Gorkhaland stir: Hill economy comes to a standstill

Provocative steps by the West Bengal govt has led to an indefinite shutdown in the region

June 8, 2017, will go down in the West Bengal government’s annual report as the day the otherwise calm and picturesque Darjeeling hills saw ferocity of an order not seen in the recent past, with the demand resurfacing for a separate Gorkhaland, for the ethnic Gorkha majority there.

It all began on May 16 after state education minister Partha Chatterjee announced the government had made it compulsory for schools to teach Bengali from classes I to X. The Gorkhas, reluctant to study this language and wanting Nepali instead, saw this as an infringement of both their tradition and rights. 

The very next day, the state’s ruling party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), after trying for over a decade, finally opened its electoral account in the hills, winning the Mirik municipality in alliance with the Gorkha National Liberation Front. The TMC also won the Domkal, Pujali and Raiganj (all in the plains, not the hills) municipalities. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), the largest ethnic Nepali party in the hills, retained its hold on the Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong civic bodies.

And, the state’s chief minister and TMC supremo, Mamata Banerjee, visiting Mirik after her party’s win, announced a “special audit” of  the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the semi-autonomous body formed in 2011 to govern the region, replacing the earlier Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

“We will do a special audit of the funds given to GTA. No one will be spared. They want hotels to close down, tourism to suffer. People will suffer losses, they will make commissions,” she said at Mirik. In a confident tone, she added, “Jo humse takrayega, chur chur ho jayega (Those who will confront us will be smashed to pieces)”.

Soon after, ignoring warnings from the GJM, she decided to hold a Cabinet meeting in Darjeeling, her first such, on June 8.

GJM supremo Bimal Gurung, whose party ran the GTA, had previously alleged increased interference from the state government in their administration. And, charged that although funds are formally allotted to the GTA, these don’t actually ever reach the body. And, he rapped the constitution of several Boards in the GTA, named for the Tamang, Lepcha, Bhutia, Sherpas and others. Aimed, he charged,  at dividing the people in the hills, based on their community.

While the Cabinet meeting went on in the Banquet Hall of Raj Bhavan, the first after a span of 45 years, the GJM staged protests. These turned violent leading to torching of 18 vehicles, stone pelting and the police resorting to lathi-charge and tear-gassing. The army was then called in.

According to a GJM leader who is today leading protest marches for Gorkhaland, June 8 was a show of strength. While Banerjee wanted to prove the “smiling hills” were peaceful and the TMC capable of capturing the Darjeeling municipality in the next elections, she had challenged Gurung in his  own fortress.

And, the embers of the earlier stir for a separate homeland for the Gorkhas reignited, the GJP in the fore. “Every Gorkha in the hills, irrespective of their political affiliation, wants Gorkhaland. This issue has been there for over a 100 years now and time and again it resurfaces”, says Prakash Lohagun, a resident of Ghoom, near Darjeeling. The demand for a separate administrative unit here has existed since 1907, when the Hillmen's Association of Darjeeling gave a memorandum in this regard. Demands and appeals were made in 1917, 1929 and 1941. And, when the country was partitioned, Darjeeling became part of West Bengal. 

The demand resurfaced in 1952 and 1980 but went unconsidered. It was then that Subhash Ghisingh, a former soldier and a poet, took a violent path to achieve the objective. It finally led to the formation of the DGHC in 1988, with a second revision in 2005 ensuring extended local autonomy. Finally, in 2011, it paved the way for the GTA.

In the days which followed the call for Gorkhaland, with Gorkhas, the police and paramilitaryall having raised the level of the use of force, three protesters have died and an assistant commandant of the India Reserve Battalion is battling for his life in hospital. 

The GJM has stated this is the “final call to obtain a separate state of Gorkhaland inside the Indian borders”. It has united the otherwise fragmented Gorkha political parties in the region and drawn in the 25,000-odd Muslims in the area and the ethnic Rajasthani population.

“After so many years, what has the state government done? Education, infrastructure and health are major issues and the hills have always been neglected. Apart from tourism and the tea industry, there is none. We believe if a separate state of Gorkhaland is carved out, it will lead to holistic development in the region,” said Mustaq Usmani, a businessman.

This Tuesday, after an all-party meet, it was decided to pull out of the GTA and form an All-India Co-ordination Committee for Gorkhaland, which will take the movement forward.

Gorkha parties are also irate at the Centre and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Two times we elected the BJP candidate from Darjeeling on the assurance that Gorkhaland will be a reality and we were  duped,” says Amar Singh Rai, who represents Darjeeling in the state legislative assembly, on a GJM ticket. Seniors in the BJP were elected from here to the Lok Sabha in both 2009 and 2014.

The GJM says it is firm on discussing peace terms with the Centre, not with Banerjee. The district’s transport links with the rest of the country have been cut off.

Hill economy stops functioning

Tourists stranded during GJM’s strike in Darjeeling on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

The tussle between the state government and Gorkhaland supporters has had a dire effect on the economy in the hills. Predominantly dependent on the tourism and tea sectors, the indefinite bandh call from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, endorsed by other Gorkha parties, have brought the economy to a standstill.

 

Except medicine shops, everything else has been closed since June 15. Hotels which had previously accepted bookings have cancelled all these. “We have no water and the electricity connection has been severed. The staff has also fled. How can we service those who check in?” asks the owner of one of Darjeeling’s most prominent hotels. Only two hotels, Seven Seventeen and Broadway, are functional but are housing only journalists.

 

Samrat Sanyal, secretary at the Siliguri-based East Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association, estimates the travel sector here has already undergone at least a Rs 100-crore loss this season. “More, the brand equity of Darjeeling has been tarnished, as the fleeing tourists will have a bad experience to narrate,” he said. Tour operators estimate the loss might mount to Rs 170 crore if bookings for Sikkim are also affected.

 

“I had planned for a five-day trip to Gangtok and East Sikkim but on arrival in New Jalpaiguri station, came to know that the Gangtok route has also been affected. Vehicles are not ready to go and some are charging Rs 6,000 for a one-way trip,” said Shankar Prasad Sahu from Odisha, who landed in Siliguri this Monday. The normal fare would have been Rs 2,500.

 

And, at least 100 tea gardens in and around Darjeeling have remained closed. That hits the livelihood of over 200,000 permanent workers.