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A fresh spell of political uncertainty in Darjeeling

KOLKATA: The Darjeeling hills in West Bengal have plunged into a fresh spell of political uncertainty.

A call for a separate Gorkhaland state comprising the hills and its contiguous Nepali-dominated areas has been given by a section of the local political leadership which has rejected the recent Union Cabinet’s decision to set up an autonomous Gorkha Hill Council with greater powers under the Sixth Schedule to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) formed in August 1988.

The launching of a fresh movement for statehood was announced only days after the arrival of Subash Ghisingh, president of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, from a foreign tour last week amid celebrations by party supporters greeting the Centre’s decision to confer Sixth Schedule status to the region.

Behind the statehood call is the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, set up earlier this week under the leadership of Bimal Gurung, a former councillor of the DGHC that had been disbanded in March 2005 after Mr. Ghisingh announced the demand for a new council with Sixth Schedule status.

Mr. Gurung, has been sacked by the GNLF for alleged anti-party activities even though he claims to have been elected to the DGHC on an Independent ticket.

Speaking to The Hindu over the telephone from Darjeeling, Mr. Gurung said on Wednesday that the newly formed morcha “will be inviting in the next few days leaders of different Opposition parties to become a part of the forum demanding a separate Gorkhaland State”.

“Mr. Ghisingh’s demand for a new council which the Centre has decided will be set up after the required amendments to the Constitution are ratified in Parliament during the winter session is a betrayal of the promise made to the hill people by him in 1986 for a separate Gorkhaland state”, Mr. Gurung said.

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A fresh spell of political uncertainty in Darjeeling

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