The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS AND VIVEK CHHETRI

March 15: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Centre have placed their bargaining chips on the table, irreconcilable at first glance but etching the contours within which talks are expected to be held.

The Morcha has virtually demanded a state within a state, refraining from using the word statehood but seeking powers and institutions that symbolise such a status. It has also agreed to exempt some areas in the plains from the proposed “regional authority”. (See map)

The proposals are part of a secret document the Morcha had sent to the Centre earlier and made public in Kalimpong today — three days before the scheduled fifth round of tripartite talks in Delhi.

The Morcha took the veil off another document, too – a plan apparently proposed by the Centre in December when talks were held in Darjeeling.

The “central plan” — sources in Delhi privately confirmed such a proposal had been made — moots another authority with more autonomy than the much-maligned Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

The proposed authority will have legislative powers on matters such as culture, management of cremation grounds, minor minerals, land and town and country planning, and will be under the direct control of the Bengal governor. (See chart)

The Morcha did not allow the plan to be tabled in December but the Centre forwarded it again through its interlocutor, reflecting the Union government’s eagerness to push the proposal.

The Bengal government refused to comment. But its extremely guarded response and signals from Delhi suggested that the Centre would not have made such a proposal without sounding out the state that may find some of the features unpalatable.

However, the central plan will be far more digestible to the Bengal government than some of the demands made in the Morcha’s own blueprint unveiled today.

For the regional authority it has mooted, the Morcha plan wants powers on subjects ranging from law and order to judiciary and an institution structured like an Assembly and headed by a Speaker. There is no place for the Bengal government in the proposed dispensation — either to be named the Gorkhaland Regional Authority or the Darjeeling and Dooars Regional Authority.

The only concession the Morcha has made is the exclusion of a large part of the Dooars from the geographical ambit of the Gorkhaland it wants. However, Siliguri and the Terai still figure in the demand.

According to the Morcha, the new dispensation will be an interim arrangement and will in no way compromise the demand for a separate state.

Bengal municipal affairs minister and Morcha bete noire Asok Bhattacharya, who will represent the Bengal government at the talks in Delhi, said: “The positive thing is that the Morcha has redrawn its map and left out several areas it had demanded. There is no question of statehood…. But everything is subject to discussions….”

“It may require three or four more tripartite meetings before a settlement is reached. We will tell them (the Morcha delegation) what they can compromise on and what they can’t,” Morcha leader Bimal Gurung said.

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www.kalimpong.info