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Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Jan. 24: The entire Darjeeling hills shut down today because of the dawn-to-dusk strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand the arrest of I.N. Pradhan, a GNLF leader from Kurseong.

Pradhan, who is accused of firing at Morcha supporters in Ghayabari on Tuesday night, is still missing. Police had found two unlicensed firearms in his house and arrested his wife, Deepa.

Morcha leaders said they would continue with their protests until the Kurseong branch committee president of the GNLF is brought to book, but steered clear of calling another bandh.

“We brought out a procession today and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate, demanding the immediate arrest of Pradhan. If the administration fails to do so immediately, we will hold regular torch rallies across the hills,” Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said in Darjeeling.

Tomorrow’s torch rally is scheduled to be held at 4.30pm.

Most commercial establishments in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong remained closed today and attendance was almost nil in government offices in all three subdivisions. There were no untoward incidents, though Morcha supporters put up pickets on the streets of the three towns early in the morning.

Later, around 500 of them courted arrest at the Kalimpong police station. They were subsequently released.

The tea gardens in the hills functioned as usual as the Morcha had decided to keep them out of the bandh’s purview. Sikkim-registered vehicles were allowed to ply on NH31A that links Gangtok to Siliguri.

The toy train service, however, was disrupted.

“We are thankful to the people for supporting us,” said Daya Dewan, the press and publicity chief of the Morcha, in Kurseong.

Harka Bahadur Chettri, a senior Morcha leader in Kalimpong, said the bandh was successful because incidents like the one involving Pradhan had to be condemned by all.

“Pradhan must be arrested at the earliest and brought to book. For all you know, he could be taking shelter at Lal Kothi (the DGHC headquarters in Darjeeling). We also urge the administration to cancel the gun licences of all former GNLF councilors,” Chettri added.

On the other hand, Dawa Pakhrin, the Kalimpong branch committee president of the GNLF, called it a “black day” for the town.

“In deference to the sentiments of the ordinary people, we have chosen to eschew the politics of bandhs. Otherwise, we could have resorted to one when one of our activists was severely injured in a khukuri attack by Morcha men at Lopchu some weeks ago,” the GNLF leader said.

Pakhrin also came out in support of his absconding party colleague. “We strongly condemn the attempt by the police to target I.N. Pradhan,” he said.

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Jan. 21: Supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today burnt copies of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord of 1988 even as Bimal Gurung, the party president, warned against granting another extension to Subash Ghisingh as the DGHC administrator.

Hundreds of people joined Gurung at Chowrastha in Darjeeling at precisely 11.19am. The Morcha chief warned the Bengal government against unrest in the hills, if the state continued to favour Ghisingh.

“During the Gorkhaland agitation, hundreds of people sacrificed their lives. But Ghisingh betrayed them when he signed the accord,” said Gurung.

In Kalimpong, the venue for burning the accord was Damber Chowk. What was noticeable was the presence of a strong contingent of women supporters.

Gurung also said the Lal Kothi — the administrative headquarters of the DGHC — would be gheraoed in February and not in March as was announced earlier. “We will not vandalise property. All we will do is lock it up for an indefinite period,” said Gurung. The Morcha leader said even if the Second States Reorganisation Commission is not formed, the party’s goal would be to attain Gorkhaland.

Gurung is also planning a massive welcome for members of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs when they come to Darjeeling next month. “I have urged my supporters to give them a massive welcome at Lebong (they are expected to land at the helipad there on February 7). We must line up every street in the hills to tell them that we condemn the Sixth Schedule status,” said Gurung.

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Siliguri, Jan. 18: Mira Kumari Rai of Kalimpong remembers her son Roshan with pride.

Roshan, a rifleman with the Gorkha Rifles, was awarded the posthumous Sena Medal, a gallantry award, for killing a terrorist and saving a colleague before dying in a gun fight in the Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on November 14, 2006.

At an investiture ceremony at the Binnaguri cantonment today, Lt Gen. K.S. Jamwal, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Eastern Command, handed over the medal to Mira Kumari. (more…)

-Dr. Sonam B Wangyal

In the 1864-65 Anglo-Bhutan War the British stretched the Bhutanese troops by opening up multiple fronts along the length of the Bhutan border. However, unlike the Sikkim operation where the Rangeet was bridged, the Tista was not spanned and the battle was fought a good distance away from today’s Kalimpong town. The main motive for the British aggression was to cut off the Bhutanese from all the passes leading to the Indian plains. The war was fought between two uneven sides and despite a bit of saber rattling and some resistance the Bhutanese were no match against the more disciplined, better equipped and numerically stronger British forces. The westernmost flank traced the route through Ambiok, Algarah and thence to Daling fort. Following the expected victory the entire ‘Athara Duar’ or the eighteen passes between Assam and Bengal (‘Dwar/Duar’:Sanskrit - door, opening, pass) became British possession, and since the area west of Ambiok-Algarah-Daling was cut off from the Bhutanese it was also incorporated into the British gains. Kalimpong proper and its surrounding areas therefore came to British possession not because the British fought for them – it was just a bonus acquisition.

Quite naturally the British did not display any calculated concern to a cheaply obtained land and, regardless of the similarity of the population and terrain to that of Darjeeling, the wrested area was attached to the Western Duars as the Dalingkote Sub-Division. Kalimpong was left as it was and even the Mondals who collected the poll taxes for the Bhutanese were allowed to continue except that they would be doing so for the British thenceforth.

In the following year the Sub-Division of Dalingkote was transferred to Darjeeling and the designation ‘Sub-Division’ removed. The newly formed district was divided into (a) the Headquarters Sub-Division (960 square miles) consisting of all the hill areas on both sides of the Tista and (b) the Terai Sub-Division that included the foothills. Later (1891) Kurseong became the headquarters of a Sub-Division by the same name and in 1907 Siliguri Sub-Division was carved out, but Kalimpong remained as an unsolicited attachment to the District Headquarters. The apathy to this add-on territory was so absolute that for the entire area only two officers were appointed: a manager for the Khas Mahal lands and a Police Inspector. When Kurseong Sub-Division was created it had a population of 44,649 and in 1901 Kalimpong’s population was very close to that but the status of a Sub-Division still remained a distant dream. By 1911 the population had soared to 55,653 and yet Kalimpong was not made a Sub-Division and the honour was to eventually arrive only in 1916 when the population rose well beyond 70,000: it had taken all of 47 years for area to become a Sub-Division. Questions that logically and instantly arise are, why the apathy and why the delay in creating the Sub-Division.

The answer probably lies in something that Kalimpong could do nothing about: it was after all just a ‘bonus land’.

It gives me great pleasure to report that we will be featuring articles and essays by Dr. Sonam B. Wangyal.

Dr. Wangyal is the author of two books about the Darjeeling Hills: ‘Sikkim and Darjeeling: Division and Deception’ (2002, KMT Press, Bhutan) and ‘Footprints in the Himalayas: People, Places and Practices‘ (2006, KMT Press, Bhutan). In addition he has contributed numerous articles in various publications such as Himal, The Statesman and Himalayan Times (Kalimpong). He has a vast and probably unparalleled knowledge about the culture, traditions and history of our region including languages, customs, religion and personalities.

Dr. Wangyal’s writing is most informative and a must read for all of us associated with Kalimpong and the Darjeeling hills, and we are indeed very fortunate that he has graciously agreed to the posting (or reposting) of his writings here.

I am sure all readers will enjoy these articles and again I encourage you to participate by contributing with your comments and opinions, hopefully leading to lively and productive debate and discussion.

Thank You

Admin

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Kalimpong, Jan. 15: The widow of C.K. Pradhan, has condemned the Kalimpong branch committee of the GNLF for trying to lay claim to the murdered leader’s legacy after ignoring him for more than five years.

“All these years, they didn’t bother to remember him and now they have the audacity to claim his legacy? I never thought they could stoop so low,” said Shila Pradhan.

Dawa Pakhrin, the president of the Kalimpong branch committee of the GNLF, had said yesterday that his party would revive the Gorkhaland demand with the blessing of C.K. “In that case, why didn’t they support him when he left the GNLF over the very issue of Gorkhaland?” Shila asked.

C.K. had been a close confidant of GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh until he quit the party, only to be shot dead a few months later on October 3, 2002.

A garlanded portrait of C.K. was seen on the dais when Pakhrin spoke yesterday. Today, the widow accused local GNLF leaders of using underhand means to get hold of the framed photograph.

“A GNLF functionary named Changba (C.B. Tamang) came to my house yesterday and cajoled my son into parting with the photograph,” Shila said.

The widow condemned Pakhrin for questioning the existence of GNLF(C), the party founded by supporters of C.K. following his death. “The GNLF(C) is alive and active. It supports any party that espouses the cause of Gorkhaland,” she said.

Shila also expressed unhappiness at the tardy pace of the CBI investigation into her husband’s murder.

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Kalimpong, Jan. 14: After reining in the rebels in Kalimpong Municipality, a rattled GNLF today sought to re-claim the legacy of its late leader C.K. Pradhan by giving a renewed call for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The party claimed that seven of the nine municipality commissioners who had rebelled last Friday have decided not to seek a no-trust vote against municipality chairman C.K. Kumai.

The local Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, on its part, said only five of the commissioners have backed out, while two of the remaining four are having second thoughts about rebelling. Of the 13 who had brought the no-trust vote notice, four are Independents. Three of them have recently joined the Morcha.

However, given that it is behind the numbers game in the municipal board following the latest twist in the tale, the Morcha has decided not to press for the tabling of the no-confidence motion against the Kumai-led board.

“We will let the no-confidence notice pass for the time being. In any case, we were not the ones to engineer the rebellion; it was the commissioners who had approached us on their own,” said Kalyan Dewan, the Morcha’s Kalimpong unit president.

Samuel Gurung, the secretary, had earlier said all the nine GNLF rebels would be formally inducted into the party in the presence of its president Bimal Gurung in Darjeeling on Monday

The GNLF’s Kalimpong unit president Dawa Pakhrin, on the other hand, said the seven commissioners had never rebelled against the party, but were unhappy with the municipality chairman as they felt their wards were not being looked after well.

“We appreciate their points of view. All of them are innocent in our eyes,” said Pakhrin. Earlier in the day, the GNLF sought to usurp the legacy of Pradhan, who was shot dead in 2002. Months before that he had quit the party after falling out with its chief Subash Ghisingh. Pradhan was a prominent figure of the Gorkhaland agitation and a one-time close confidant of Ghisingh.

Addressing its youth cadre at a programme in Town Hall here, Pakhrin said the party would renew the Gorkhaland agitation with the blessings of Pradhan.

To show its new-found fondness for Pradhan, a garlanded portrait of the slain leader was also placed on the dais. Asked if resurrecting Pradhan would not antagonise the party high command, Pakhrin replied in the negative. “C.K. daju (elder brother) was a strong votary of Gorkhaland, and is held in high esteem by the party,” Pakhrin claimed.

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Darjeeling, Jan. 14: Most government offices across the hills remained shut for the entire day in keeping with a protest schedule announced by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha earlier.

In Kalimpong alone, 500 protesters courted arrest, including GNLF(C) president D.K. Pradhan. All of them were subsequently released. In Darjeeling, the number was 64. Binay Tamang, a central committee leader of the Morcha, was one of the arrested.

P.T. Sherpa, the SDO of Kalimpong, said barring officials of the magistrate rank, other employees stayed away from office.

“We have suspended all party programmes and are supporting the Morcha in our common struggle to achieve a separate state for the Gorkhas,” said Pradhan.

On January 6, the Morcha had declared that its supporters would lay siege to state and central government offices as part of the 11-point protest programme that will continue till April. People have been told to stay away from the offices till January 18. (more…)

By:
Sandip Jain

From:
Himalayan Times (Kalimpong)
Vol 3, Issue 8, Jan 2008

Almost twenty long years have passed since that fateful day on 22nd August 1988, when Mr. Subhas Ghising signed that tripartite agreement in Kolkata accepting the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). In the period since then, the general public (would cattle be a better word) has been witness to the charade of first the creation of the DGHC, then the running of the council as someone’s personal fiefdom, and then the condemnation of the Council into the bottom of the nearest litter-bin available around Lal Khoti.

That the formation of the DGHC was a useless piece of legislature not even worth the paper it was signed upon was there to be seen from day one itself but what took Mr. Ghising so long to realize the uselessness of the same will remain the biggest mystery of the last two decades. Voices of protest were heard from the first day itself when the charismatic and popular Chatray Subba revolted against Ghising forming his own Gorkha Liberation Organization. C. K. Pradhan, Tsheten Sherpa, N. T. Moktan, R. P. Waiba, D. K. Pradhan and others from within the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) raised voices of dissent at different times against the DGHC and its functioning but their voices were silenced - some of them permanently. Madan Tamang, R. B. Rai, Dawa Norbula and others from the other side of the political spectrum tried constantly to mobilize the masses against the DGHC and the failed political process in the hills but to no avail. What all the politicians failed to do was ultimately done by a singer - Prashant Tamang. The mass frenzy that he managed to evoke became the wave atop which his unofficial campaign manager in chief, Mr. Bimal Gurung, rode to the top of the hill popularity charts.

The hitherto seeming invincibility of the GNLF and its supremo suddenly seems just a myth and today stands shaken to its very roots and to add insult to injury it has been beaten at its own game - violence, intimidation, bloodshed and brute muscle power being the name of the game. The anti-incumbency factor seems so strong that if this downhill slide in popularity continues for the GNLF very soon its mention will only be made in the pages of the political history of Darjeeling. Though, at the moment, to advocate or assume that the GNLF is dead and buried would be a pretty naïve assessment of the situation. It definitely still does have support in several pockets and amongst many sections of the society - it definitely is down but very definitely not out. For the better of the future of the hills, Subhas Ghising’s party has to survive and survive in strength, even if just so that the Bimal Gurung of today does not become the Subhas Ghising of tomorrow - after all Bimal Gurung has graduated from the same school in which Ghising was the Headmaster.

For the moment, the debate rages on - Gorkhaland or Sixth Schedule - whosoever wins is now actually immaterial because Darjeeling and its entire Gorkha population has already lost. The unity, the brotherhood, the camaraderie, solidarity and the cohesiveness that the Gorkha population exhibited during the Prashant episode now stands in tatters.

One thing is certain, with the division of the hill population on political lines, the road towards the ultimate goal and aspirations of the Gorkhas - i.e. Gorkhaland - now has more pot-holes than ever before. Those opposing the creation of Gorkhaland, the Sate and the Central government, now have another stick to beat off our legitimate demand.

And before this column concludes may I take the liberty of asking Mr. Ghising and Mr. Gurung one single question? If yes, then I would love to ask them why Gorkhaland or why Sixth Schedule? “For the development of the hill population” will definitely be their answer!! But then isn’t peace the single most important ingredient for development? If it really is development they are fighting for then peace should be their mantra. They can do their politics, they have every right to, after all it is their bread and butter, but it would serve the hills better if the politics they do is indulged in through ideas in the head rather than with khukuris in the hand!!!

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Siliguri, Jan. 11: The GNLF-led board of the Kalimpong Municipality risks being toppled after 13 ward commissioners served a no-confidence notice against its chairman C.K. Kumai today.

Nine of the 13 belong to the GNLF.

Confirming the receipt of the notice, Kumai told The Telegraph from Kalimpong that he would call a board meeting “as soon as possible” for the floor test. “I am confident that the notice will fail the test,” he added.

In the 23-member civic board, the GNLF has 19 commissioners while the rest are Independents. Kumai needs the support of a simple majority— fifty per cent of members present — to retain his board.

The nine GNLF commissioners are Deeparani Thakuri, Poonam Ghisingh, Tikaram Chettri, Mridula Subba, Pasang Sherpa, Lhamu Sherpa, Kanta Rai, Kalpana Darnal and Uden Bhutia. Three of the Independent signatories — Bijay Sundas, Praveen Rampal and former chairman Maximus Kalikote — have since joined the recently formed Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. (more…)