www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 29: What tea is to Darjeeling, will coffee be to Kalimpong? A few more years and the answer will be there but for now the seeds of such a possibility have been planted.

Bongbusty, a picturesque village with terraced paddy fields, 3km from here, is where a project to introduce coffee farming in the hills has begun.

The experiment was started two years ago when Gopal Dixit and his brother Robin of Dixitgaon in Bongbusty replaced paddy plants with coffee seedlings in their fields.

The idea of cultivating coffee came from their cousin Deo Dixit, a coffee consultant based in Bhutan.

“We had been planting paddy in our fields for years. However, diminishing yield and non-availability of farm hands had made it non-sustainable. This is why we decided to experiment with coffee on a small scale,” said Gopal.

The Dixits have planted coffee seeds on their 6-acre plot. The trees are now two years old and they will take another year or two to mature.

“An acre of land can accommodate around 700 to 2,000 trees depending on the space between the plants and the variety of coffee. An acre of land can yield between 500 and 1,000kg of green beans,” said Deo. He said 1kg of green coffee beans could fetch between $3 and $5 in the international market.

The Dixits have planted Arabica coffee in their field.

“Arabica is a better variety of coffee and is grown in higher altitudes. The climate of Kalimpong is nice and warm and is right for coffee plantation. Many people here grow coffee as an ornamental plant in their gardens. I have hand crushed some of the beans and tasted them. They are really good,” said Deo.

He added that if the coffee experiment is successful then it could be good news for the farmers here.

“Coffee plants do not require much looking after. The money from selling the beans also remains with the farmers. A large number of people from the rural areas will also be gainfully employed,” he added.

Residents of Bongbusty are waiting for the experiment to bear fruit before they too wake up to the prospect of maximising profits from the land by planting coffee.

“If the experiment is successful and coffee farming gets necessary support from all people concerned, then Kalimpong can be on the coffee map of the world,” said Deo.

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www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 29: A four-member Gorkha Janmukti Morcha delegation led by Roshan Giri left for Delhi today to meet Jaswant Singh, a day after the party set a December 20 deadline for the Centre and the state to establish the interim authority.

Going by the composition of the delegation, the Darjeeling MP is probably acting as a mediator between the party and the Centre and is expected to help thrash out the contentious issues before the final agreement on the interim authority is drawn up.

Tight-lipped about the delegation’s objectives, Giri said: “We are going to meet Jaswant Singh. This is our only agenda right now.”

The three members of the team are former chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh Trilok Dewan, former principal secretary of DGHC L.B. Pariyar and party spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri. The four members have been an integral part of the tripartite meetings between the Morcha and the Centre and the state in the past. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Nov. 28: Subash Ghisingh today stoked up the Sixth Schedule status issue, saying it was the ultimate solution for Darjeeling. The GNLF chief also said he would visit the hills “shortly”.

Ghisingh, who had initiated the Gorkhaland movement in the 80s, is opposed to the interim set-up that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha now wants for the hills.

“There is no justification for an interim set-up or a dialogue in this regard as on December 6, 2005, I had signed an accord with the Centre for conferring the Sixth Schedule status on Darjeeling. If the status is granted, the hills will automatically get an autonomous set-up,” Ghisingh said here after a meeting. About 200 GNLF supporters from different parts of Kurseong subdivision attended the meet in a hall here.

Ghisingh, whose writ no longer runs in the hills, had paid a heavy price when he accepted a proposal to confer the Sixth Schedule status on the hills. The Centre, the state and Ghisingh’s GNLF had signed a memorandum of settlement, which could not be implemented because of opposition in the hills. The resultant vacuum had helped Morcha’s Bimal Gurung undermine Ghisingh’s authority and project himself as an alternative power.

When asked whether the Centre and the state had done wrong by inviting the Morcha for a dialogue, Ghisingh said: “It should not have been done.” The GNLF chief assured his supporters that the Sixth Schedule would protect the rights of different communities in the hills. “I had a plan to return to the hills during Dussehra but postponed it following a request from the administration. But I will go to Darjeeling shortly,” he said.

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www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 28: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today set a December 20 deadline for the state and the Centre to finalise the interim authority failing which it will launch an agitation starting with a 48-hour general strike from the next day.

The party also warned that this time the agitation would be for a “final solution” or statehood.

To keep the momentum going till the deadline, the Morcha, perhaps buoyed by the presence of thousands of supporters — the hill town looked shut from 11am to 4pm — at the Darjeeling Motor Stand today, has also decided to organise a series of rallies and public meetings from December 5.

The party also announced that it would shut down all government offices, except for the chambers of the district magistrate and the superintendent of police, from December 6.

Addressing the meeting at the Motor Stand, Morcha president Bimal Gurung said he had not forgotten the ultimate goal. “I am happy to see such a huge gathering and I want to assure our people that we have not forgotten our ultimate goal. We respect the leaders who are governing the country and the governments. This is why we are accepting their proposal for an interim set-up, but on our terms, for two years.”

In a clear move to put pressure on both the state and the Centre, Gurung said the hills would wait only till December 20. “We had not asked for the interim set-up, it was the government’s idea. If they can’t implement it by December 20, we will go in for a final solution (statehood). “The agitation for the final solution will start with a 48-hour general strike in the hills from December 21.” (more…)

The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 26: A 30-member orchestra of Gandhi Ashram here will go on a 10-day training-cum-performance tour of Mumbai in January, giving a boost to the institution’s reputation as a nursery of western classical music.

“The children will go to Mumbai at the invitation of Chorus, the musical group of the city’s famous St Xavier’s College. They will undergo training for three-four days at the college under expert guidance. During the stay, the students will perform at different schools and other institutions,” said principal of the Ashram Father Jayantilal Patel.

This will be the second visit to the entertainment capital of the country for the Ashram students in six months.

The school’s student musicians had earlier participated in a contest called “India has got talent”, organised by a television channel, and came back with the “most spotless performance” award. The contest was won by Shillong Chamber Choir, which was invited to perform at the state dinner hosted by President Pratibha Patil for her US counterpart Barrack Obama in New Delhi earlier this month.

The principal said the students would get to learn a lot during the Mumbai tour. “Yes, it will be a good exposure tour for our students. Each student will be staying with different families in Mumbai and they will assemble at St Xavier’s for training and practice,” said Father Patel.

The Ashram, run by Jesuits, is for underprivileged children and music is an integral part of the school curriculum. The 245 students of the school — all of whom are day-scholars — are given lessons in violin, cello and viola. The Ashram has classes from UKG to Class VIII. Apart from regular studies, the students have to learn any of the three instruments.

“The students are taught music twice a week on normal days, and for extended period prior to performances,” said the principal. Even though the students learn only western classical music, the orchestra performs popular Bollywood and Nepali numbers also during stage shows.

Founded by late Jesuit priest Father Ed McGuire in 1994, the Ashram has produced talents like Kushmita Biswakarma, who went on to study at the famous Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, and teenage sensation Prayash Biswakarma. Both the Biswakarmas play violin.

In fact, two of the Ashram’s present students returned from Germany yesterday after completing a three-week training. “Apart from training, Vikram and Subham also performed in different European countries,” said Father Patel.

The duo are among 38 boarders at the Ashram and are only taught music. They are all students of Class IX or above and go to different schools in town for regular studies.

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The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 24: Four Gorkha Janmukti Morcha rallies on two consecutive days to educate hill drivers about the proposed interim set-up are expected to hit hard 5,000 daily commuters tomorrow and the day after.

The rallies — in Kurseong and Mirik tomorrow and in Darjeeling and Kalimpong on Friday — will also be platforms of protest against the alleged police harassment of drivers and vehicle owners.

“The rally in Kurseong will start from the Tourist Lodge at 1pm. Since all drivers will participate in the rallies, we are appealing to everyone to refrain from riding their vehicles from noon to 4pm in Kurseong and Mirik tomorrow,” said Subash Pradhan, the secretary of the Kurseong-based Gorkha Janmukti Chalak Mahasangh that will also organise the rally in Mirik. (more…)

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 22: A Gorkha Janmukti Morcha meeting to “educate” garden workers on the interim set-up turned out to be a show of strength at a time when its rivals have started mobilising their supporters in the hills.

Four-five of the 80 gardens in the Darjeeling hills were open today with the management of Longview estate asking the 41 workers who had reported for duty to take leave.

The pre-scheduled meeting organised by the Darjeeling Terai-Dooars Plantation Labour Union at Chowk Bazar was part of the party’s continuous campaign to “educate” its supporters on the need to include the tauzi department and the Terai and Dooars in the proposed set-up. (more…)

MYREPUBLICA.com
SRADDA THAPA

As an avid reader of non-English writers who write in the English language, I’m convinced that it’s just a matter of months before the name of this 26-year-old Prajwal Parajuly will be on the tip of tongues around the world.

In fact, I daresay his name will be dropped in the same sentence as that of Prabal Gurung and Tshering Lama: as young folks who have achieved something spectacular, something unique to that of most Nepali aspirations, but something that can be appreciated by Nepalis and non-Nepalis alike.

From forcing The New York Times copy chief to acknowledge a grammatical error that passed the eyes of most readers to causing more than half a dozen literary agents at the London Book Fair “ some as far as South Africa “ to go on a scramble to sign him to getting accepted into Oxford University’s highly selective Master of Studies in Creative Writing, Parajuly has done it all.

Of course, those of us from or in the homeland will enjoy claiming him as one of ours, and how could we refrain? This Nepali-speaking Indian from Sikkim, with a father from Kalimpong and a mother from Nepal, has written a collection of short stories, chosen a literary agent “ by no means an ordinary feat for a short story collection “ and is currently picking out a publisher. The author of the tentatively titled Himalayan Sunset may still be toying with the title of his book and, yes, he’s young, but the sensitivity and experience emanating from his stories remind us of seasoned writers like Arundhati Roy and Chinua Achebe.

This will be the first time an author will have written a work of fiction in English combining both stories of Nepalis and Nepali-speaking Indians. However, even if the characters are Nepalis or Nepali-speaking Indians, the stories of traveling across oceans, migrating to new continents and searching for one’s identity will resonate with citizens around the world. After all, it’s not just middle-class girls from Kathmandu waiting for the arrival of their Green Cards, or young boys from Kalimpong delivering Chicken Tikka to tenants of apartments in Manhattan. Such tales of travel, tribulations and temptations surpass national boundaries and identities, yet they are some things citizens across the world can relate to.

Susan Yearwood, Prajwal’s UK-based literary agent, describes his writing as having a ‘strong authorial voice that is educated yet not stilted’ and adds that he reminds her of ‘Jhumpa Lahiri and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, who are world renowned for writing about people in countries we hardly hear about unless there is some kind of conflict going on.’

Yearwood is right. Nepal is experiencing a turbulent transition period and Nepali-speaking Indians are fighting for the declaration of Gorkhaland. But like the works of Lahiri and Adichie, Prajwal’s work will resonate with readers from across nations.

Parajuly has come a long way, from being the youngest columnist at The Himalayan Times, all at the age 17, to working as the editor-in-chief of the award-winning magazine, Detours: An Explorer’s Guide to the Midwest. Early last year, he quit his enviable position as advertising executive of The Village Voice, America’s flagship alternative weekly, and gave up a life of celeb-studded and red-carpet events to hit the dusty backroads of eastern Nepal and Northeast India.

Here’s an exclusive with our very own Prajwal Parajuly:

Prajwal, when you wrote this book, you quit your job at The Village Voice. What compelled you to leave a high-paying jet-lifestyle career in NYC to travel to eastern Nepal, India and Bhutan?

I was in Jackson Heights, Queens, in early September two years ago, at the much loved Himalayan Yak Restaurant. Imagine my shock and confusion when I picked a Nepali paper and took more time than I ever had to read a paragraph. It had been close to ten years since I last thought of the three different types of S’s (the letter). I was forgetting my own language. It was a sad feeling “ this realization that Nepali was gradually slithering into the background of my life. Couple that with not having written anything creatively for a long time, and you knew a book recipe had to be brewing in there somewhere (smiles).

The situation at the home front was a huge motivator, too. The Prashant Tamang [Indian Idol] victory had given the Gorkhaland movement a new impetus, and the Bhutanese refugee situation continued to nag me. There were so many stories out there that needed to be told that the world was unaware of. That’s where the serious idea to work on a book took birth. It took a few more weeks to incubate. My advertising executive job at The Village Voice was good, the money was decent, and the lifestyle it guaranteed was difficult to separate myself from. But making money and rubbing shoulders with folks whose names you enjoy dropping get old, as does steering away from having a conscience. And just like that, much to the chagrin of my parents, I quit. It was the best decision of my life, one that I haven’t regretted even in dreadful times like three weeks of perseverance yielding barely a hundred words of usable writing.

You are an English-trained student but a Nepali-speaking individual. Is this your only reason for choosing to write a story that’s distinctively ‘Nepali’ in the English language? Or were you interested in catering to an English-speaking Nepali or altogether foreign audience?

I write in English because it’s a language I’m comfortable with. I like to believe that my written Nepali isn’t too shoddy, either, and am considering, with the help of family members, translating my work into Nepali.

When I wrote my book, I didn’t have a reader in mind. I wrote the book for myself, to unleash all these stories that had been marinating inside me for sometime. The first draft of the book received interest from several Indian publishing houses and foreign literary agents, and I’ve signed with Susan Yearwood at the Susan Yearwood Literary Agency to represent my book for a variety of reasons. Because she’s primarily based in the U.K., the book might first be published there. It’ll come to South Asia soon after that.

Your childhood and hometown seem to have greatly influenced the contents of your writing “ of course, writers are to write what they know best “ but why did you choose identities and the Bhutanese experience of it being wrapped in?

I write about what’s happening around me, what’s happening to people I know. I’ve had an inchoate sense of what was happening in Bhutan, what problems third-country settlement brings with it. I’ve spent time in the refugee camps of Khudanabari in Nepal, and among refugees in Denver, USA, and also with Bhutanese people, to understand an issue that has often vilified Bhutan. What’s strange is that there’s been no real solution to the refugee problem at all and that’s pretty sad. Even if they do resettle down in Bhutan, two decades of their lives have been lost to doing nothing. It’s a heart-wrenching situation.

I’ve seen the way some people in these parts of the world have treated Muslims, so one of my stories deals with a Muslim Panwallah who’s done no wrong but still has to bear the brunt of being a minority. My stories are definitely loaded with such socio-political undertones. I try exploring caste/class/religion and identity dynamics while keeping the stories fresh and vibrant.

Stories of Bhutanese refugee aside, how much of reality do you incorporate into this collection? Are your characters, for instance, inspired or imagined?

Fiction in so many ways is inspired by reality. Most of my characters are people who’ve evolved from my own imagination, though. I concoct a character, create his or her Facebook page, decide what he or she likes, what his or her tastes in music, reading, hobbies are like. Often, I mix and match various people’s characteristics to come up with what I hope are believable and intriguing characters.

The issues are very real “ like the doctoring of H1B visas in America and the plight of DV Lottery winners “ but the people are often my own creation. A few similarities here and there are purely coincidental.

Your stories are works of fiction, but the settings are so real – from issues related to the plight of Nepali workers in the US to ethnic tensions in Gorkhaland and Nepal, to refugees being resettled. How did you arrive at these contexts and reconcile such backdrops with your stories?

As I said before, the issues described in the book are very real. Again, at the risk of sounding repetitive, I’ll say it’s easy to write about these issues when they are happening near you. I’ve noticed, for instance, in many Nepali-speaking I use the term because it’s more inclusive, it includes Nepali-speaking Indians, to households that a distance creeps in the relationship of fathers and daughters after the daughters reach puberty. To capture that in a story was the most natural thing to do.

I heard so many stories of rapes and molestations in the refugee camps of Khudanabari. If we think that domestic violence doesn’t exist in our society, we probably have been living on another planet. I’ve tried incorporating various aspects of what I see around me. Better still, I’ve tried incorporating into my stories various aspects of lives sometimes concealed.

Your characters are Nepalis and the setting relate to that of Nepalis whether they are children of Gurkha soldiers living in Kathmandu, students in the Northeast hills, or servants in New York City. How do you think non-Nepalis will be able to grasp and appreciate the Nepalipan of such stories?

Because irrespective of what language the characters speak, what class or caste they belong to, where in northeast India or Nepal they are from, at the end of the day, my characters aren’t very different from other people. They struggle with love, hatred, jealousy and temptation, ambition and relationships like everyone else in the world. We also, like any other race, have our idiosyncrasies, our quirks, no doubt, but non-Nepali-speaking readers should be able to identify with universal emotions. Quirks like our not being able to roll our tongues when we pronounce words like ship,international and shop for them to be sip, internasanal and sop which should delight a reader not familiar with Nepalipan. The way we chew our khaini is another one. Nepali-speaking people in foreign lands craving momos is another.

Not being able to sleep because you are desperate for momos may be quintessentially Nepali, Nepali-speaking or Tibetan, but having a hankering for foods from your homeland is a universal thing. How could non-Nepali readers not be able to grasp that?

In recent years, we in South Asia have seen a bourgeoning of Nepali writers in the English language who write for the English-speaking South Asians, but also for the wider English speaking audience. Are there other language groups you hope to attract and translate the book into? If so, which ones and why?

I went into writing this book with a closed mind. I wrote it to satisfy myself, to fulfill an important dream. As the work progressed, I became relatively more open-minded. If the book attracts readers from all over the world, then so be it. In fact, there’s nothing like it (Smiles). To be honest, it might be too early at this publishing stage to consider translations, although I’ll be lying if I said if I didn’t think of Hindi and Nepali translations.

Are you familiar with books published by Nepali and Indian writers in the English language?

I recently read a book called ‘New Nepal, New Voices,’ and I loved Sushma Joshi’s writing in it. Joshi’s was an amazing food-focused story. It was so well done. I thought Peter J. Karthak’s story was good, too. Among Indian authors, I think Arundhati Roy and Vikram Seth are brilliant. I’ve just begun reading Rohinton Mistry. He does such a great job of writing about a closeted world.

You’re currently pursuing a Masters at Oxford. How has your undergraduate education, work experience and writing helped, or hindered, the learning process at the institute?

The program is a Master of Studies in Creative Writing. I’ve just started it and it’s fabulous. I have excellent, award-winning writers for tutors and a group of likeminded individuals for fellow students. My cohorts are so talented and helpful! The kind of productivity being in such a company engenders is amazing. It’s so invigorating. You’re constantly writing, constantly thinking, and constantly being creative. Since starting school here, I’ve devoted more than a dozen back-to-back sixteen-hour days to editing sessions and writing a ninth story (Himalayan Sunset consists of nine stories. The book is 70,000-words-long). My agent, editor and I are finally satisfied with the script.

Any advice to new “ not just young! “ writers who’re interested in writing works of fiction, short stories, novels?

Writing is hard. You need dedication a lot of it. Often, you’ll sit in front of the computer for days, frustrated out of your mind because you haven’t been able to capture a father-daughter relationship effectively enough. However, if it’s what you really want to do, do it NOW because you’ll probably never do it if that sense of urgency is just not there. People have often asked me how I intend to monetize writing. My answer: I don’t care if I don’t make a penny out of it. I’ll be quick to admit that I’m not one of those people who think money is unimportant. It’s very important to me, but I don’t write to make money. I write because I’ll go crazy if I don’t. I can always make money from other avenues “ real estate, business, investments, etc. â and if it comes out of writing, sure, I’ll take it.

Finally, any other works we can watch out for?

I’ll start a novel now, an idea that makes my agent happy. I have a faint idea of what it’ll be about, but that’s all you’ll get from me now (smiles). It should be done by the end of 2012.

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3rd Oct 2011 – Update: Here’s an update on Prajwal Parajuly’s new publishing deal.
-Admin

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www.kalimpong.info

The Telegraph
RAJEEV RAVIDAS

Kalimpong, Nov. 19: Fog or no fog, a galaxy of veteran footballers from the state and from neighbouring countries will be out to prove that they aren’t a bunch of old fogies when the Veteran Football Tournament kicks off at the Mela Ground here on November 29.

In all, 17 teams from different parts of Bengal, Sikkim, Manipur and neighbouring countries of Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh will take part in the meet being organised by the Kalimpong Veterans’ Club (KVC).

“We are organising this tournament in memory of Olympian Chandan Singh Rawat, who hailed from the hills. The winning team will get the trophy named after him and a cash prize of Rs 10,000. The runner-up will get a trophy and Rs 5,000,” said Dhendup Bhutia, the KVC secretary.

Traditionally, the football season is from June/July to September/October in the hills. This year though the season has extended well into the early part of the winter.

However, Kalimpong doesn’t need to be concerned about winter fog which disrupted a semifinal match of the All India Brigade of Gurkha Gold Cup in Darjeeling yesterday. (more…)

The Telegraph

Siliguri, Nov. 19: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Roshan Giri today said the Centre had little option but to confer Union Territory status on Darjeeling once the tenure of the proposed interim set-up ended after two years.

Asked if the Morcha would demand Union Territory once the period of the interim set-up was over, Giri replied: “As we have already rejected the proposal of Sixth Schedule and our demand is for a separate state, the Union government has to decide on those lines. They do not have any other option (but confer Union Territory before they give statehood).” (more…)

The Telegraph

Darjeeling, Nov. 19: The rivals of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha are slowly but steadily making inroads into the hills. At least nine ex-servicemen, so long Morcha members, joined the GNLF yesterday.

The GNLF claimed that other Morcha supporters, too, have started switching their allegiance, a day after the Democratic Front — a rival conglomerate comprising the CPRM, GNLF (C), ABGL and Darjeeling-Sikkim Ekikaran Manch — announced its decision to hold a seminar and a public meeting in Darjeeling in December.

“We have formed our party’s village committee at the Senchel dairy area in Ghoom-Jorebunglow yesterday. Forty houses (families) have now joined the GNLF. Anil Rai has been made the president of the committee while Sadip Rai is the general secretary,” said Sivaraj Thapa, media and publicity secretary of the GNLF’s Darjeeling branch committee. (more…)

The Telegraph
VIVEK CHHETRI

Darjeeling, Nov. 19: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is ready to take part in the municipal elections once the interim authority is established in the hills, signalling that it did not want to be identified as a party opposed to democratic norms.

“Once the interim set-up is put in place, we have no problems if elections to the municipality are held within a week,” Morcha president Bimal Gurung recently told party workers in Kalimpong.

The attempt at image makeover comes more than a year after the Morcha refused to allow civic elections in the hills as part of its non-co-operation movement against the state government.

Since then — August 2009 — the four hill municipalities of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik are being administered by a board of government officials.

The Morcha’s change in stand is also because it does not want to be inflexible when the deal for the interim authority is about to be sealed.

However, the Morcha said it would oppose elections to the gram panchayats until the territorial jurisdiction of the set-up was finalised.
The Darjeeling municipality office: A ballot test soon?

The party also wants the eight blocks of the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong to be made into 32 units for better administration.

On the gram panchayat elections, Gurung, said there was no question of rural polls. “We have to first settle (the jurisdiction of) our territory. We have also realised that the eight blocks are too big to be administered efficiently and we might have to create 32 blocks,” said Gurung. The panchayat elections in the hills were last held in 2001. The Morcha has linked territory to rural polls because most of the mouzas that it wants in the plains — 104 in the Terai and 196 in the Dooars — to be part of the set-up is in the panchayat areas.

The state government and the Centre had been suggesting elections to the local bodies, like municipalities and gram panchayats, so that members running the interim authority could be nominated from among the elected local body members. The idea is to have in the interim authority members who are, at least indirectly elected. The Morcha, on the other hand, wants all members of the interim body to be nominated.

“The government wants elections to the interim body, which we don’t want. This is our stand. Why should we elect members for a five-year term when the interim set-up is only for two years? Come out with a final solution (after the two-year period) and hold as many elections you would want,” said Gurung.

Observers say Gurung’s readiness to fight the municipality elections stems from the urge to prove his rivals wrong and uproot at least one sting out of their propaganda.

“The Democratic Front had recently met the governor in Darjeeling and demanded that democracy must be restored in the hills and elections be held to both the municipalities and the gram panchayats. The Morcha probably is trying to dilute the issue by showing that it wanted to contest the election,” said an observer.

Gurung also tried to liken the interim set-up with the interim government that was formed before the Independence.

“Before India achieved Independence, there had been an interim government,” he said to justify the set-up. The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru was formed on September 2, 1946, after the British decided to grant freedom to India. However, contrary to Gurung’s claim, there is no clear announcement of an administrative solution on the hills after the Gorkhaland Regional Authority’s tenure comes to an end on December 31, 2012.
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