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June 14, 2017

A shattered peace: On Darjeeling hills unrest

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MEANINGS are given in BOLD

Peace in West Bengal’s Darjeeling hills has been shattered (break or damaged) again, with the key hill party, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, renewing its demand for a separate Gorkhaland state. The protests started with the suspicion (guess or speculation) that Bengali would be made mandatory (compulsory) in the hills, but have spiralled (show a continuous and dramatic increase) into a broad-based ‘indefinite’ agitation (protest) with the GJM targeting symbols of the state and ordering closure of all government offices from June 12.

In May, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that all students would have to study Bengali from Class I, but later clarified that it would not be compulsory in the hill district of Darjeeling. The GJM, which had lost the Mirik municipal election to the Trinamool Congress in May, appeared to hear only one part of the language decree (an official order), and announced a host of marches and shutdowns.

When Ms. Banerjee arrived in Darjeeling with her ministers for a meeting on ‘development’ last week, she was greeted with protests and stone-pelting of a kind not seen since 2013. The Army was called out, and Ms. Banerjee stayed put in Darjeeling till she thought a semblance (the outward appearance) of normality had returned. With May and June constituting the peak tourist season, the GJM has, for now, kept hotels, shops and transport facilities outside the purview (the scope of the influence or concerns of something) of the shutdown. It is the peak season for the Darjeeling tea too, with the second flush harvesting on. This eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation (fight or contest) spells fresh trouble for a region that depends on tourism and tea for its survival.

If the first day of the indefinite bandh was more or less peaceful, it was thanks to the heavy military presence and the stringent (strict) measures announced against those who supported it, including a possible break in service for employees missing work. For their part, GJM leaders Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri want the Centre to intervene (interfere or negotiate). When the TMC came to power in 2011 after 34 years of Left rule, the GJM had agreed to the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration after three years of violence in the hills.

Mr. Gurung, who had set up the GJM in 2007 with the sole (single) agenda of separation from West Bengal, became its chief executive, saying he would take the Gorkhaland demand to Delhi and refrain (stop oneself from doing something) from shutdowns in the hills. But with the TMC making inroads in the hills, the GJM clearly feels its wings are being clipped, especially with the government setting up several development boards of ethnic communities and further weakening the hill party.

Watching from the sidelines is the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is keen to expand its base in the State. GJM leaders are in touch with BJP president Amit Shah, but the Modi government has not yet spelt out its stand on Gorkhaland. While the State government must be firm (strongly felt and unlikely to change) and quick to quell (end or finish) cries for the formation of a separate state in the border region, the GJM should tread (walk in a specified way) carefully as a spiral of violence hurts hill-dwellers (people live in hills) the most.

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