Government is “displeased” with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s “efforts to strike a deal” with local leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad

Oct. 31: The state government is “displeased” with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s “efforts to strike a deal” with local leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad to press for the inclusion of the entire Dooars-Terai region within the hill set-up, sources said.

By roping in the Parishad, the Morcha is trying to put pressure on the committee formed to look into the territory issue of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) to include more plains areas in the hill set-up, the government sources said.

Such a move could “alienate the people of the plains from the Trinamul Congress”, the sources added.

“The chief minister is displeased with the Morcha for trying to strike a deal with the Parishad. The outfits now want all the 514 mouzas in the Dooars-Terai region to be included in the GTA. Earlier, the Morcha had demanded the inclusion of 196 mouzas from the plains in the set-up. The Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen-headed committee is looking into the earlier demand,” a Writers’ source said.

The sources said Mamata Banerjee was “against the inclusion of more plains areas in the GTA than what the committee is already looking into”.

“By roping in the tribals, the Morcha is planning to press for the inclusion of more plains areas in the GTA. The Parishad’s support will increase the Morcha’s bargaining power. This will alienate the non-hill population from Trinamul and strengthen the CPM’s claim that the Mamata government is trying to divide Bengal,” one of the sources said.

The Parishad, which had earlier opposed the inclusion of the Dooars and the Terai in the hill set-up, held a joint news conference in Mongpong, 25km from Siliguri, yesterday and said it had agreed to the plains areas being included in the GTA.

The Parishad leaders had said the Morcha had accepted their condition of including “Adivasi” in the name of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

“If the Parishad joins the GTA and starts demanding a separate Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh together with the Morcha, we could be in an awkward situation. The chief minister will not allow separate statehood under any circumstance,” a Trinamul leader said.

Sources in the cabinet said the government was “surprised” at the new development and was monitoring the situation “cautiously” before deciding on its course of action.

“We were surprised to say the least. We were not prepared, especially after the enactment of the GTA, for such a move,” a minister said.

North Bengal affairs minister Gautam Deb refused comment, merely saying: “We have not received any official communication, verbally or in writing, yet. I’m not going to comment on the issue on the basis of what has appeared in newspapers.”

CPM leader Surjya Kanta Mishra today said the Morcha was trying to “create a divide between the tribals” by demanding with a section of Parishad the inclusion of the entire Dooars-Terai region in the GTA. “Fresh complications are being created by the Morcha. The majority of the Adivasis don’t want the region to be part of the GTA.”

Source : The Telegraph