From rooftop to rooftop, on treetops, on shops and in the middle of tea gardens, the flag of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today flutters across much of the Dooars and the Terai plains, a visual makeover ahead of a government survey to assess the strength of the GJM’s claim on this territory.
Most of the flags have come up over the past month, irrespective of whether those living in the houses are ...Gorkas or Adivasis. This was after GJM chief Bimal Gurung issued a diktat not only to Gorkhas but also to Adivasis “who want to come under the Gorkha Territorial Administration”.
It is meant to be a show of numerical supremacy ahead of the planned visit by survey teams, which will be constituted by a committee comprising retired Calcutta judge Shyamal Sen, GJM representatives and those of the state and Central governments, to determine which areas should come under the GTA. The GJM has demanded nearly 400 mouzas in the plains — around 200 each in the Dooars and the Terai — in addition to the entire hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
At Malbazar, Nagrakata and Banarhat in the Dooars, areas dominated by Adivasis, the display is the result of a combination of fear and alleged incentive. The GJM has been paying households Rs 30 a day to hoist the flag, villagers alleged.
Robinson, a tea labourer at Banarhat, said he has hoisted the flag because he could not afford not to. “We don’t want to be included in the GTA. We are Adivasis, living here for decades, but so many Nepalese and Bhutanese people have settled here that we are now almost reduced to a minority. Since they have put the GJM flag on their roofs, we have to do the same.”
Binay Tigga, another labourer, admitted he was being paid. “For the last one month, we are being given Rs 30 a day. They call us ‘the 67 people’ because our daily wage is Rs 67 while tea labourers in Darjeeling get Rs 90. They have told us that for a couple of months, till the survey is done, we can earn Rs 97, which is more than what tea labourers in Darjeeling earn.”
Shortly after the notification for the joint verification committee had been issued, Gurung made a speech at Nagrakata, where he announced the diktat on the flags and said that every resident must be home when the survey teams come calling.
A senior member of the GJM central committee conceded, “We are concerned about the Dooars region since it is a traditional stronghold of the Adivasis. To influence the views of the committee, our leaders have urged the people to put up GJM flags on their houses.”
Leaders among the Adivasis are fuming. Jhon Barla, block president (Banarhat-Nagrakata) of the All Bengal Adivasi Vikash Parishad, said, “The committee comprises only representatives from the government and the GJM. The ABAVP and other groups have not been made a party to this. Adivasis will never allow such a demarcation.” He also wondered where the GJM has found funding for the Rs 30 allegedly being paid to each Adivasi household every day.
The committee, formed on July 29, met for the first time on August 31. It then decided to publish a newspaper advertisement seeking suggestions and complaints, if any, but is yet to do so. Given six months to submit a report, it has decided to meet again in November.
Source : Indian Express
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