ARCHIS MOHAN, TT, New Delhi, March 17: The Centre will try to float afresh an autonomy formula at the talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Delhi tomorrow but it is also keeping its options open on a two-year time frame because of unpublicised reservations expressed by the Trinamul Congress.
At the tripartite talks involving the Centre, the Morcha and the Bengal government, a draft formula that almost achieved a breakthrough but got derailed because of the Telangana announcement is expected to be taken up again.
The Morcha had refused to allow the proposal to be tabled in December in Darjeeling.
The Centre is keen to float the proposal, based on the Delhi Administration Act, 1966, that offers greater autonomy and facilitates a virtual Union territory, again and try for a consensus.
But sources said Trinamul, which like other mainstream parties in Bengal has vehemently opposed the division of the state, wanted “a permanent solution” to fall into place only in mid-2011 when Assembly polls would be held.
The sources said the party had relayed as much to the home ministry. If Trinamul does exert more pressure, the Centre may tread with caution but it will not kow-tow completely to the ally, the sources added.
Keeping such uncertainties in mind, the Centre feels a two-year window will be a realistic time frame to wrap up modalities if a solution is found. “It (the two-year window) is something that even the Morcha is looking at…. particularly when it knows that there is little hope of getting a state of Gorkhaland,” a source said.
A Trinamul leader today denied that there was any pressure from the party to delay a settlement. “It is the common man who has suffered. We want a solution as soon as possible. We are going into the talks with a positive mind. Hopefully, we will work out something,” the Trinamul leader said.
The Centre’s draft formula borrows heavily from the 1966 Delhi act, effectively a compromise formula that governed the capital till it was granted partial statehood in 1991.
The act instituted a representative Delhi Metropolitan Council headed by a chairperson. The council reported to the Delhi Administration, which was headed by the lieutenant governor. Unlike governors, lieutenant governors enjoy substantial administrative powers.
In the Centre’s proposal, an elected representative body will report directly to the Bengal governor, virtually creating a Union territory within a state.
Home ministry officials conceded that the Telangana announcement was a huge setback to efforts to resolve the Gorkhaland issue. “Their hopes were suddenly revived because of that announcement,” said an official. The official hoped that the Morcha would be more amenable to the Centre’s proposal this time.
The eight-member Morcha delegation will have talks with minister of state for home Ajay Maken, Trinamul minister Dinesh Trivedi and Bengal government’s representatives, ministers Asok Bhattacharya and Surjya Kanta Mishra, tomorrow at North Block.
Eight-member hill team leaves for Delhi
 |
| A procession of schoolchildren snakes its way through Darjeeling town on Wednesday in support of Gorkhaland. Picture by Suman Tamang |
TT, Bagdogra, March 17: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said it would be back on the agitation path if there was no “positive” outcome at the tripartite talks in Delhi tomorrow even as an eight-member delegation left for the meeting in the afternoon.
“In case we find that our demands are not being met, we will start our movement across the hills,” said Harka Bahadur Chhetri, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha, at Bagdogra airport.
He said an alternative administrative set-up was essential to repeal the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Act. The central government had worked out a proposal “but we did not allow the Union home secretary to table it during the fourth round of tripartite talks held in Darjeeling on December 21”.
 |
| Gorkhaland Personnel guide a rally taken out by the Morcha in Kalimpong on Wednesday. (CF Lepcha) |
“However, later, the proposal reached us through the interlocutor based upon which our president drafted a new proposal with changes and additions. It had been sent to the Centre but we feel the Union government has already made up its mind.”
Chhetri, however, said it was, too, early to speak on the future course of action. He said since party president Bimal Gurung was not part of the delegation, some more discussions would have to be held before any agreement was arrived at. “But if the situation demands, we can obviously talk to him (Gurung) over the phone tomorrow.”
 |
| The Morcha leaders at Bagdogra airport on Wednesday before leaving for Delhi. (Kundan Yolmo) |
The Morcha threat to renew its agitation comes at a time its rivals in the hills — like the GNLF, ABGL and the CPRM— have been accusing Gurung of allegedly “duping people, playing with their sentiments and presenting a photocopy of the Sixth Schedule after three years of movement”.
Reacting to the charges, Chhetri said: “The set-up we have proposed is temporary as Gorkhaland continues to be our ultimate goal. We are not bothered about parties whose leaders have been rejected by common people and are living outside the hills.”
“We feel these people have either not read our proposal or have not understood it, which is why they are trying to malign us by levelling baseless charges,” he added.
About the presence of state urban development minister and Siliguri MLA Asok Bhattacharya in tomorrow’s meeting, Chhetri said: “He (Asok) was of the impression that we lack intellect and had used several derogatory adjectives against us. We will prove our mettle at the meeting in front of him.”
The Morcha delegation will be led by party general secretary Roshan Giri.
In Delhi, about 2,000 supporters of the Gorkhaland cause held a rally at Jantar Mantar today. BJP Rajya Sabha member Rajiv Pratap Rudy was among the speakers there today.
Crack in Adivasi unity armour
TT, Alipurduar, March 17: Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad in the Dooars today held a rally to slam the state president’s comments against some of their leaders who supported the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s proposal for an interim arrangement and dared him to visit north Bengal without tendering an apology.
Yesterday, Parishad president Birsa Tirkey had criticised Kiran Kalindi, the adviser to the Terai-Dooars committee, and other leaders for welcoming the Morcha plan and said he would seek an explanation from them at a state committee meeting in Calcutta on March 20.
Parishad members took out a rally at Satali, 38km from here, this afternoon and held a public meeting against Tirkey’s comments. “If Tirkey does not apologise to Kalindi, we will not allow him to enter the Terai and the Dooars,” said Raju Bara, the president of the Jaigaon-Hasimara committee.
“Birsa Tirkey might be our president but he has no idea about how we live in the Terai and the Dooars and the hardship and exploitation we face. We held the rally to send a strong message to him. If he does not apologise, we will launch a movement to remove him,” the president of the regional committee, John Barla said.
When contacted in Calcutta, Tirkey disowned the Jaigaon-Hasimara committee and said it did not exist as far as the Parishad was concerned. “Let them do whatever they want to, I have heard that some people used our banner at the rally,” Tirkey said.
Recognition for union
The labour wing of the Parishad, the Progressive Tea Workers’ Association, was on Wednesday recognised as a trade union, labour department sources said in Siliguri.
Ploy to split Charge