BY BARUN ROY
The field has now been set for the two Governments – Central and the State to react on the Gorkhaland Movement II in Darjeeling Hills. As per the Darjeeling Member of Parliament’s resolute statement to the press and to Beacon Online that he has met the UPA Chairman Sonia Gandhi, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister who have ‘kindly’ agreed to attend the tripartite meeting to be held in New Delhi between the Central Government, West Bengal State Government and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, the West Bengal Government itself is set to place a ‘unofficial’ Bill in the State Legislature vis-a-vis Darjeeling Hills today. If history is anything to go by, the West Bengal Government could carefully draft a Bill on granting more autonomy to the Darjeeling Hills in the form of Gorkha Autonomous Council, increasing the size of the area now coming under Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) and offering more powers including Taxation, Higher Secondary Education, Land and Land Reform, a revamped Council of Representatives to be elected through adult franchise, ’sweeping powers’ over animal husbandary, cottage industries, small scale industries, sericulture, mining, timber and other forest products etc. It could also be possible that the Tripartite Meeting may be held after the passing of the said ‘unofficial’ Bill by the West Bengal State Legislature. The contents of the said Bill may after its passing by the State Legislature may first be placed on the table at the Tripartite Agreement and then its contents made public.
According to sources close to the Congress Party, the AICC and Sonia Gandhi is not particularly in favour of the creation of Gorkhaland at this moment when the nation is going through crisis both in economic terms and security.’ As had been the view held by the Late Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi ‘may not as yet want to commit herself in favour of Gorkhaland’. “She is all out in the favour of Regional Autonomy but hoping for Gorkhaland might be a bit too much at this moment,” a party source close to the leader said from New Delhi. Does Dawa Narbula, who have been for some time dodging vital questions on Gorkhaland and more specifically – where and how the All India Congress Committee and especially Sonia Gandhi stood on Gorkhaland – The Darjeeling MP is now positive about the tripartite meeting yet why is he not coming out clean before the public.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has so far not made any comments on the ‘unofficial’ Bill to be place in the State Legislative Assembly. But Benoy Tamang, the Party Press and Publicity Secretary was quick to remark that the party was eagerly waiting for the Tripartite Meeting to talk place. Will the party declare before hand that it would not accept “Gorkha Autonomous Council” or anything sort of Gorkhaland once again? The party President Bimal Gurung in an interview with Beacon Online had during the early days of the Gorkhaland Agitation II said, “We will not accept anything short of Gorkhaland,” the State and the Central Government might now strongly test his resolve in the few days to come.
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