibani fatwah will not work in the hills” . For the two Gurung group MLAs who have come over to his side, Tamang has said, “Hill MLAs came as Morcha representatives; they were not anybody’s personal property.”
The meeting was well attended; the participants more or less accepted that normalisation of hills by lifting the bandh was the main task. The fear of Gurung is also slowly vanishing. The Chief Minister has accepted several demands of Gorkha land morcha that included salary hike, high level enquiry into various issues, and compensation to the families of the dead and injured during the movement, etc. The next meeting will be held on October 16.
The question now is how to lift the bandh. Many hill leaders believe it should be a joint call which can remove the fear of Gurung group’s warnings. If this plan succeeds, it will mean a multiparty democracy in the hills.
In the GTA office, until now only nine persons used to attend. On Wednesday another 13 joined in. The temporary staff will join in on Thursday 14 September. Thirty teachers of the Darjeeling Government College have been brought to Darjeeling. Some school students are also coming; some of them without their school uniforms since parents have asked them not to wear these for now.
To maintain this rhythm and to help normalisation in the hills before the Durga Puja, the state government has announced some specific steps. This includes advance payment if employees join work by September 15, tripartite meeting for the tea gardens, to normalise ration supply in the hills, etc. Some banks have reopened in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.
The state government is considering advance payment to staff to some departments. The prolonged bandh and non-payment of salary has emptied coffer of all. An advance payment will help facilitate the reopening of shops.
Some shops on footpaths have already begun to sell goods. Transport has resumed in the main areas of hills. They are moving in convoys of 20 vehicles escorted by police security.
Meanwhile, it seems a double-game is going on. Binay Tamang had announced that as soon as hills become normal, he would go to Delhi to meet the central government. Hearing this Gurung follower Roshan Giri post-haste met home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday and a picture of that meeting was officially released by the home ministry.
The state government felt humiliated especially due to the fact that a person against whom cases under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) are going on, how could the home minister meet him? The state government tried to speak to Singh but could not contact him on phone.
Roshan after the meeting asserted that Bimal Gurung is the sole leader of the hills and warned that any step taken without Gurung will only invite trouble. West Bengal maintains that when hills are getting normalised, why is the centre making the situation complicated and why Rajnath Singh meeting the Gurung faction repeatedly and listening to their plea for tripartite meeting.
No tripartite meeting can be held with out the state government, and why should a tripartite meeting be held now? Above all, West Bengal’s query is, why the Gurung group is being patronised by the centre?
---
*Veteran journalist

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai*  The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.
Post a Comment
»

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.
Post a Comment
»

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.
Post a Comment
»

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan   M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.
Post a Comment
»

Civil society flags widespread violations of land acquisition Act before Parliamentary panel

By Jag Jivan   Civil society organisations and stakeholders from across India have presented stark evidence before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj , alleging systemic violations of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013 , particularly in Scheduled Areas and tribal regions.
Post a Comment
»

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”
Post a Comment
»

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

​ By Syed Ali Mujtaba*  ​The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.
Post a Comment
»

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah  A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.
Post a Comment
»

Protesters in UK cities voice concerns over alleged developments in Bastar region

By A Representative   Demonstrations were held across several cities in the United Kingdom on March 28, as groups and activists gathered to protest what they described as state actions in India under the reported “Operation Kagar.”
Post a Comment
»