The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has warned that it may withdraw from negotiations on a permanent political solution for Darjeeling unless its demands for 396 mouzas in the Terai and Dooars and Scheduled Tribe status for 11 Gorkha communities are addressed.
The warning followed a meeting between a Morcha delegation led by party president Bimal Gurung and the Centre’s interlocutor, Pankaj Kumar Singh, in Darjeeling. It came a day after the party renewed its territorial demand at an event marking its 20th foundation day.
“This is the first time that we were meeting the interlocutor after a committee was formed,” Gurung said. Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said the delegation had sought an administrative body with constitutional guarantees and legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers.
Giri said the inclusion of the 396 mouzas and Scheduled Tribe recognition for 11 communities were central to the party’s position. The communities named by the Morcha are Bhujel, Gurung, Mangar, Newar, Jogi, Khas, Rai, Sunuwar, Thami, Yakka, also known as Dewan, and Dhimal.
The Centre announced the high-level committee headed by Singh, a former deputy national security adviser, after Union home minister Amit Shah and Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari met the BJP’s hill allies in Siliguri on August 22. The committee includes representatives from the Union home ministry and the state home ministry. According to the Morcha, the panel told the delegation that it would convey the party’s position to the Union home minister.
“Let us hope that something comes out of all this. If it does not happen, then we will back out (of talks),” Giri said. He compared the demand with the Bodoland arrangement in Assam, arguing that the Morcha was seeking 396 mouzas rather than entire districts.
The mouzas are located in the plains of the Darjeeling districts and parts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. Their inclusion has remained one of the most contentious issues in negotiations over the administrative future of the Darjeeling hills because the Terai and Dooars have a mixed population, unlike the predominantly Gorkha-populated hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
The erstwhile Left Front government opposed bringing areas of the plains under a hill-based administrative body. After the change of government in Bengal in 2011, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement provided for a committee to examine the territorial demand. A panel headed by retired Justice Shyamal Sen recommended including five of the 396 mouzas sought by the Morcha, but the party rejected the recommendation.
The demand for Scheduled Tribe status has also remained unresolved despite repeated representations and the formation of committees to examine it. The Centre’s interlocutor and the high-level committee are now expected to consider the Morcha’s position as part of the ongoing process for a permanent political arrangement.
