Morcha U-turn on hill stand-in

TT, Darjeeling, Dec 1: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today made a turnaround with its leadership announcing that the party would not accept any interim administrative arrangement for the hills once the DGHC is dissolved. 

“Any alternative arrangement in place of the DGHC has to be statehood and nothing less. There has been some confusion and we would want to clarify that the party will not accept any interim arrangements,” said Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri here today.

After the third round of talks in New Delhi on August 11, a Union home ministry release had stated: “It was agreed in principle to repeal the DGHC Act 1988. The repealing of the act would be processed as soon as an alternative administrative/framework is finalised through mutual consultations and agreement.”

The “alternative administrative framework” clause in the release created much confusion with ABGL president Madan Tamang alleging that the Morcha had already agreed to a DGHC double in place of Gorkhaland. His comments caused a political debate in the hills, with the Morcha stating that its goal was only achieving statehood.

Adding to the confusion was Harka Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson of the Morcha, who declared yesterday that the interim arrangement had to be time bound, encompassing the entire district of Darjeeling and parts of the Dooars and Terai apart from being more powerful than the Sixth Schedule status that the government had once agreed to confer. Chhetri’s statement had partially vindicated Tamang’s allegation even though the Morcha spokesperson had talked about a time-bound set-up.

Giri, however, urged the hills to stop listening to “government stooges ”, referring to Tamang without naming him. “We will not budge an inch from the statehood demand. Our agitation is for Gorkhaland and nothing else,” said Giri.

Observers believe that the party was under tremendous pressure to clarify its stand given the fact that conflicting statements were being issued by the Morcha leadership.

The party hopes today’s clarification will end the confusion over the alternative arrangement although sources said the Morcha demand for dissolving the DGHC is unlikely to be met soon as the home ministry has made its clear that it will be possible only after a stand-in set-up is in place.

In the meantime, the interlocutor for the fourth round of talks, Lieutenant-General (retired) Vijay Madan, is scheduled to arrive in Darjeeling tomorrow.

Asked if the Morcha will tell the interlocutor that they do not want any interim arrangements, Giri said: “There is no question of informing him.”

Gorkhaland not part of talks

TT, Jaigaon, Dec. 1: Leaders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad today penned an agreement that aims at reducing tensions between the supporters of both the parties in the Terai and Dooars area of north Bengal.

Morcha spokesperson and central committee member Harka Bahadur Chhetri and adviser to the Parishad Kiron Kalindi inked the deal at the Agrasan Bhavan in Madarihat today.

“We have agreed to reduce tensions between our supporters in the region and it has been decided that leaders of both the sides should meet regularly in order review the situation. Rumours that are spread and baseless allegations that are levelled are to be dealt with speed and it should be ensured that things do not go out of hand. We are here to live in harmony and there should be no room for misunderstandings between us,” Chhetri said after the meeting.

On several occasions the supporters of the two outfits had come to blows especially with a section of tea garden workers joining the Morcha bandwagon in recent times.

The latest violence was on November 9, when alleged Parishad supporters attacked the house of the vice-president of the Morcha’s Jaigaon branch, Indra Bahadur Chhetri in Bharnobari tea estate for campaigning for the party-backed candidate for the Kalchini byelections. The houses of two other Morcha supporters, Bharat Chhetri and Asit Thapa in the same garden, were also ransacked.

Raju Bara, a Parishad leader and seven others were arrested by the Hasimara police for the ransacks, sparking protests by the Adivasi body.

Incidentally, the Morcha had tasted its first success in electoral politics in the plains and not the hills with the victory of the Independent it had backed in Kalchini, which is part of the Dooars. “I remember chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee challenging me to win an election when I raised the issue of the (inclusion of the) Dooars (in Gorkhaland) at one of our meetings in Calcutta. He had snubbed us on Dooars and I had staged a walkout. The vic-tory in Kalchini is a slap in Bhattacharjee’s face,” Morcha president Bimal Gurung had said on the day the results were announced. “We will now say there is a mandate for Gorkhaland even in the Dooars and this stand will figure prominently in the next round of talks,” he had added.

However, neither Gorkhaland nor the inclusion of the Dooars and the Terai in the state was discussed at today’s meeting.

Rajesh Lakra, the secretary of the Dooars-Terai committee’s of the Parishad, said on November 15, the Morcha’s organising secretary for the region Samuel Gurung had written to the Adivasi outfit, asking for a meeting.

“We held a meeting at Banarhat on Sunday to decide on a response and it was decided that we would sit today and sort out matters. We thought we would talk about bringing tensions down and the development of the region for common good,” Lakra said.

The state committee secretary of the Parishad, Birsa Tirkey, however, said the issue of the demand for Gorkhaland was unimportant. “Today’s meeting was for peace and progress, but the demand for a separate state or Gorkhaland cannot be accepted at any cost,” he said.

ABAVP not to support Gorkhaland demand

SNS JALPAIGURI, 1 DEC: The Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad will not support the Gorkhaland cause. The ABAVP leadership expressed its stand to the GJMM leadership in a “peace meeting” at Malbazaar in Jalpaiguri district today.

Although the GJMM leadership today said the meeting was held with peace as the exclusive agenda and that it had not broached the subject of Gorkhaland, a section of ABAVP leadership stated otherwise.
“The GJMM leadership urged us to support the Gorkhaland demand which the ABAVP leadership refused,” said an ABAVP leader.
“We have no objection if the GJMM succeeds in forming Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling Hills but we would not allow them to stake claim on the Dooars. The Adivasis are the majority in the Dooars and we would not allow a division of the Dooars at any cost,” the ABAVP leader claimed.
According to the ABAVP leadership, the GJMM had sent them a letter on 15 November requesting a peace meeting and also about development issues of the Dooars. According to the GJMM spokesperson Dr Harka Bahadur Chettri, the GJMM signed an agreement with the ABAVP today to restore communal harmony and peace in the Dooars.
“The prevailing political turmoil and ethnic clashes in the Dooars have made both the GJMM and ABAVP leaders wary and we feel a need to stop it. We signed an agreement today agreeing not to fight each other anymore,” Dr Chettri said. The GJMM central committee member Mr Amar Lama, Dooars based GJMM leaders Vinod Ghatani, Samuel Gurung etc. attended today's meeting. According to the ABAVAP Dooars Terai Coordination Committee adviser Mr Kiran Kalendi, both the platforms would organize awareness campaigns among their respective communities.
“Several GJMM and ABAVP supporters of the Dooars have lost their houses and properties following the ethnic clashes and it was increasing every day. Today we also decided to hold more such meetings in future to avoid communal dispute,” said Mr Kalendi.
Senior ABAVP leaders like Mr Rajesh Lakra and Mr Rajesh Toppo attended today's meeting. (Photo:TOI)

GNLF-backed body threatens Terai bandh

SNS. SILIGURI 1 DEC: The GNLF-backed Gorkha Janjati Manyata Samaraho Samity has threatened a four-day long shutdown in the Terai belt from 3 December, if it is not given permission to hold a proposed convention at Panighatta in Kurseong sub-division from 4 December.
The Kurseong civil administration has so far rejected two subsequent prayers seeking permission for the event, for want of a green signal from the local police.
Branded as an ‘apolitical body’, the Gorkha Janjati Manyata Samaraho Samity was floated very recently to press for the Schedule Tribe status for all Darjeeling Gorkha's ~ a demand that the GNLF supremo Mr Subash Ghisingh first raised in 2008.
The Samity announced to hold a three-day long cultural convention at Panighatta from 4 to 6 December, which, according to political observers, is a GNLF ploy to make a come back in the Hills politics. In fact, Mr Ghising features in list the invited dignitaries for the proposed event.
However, apprehending commotion with the rival GJMM, the Kurseong civil administration has rejected permission for the event. But the organisers are still adamant.
“We have once again appealed the police and the administration to re-look into the matter and if we are not granted permission by tomorrow, we would go for a four-day long Terai belt strike from 3 December,” said the Samity's president Mr Rajen Mukhiya, who also happens to be the GNLF's prime leader in the Terai.
Meanwhile, to spoil all chances of a permission for the event, the rival GJMM activists today kick start a football tourney at the proposed convention venue ~ the Panighatta High School Ground and the same is to continue till 18 December. Contacted over the issue, the Kurseong SDO Mr Suden Bhutia said that the decision to deny permission for the proposed convention has been taken on the basis of a police report.
“Panighatta has witnessed several GNLF-GJMM clashes in the past one year and hence, the local police have objection to the proposed event as there is the apprehension of fresh commotions,” Mr Bhutia said ruling out a re-look into the matter. However, in the event of the strike threat, the administration is keeping its finger crossed. “The police and us are vigilant over the changing situation and additional forces would be deployed at Panighatta, if needed,” the SDO said.

Tamang fires court salvo again

TT, Siliguri, Dec. 1: Armed with a certified copy of an order refusing him permission to hold rallies in the hills, ABGL chief Madan Tamang today iterated that he would file a case against the Darjeeling district administration for issuing such an order against the December 7 meeting.

“We had applied to the officer-in-charge of Darjeeling police station on November 22, requesting permission to use microphones to hold a public meeting. However, the police denied the permission, citing law and order problem,” Tamang said here.

“It is sheer undemocratic for the administration to deny us the permission. We have obtained a certified copy of the refusal of permission from the police today and now plan to move the high court. We will question the so-called law and order problem,” he said.

Tamang, who returned from Calcutta today, alleged that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was was conspiring to move the venue of the fourth round of tripartite talks on December 21 from Darjeeling to Delhi.

“The Morcha leaders, in connivance with the state government, are attempting to shift the venue of the meeting as they are compromising with the demand for separate statehood and do not have the confidence to face the people in the hills,” he said.

Tamang appealed to former chief minister Jyoti Basu to ask his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to approve the statehood demand. “If Purulia could be included in Bengal after being separated from Bihar by the state reorganisation commission back in 1955 for having a majority of Bengali-speaking people, both the state and central governments should follow the same principle and liberate Darjeeling. I will urge Basu to speak to Bhattacharjee on this,” he said.

Bail plea rejected 
JALPAIGURI, 1 DEC: Alipurduar sub-divisional court rejected the bail plea of the Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad leader, Mr Raju Bara today. He was arrested in connection with an ABAVP-GJMM clash at Hasimara last month.
Top General Indicted in Land Scam of Sukuna
IE, New Delhi :The Court of Inquiry into the Darjeeling land scam case has brought out that a Siliguri real estate developer and one of the seniormost generals in the Army were in constant touch while a dubious Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was being drafted to clinch the land deal.

The CoI has established through phone records that real estate developer Dilip Agarwal, who inked the MoU to obtain No Objection Certificates from the Army for 71 acres near the 33 Corps HQ in Sukna Cantonment, was in constant touch with Lt Gen Avadhesh Prakash, Military Secretary (MS) at Army HQ, while the deal was being sealed.
While Lt Gen Prakash did not have a direct role in granting the NOCs, the CoI has brought out that that he used his influence as one of the seniormost officers in the Army to ensure that the deal went through.
The case, which is turning out to be a big scandal involving top Army officers, unravelled after it came to light that a massive land deal in Sukna was cleared by the Army against norms.
Lt Gen Prakash, who was called to Kolkata for questioning in the case, admitted he had known Agarwal for more than a decade. He was called for questioning after Lt Gen P K Rath, whose appointment as Deputy Chief of Army Staff has since been scrapped by the Ministry of Defence, told the CoI that an educational institution had been recommended by Lt Gen Prakash.
The inquiry has also established that Lt Gen Prakash was in constant touch with Lt Gen Rath and Agarwal while the deal was being struck. The following phone records were presented at the CoI:
• February 7: Lt Gen Prakash called Dilip Agarwal a day before the 33 Corps HQ gave an undertaking to the Commissioner General of Land Reforms, West Bengal on February 8 that the Army had “no objection if an educational institution and residential facility is set up in the proposed land measuring about 71 acres”. This MoU was in direct contradiction to an earlier projection made by the Army in December 2008 that the land should be acquired by the military for security reasons. • March 19: A day before the MoU was to be signed, Agarwal and Lt Gen Prakash spoke four times between 10.30 am and 12.40 pm. This was allegedly the time when the MoU was being drafted in Darjeeling.

• March 20: The day the MoU granting NoCs for transfer of land was signed between the Army and the educational institution, Agarwal spoke to Lt Gen Prakash on his official phone number at Army HQ at 10.49 am. At 3.49 pm, after the MoU had been signed, Agarwal spoke to Lt Gen Prakash again, this time on his mobile. Agarwal was one of the persons who signed the MoU with the Army.
The CoI also probed allegations that Lt Gen Prakash was being offered the role to head the upcoming school if the deal went through. Sources said that the findings of the CoI, which concluded over the weekend, have been sent to the Eastern Army Commander for confirmation.
The Defence Ministry, which has already asked for a report on the issue, is now expected to intervene given that two of the seniormost Generals have been indicted in the inquiry.
The Army has been asked to expedite the inquiry and fix responsibility at the earliest by Defence Minister A K Antony who has also sent a strongly worded note to Army HQ on the issue.

PRASHANT IN NEPALI FILM

Kathmandu, Nov 26 (IANS) He started his career as a cop and in 2007 shot to fame when he won the popular music contest ‘Indian Idol’. Now Prashant Tamang has hit the headlines once again by ‘joining’ the British Gurkhas and ‘tying the knot’.

The 26-year-old from Darjeeling has been camping in Nepal, from where his ancestors hailed, to kickstart a new career in acting with the Nepali film ‘Gurkha Paltan’ (The Gurkha Brigade).

Prashant, who became a youth icon in Nepal after winning the third edition of the music reality show against formidable odds, is shooting for the movie in picturesque Palpa district in central Nepal - it is known for its hand-woven cloth and the valiant Gurkha warriors who make their way to the British and Indian armies.

Nepali singer Narayan Rayamajhi is making his debut as a director with ‘Gurkha Paltan’, the tale of young Nepali men being forced to join foreign armies for want of opportunities in their own country and the hardship and privation they undergo.

While casting for his film, Rayamajhi was looking for actors who would have an army background and he found Prashant - with his police career, he was perfect for the role.

Prashant plays Nirman, the fatherless boy who is compelled to join the British Army to take care of his mother and sister.

Prashant, who lost his father at the age of eight and joined the West Bengal Police when he was 18 to fend for his mother and sister, was moved by the story that he says could be his own life story.

From Mumbai, India’s film and finance capital, he has moved to Phulbari in Palpa, a village that every year sends dozens of its sons to try their luck in the British Army.

One of the recent sequences that he shot includes the return of Nirman to his village on leave when he gets married to a girl from the village, played by Nepali actress Ranjita Gurung.

The wiry Prashant, with his trademark beaming smile, looks dashing in the traditional attire of a Nepali groom - a long checked tunic made of the famed Palpa cloth and a matching cap with traditional garlands of grass and red strings around his neck.

The Nepal film industry is watching the making of ‘Gurkha Paltan’ keenly.

Prior to this, Prashant was expected to make his debut with a biopic by debutant Nepali director Dinesh Raj Sharma, but the project is yet to go on floors.

Rayamajhi and Sunil Thapa, the veteran bad man of the Nepali film industry, say they are happy with Prasant’s acting skills.

If ‘Gurkha Paltan’ enjoys reasonable success, Prashant would have a new career in showbiz in the Nepali film industry.

Nepali films are also watched by the diaspora in Mumbai, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Hong Kong, London and the Middle East.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)