Greatest Atom Bomb happens to be the Himalayas and it is Switched On. Any Slightest Ignition Would Spell Doom`s Day
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 11
Palash Biswas
http://www.troubledgalaxydetroyeddreams.blogspot.com/
Every one in the Himalayas happens to be a Sleeping Dynamite! It may explode anytime, any where! The State power doesn`t have any clue of it and has no solution except Military. Since Himalayas have to be ruled to exploit its manpower and natural resources, the State power has no language to deal with it except the language of continuous repression and persecution! It is happening in Darjeeling once again. Bengali Communalism is reincarnated to bail out the Marxist Gestapo ruling Hegemony from its self employed , suicidal Ways of Capitalist Development resulting in Nandigram and Singur Insurrections and afterwards duster in Panchayat elections threatening its very existence!
Ashok Bahattachary, the Urban development Minister of West Bengal government was looking on Darjeeling and Hill affairs for the Chief minister Brand Buddha Brand Yuddha! Ashok Babu first called all the tourists not to visit Darjeeling. Now, he ahs branded the leader of Gurkha Janamukti Morcha, spearheading the latest version of the movement as anti social!
Who created this Bimal Gurung?
We all know who created Jarnail Singh Bhinderwala. We all Indian had felt well the heat of Khalistan Movement. While the extreme general violence that marked the Gorkhaland movement is now a memory, political violence continues to dog and destabilise these hills.
We witness that. And, forgive me we have to witness this thanks to Ashok Bhattacharya and Buddhadev Bhattachary along with Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Somnath Chatterjee, Sunil Gangopaddhyaand Pranab mukherjee. All of these gentlemen belong to elite Bengali Brahmin castes!
I shared the Himalayan experience as I am destined with my community. I am born and brought up in Uttarakhand and I spent my young life in Nainital during intense Chipko Movement. I was also destined to witness the Changes across the Himalayas all over from Kashmir to Nepal, Sikkim to Tibet, Gorkhaland to Nagaland and Bhutan. Himalayas has been victimised all the time and the Himalayan people happen to be the ultimate displaced and disturbed, indigenous Community as a whole where every road happens to be vertical as the rivers are. They flow to the Plains as the Manpower and the Women! I feel the hearts and mind all the time.
In 2002, in the month of September, I visited Darjeeling and Sikkim amidst heavy rain. I had to witness a Bharat Bandh and was stranded in Siliguri before landing in Darjeeling. At that time I tried my best to contact Subas Ghising. But he was not reachable. I visited the Darjeeling Press club where my journalist friends told me all about the Power caucus of Ghising! He was losing the grip since then. The Marxists could not realise the facts of the open secret. Marxists continued the Deal with Ghising and went in accordance with Ghising directives at the cost of the Entire Gurkha population!
Gorkaland is the name given to the area around Darjeeling and the Duars in north West Bengal in India. Residents of the area, mostly Gorkhas have long demanded a separate state for themselves to preserve their Nepali identity and to improve their socio-economic conditions.
It is raining heavily in West Bengal. The State Machinery is busy with ensuring civic facilities to the stranded Metro Privileged people. The crisis is dealt with urgency. This essence of Urgency or priority has been quite absent all these years since the first of Gorkhaland agitation, full two decades. It is as similar as the continuous influx of refugees from the other part of Bengal in West Bengal and all the North east states. Rather the Brahmins of Bengal en-cashed the tragedies of millions of indigenous people uprooted in the power game and bargaining in the best interest of the South Asian ruling class. The Government of India never tried to chalk out a Refugee Policy as far as the East Bengal Refugees are concerned. The Bengali Marxists got the political mileage with a strong Refugee vote Bank. Demographic Balance for the Brahmin dominance was the topmost priorities to hold on state Power for the Brahmins. thus, it became mandatory to export SC refugees out of Bengal to deny Dalit Muslim combination in future. But the refugee influx continued as it proofed a tasty meat for the ruling parties ruling different states. East Bengal refugees proved to be pet and mobile Vote Bank. When they tried to get back in Bengal with Marichjhanpi movement initially initiated by Comrade Jyotiu Basu to constitute a favourable vote bank, Marxists were already at home in the Writers Building. It took no time to massacre the refugees.
Thus, with continuous insurgency problems in Kashmir and North east, Nationality uprisings everywhere, neither the Government of India nor the Sate Governments ever tried to make a Himalayan Policy.
Instead, they chose the Himalayas for continuous Rape. All the concerned Sate Powers of Asia including China and India are habitual to be engaged in this gang rape.
Hence, all political parties ally to crush any movement in Himalayas.
Left Congress combine as well as the Centre and the West Bengal government are speaking in the same language. The language is quite trendy to tame the slaves.The issue of Gorkhaland has come back with a bang this time amidst much protest from Nepalis and Non-Nepalis alike. The Gorkhaland issue was not just a fight for a separate state but it was a battle of identity for the Gorkhas of Darjeeling. The people in the hills of West Bengal have been very touché about the separate identity that they have been craving for, since the early 1900's.It of course did not help that some leaders both regional as well as national in the shadow of ignorance, one would like to believe have called the Gorkhas "illegal immigrants".
If some indigenous nationality or community chose to break the sickles of this infinite slavery the result happens to be the same as it turned out to be in Nepal and Sikkim!
Once the master of the Hills and harbinger of the Gorkhaland movement in the late eighties, Gorkha National Liberation Front chief and former administrator of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Subash Ghising is now a lonely man.
Even as the demand for a separate state has been revived, throwing the Hills into a turmoil all over again, the man who started it all remains cut-off from the agitation.
The Gorkhaland Movement which started in the mid 80s had a major impact on the whole social structure of Darjeeling.During this movement which lasted for a few years,Darjeeling saw the finest of schools closing down for months in a row because of strikes ,night life ceased to exist and almost all public activities came to a sudden halt.This also had an impact on the music scenario in Darjeeling and the musicians had to go through the darkest period in the history of Darjeeling.Thus started the downfall of music and the social structure of Darjeeling.
Confined within the four walls of his palatial house on Gandhi Road, a stone's throw from Lal Kothi, the Gorkha leader is now a recluse and doesn't meet people other than a handful of die-hard followers who haven't deserted him.
For the rest of the Hill folks, Ghising is a traitor who bartered their cause and allowed himself to be a puppet in the hands of the state government.
The giant gate leading to the bungalow is manned by a few people who glance at passers-by with suspicion. There's no one else to be seen - a stark contrast from the late eighties and nineties when hundreds would queue up to meet the leader. They included leaders, ministers, party workers and the common people. With DGHC losing its credibility among its own people, Ghising's fall from grace was quick. The Gorkhaland movement died out and the people around him soon disappeared.
The West Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) have agreed on tripartite talks involving the Centre on the contentious issue of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
But the GJM has ruled out withdrawing the indefinite strike that it began in Darjeeling on Monday.It says such a decision would depend on the outcome of the tripartite talks.
"We will not call off the bandh. We are for a tripartite meeting and the question of withdrawing the bandh will depend on the course of discussions in a tripartite meeting," GJM President Bimal Gurung was quoted as saying by PTI in Darjeeling on Tuesday.He said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had earlier set precondition for talks with GJM saying discussion could be held keeping aside the separate statehood demand but now he said the government did not have any precondition for talks.
Officials of the Sikkim government have decided to refrain from commenting on the Gorkhaland issue. The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha had appealed to the Sikkim government on Sunday from its meeting at Tribeni in Kalimpong sub-division to press the Centre for the creation of Gorkhaland. Mr BB Gooroong, adviser to the Sikkim chief minister said: “It would be too early to comment anything in this contest,” is all what he offered.
Mr Goorong said: “We want to see Darjeeling prosper and are ready to help. We want the Gorkhas to have their own identity and we morally support them.”
The Sikkim government has pleaded the Centre and the West Bengal government to ensure that the National Highway connecting the hill state with the rest of the country remains open and is not blocked due to the turmoil in the Darjeeling hills.
The state chief secretary Mr ND Chingapa has also sent letters to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and appealed to the Union cabinet secretary, West Bengal chief secretary and home secretary to ensure that the NH-31A, which is the lifeline to Sikkim, is kept open for the supply of essential commodities and services to the state.
“If the bandh in the Darjeeling hills continues, the situation in the state would be unmanageable," Mr Chingapa said. “As part of the emergency measures to meet any eventuality that may occur during the indefinite bandh convened by the GJMM in the Darjeeling hills, the state food and civil supplies department has been asked to ration petrol and LPG and stock up essential foodgrains,” he added.
Earlier, in March this year, the Sikkim Legislative Assembly had adopted a resolution demanding compensation from the West Bengal government and the Centre for the frequent snag of NH-31A.
The Darjeeling town wore a deserted look today following the indefinite bandh convened by the GJMM. Hundreds of Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha activists took out a rally along the Mall shouting slogans in support of Gorkhaland.
A rally participant, Mrs Anjana Sharma today said that despite the shutdown the party activists would continue to stage rallies everyday to keep the spirit of the movement alive. "Staying quiet would send wrong signals to the state government and the Centre. Our commitment to the cause is fixed,” she said.
The crowd dispersed leaving the town desolate. The people chose to stay indoors as it rained incessantly throughout the day. The bandh, however, passed off peacefully without any untoward incident reported from anywhere in the town
The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland sharply divided parties on regional lines on Tuesday, with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reiterating there will be no Gorkhaland at an all-party meeting in Kolkata, while Gorkha Janamukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung — at another ‘all-party’ meet in the Hills — flaunted the Hill representatives of 13 parties, who not only attended the meet but also endorsed Gurung’s demand.
Bhattacharjee said a political dialogue was the only way out, hinting that a tripartite meeting between the state, Centre and the GJM could be arranged to talk things over. Of the 16 parties invited to the meeting, 12 sent their representatives to the Writers’ Buildings. Those who kept away were the Trinamool Congress, the SUCI, the GNLF and Naren Hansda’s faction of the Jharkhand Party.
The unanimous resolution passed in this meeting read: “More efforts should be made to enhance the standard of living of the people of Darjeeling as well as to improve the economic and social conditions of the people there. Without changing the geographical contours of West Bengal, the issue of expanding the administrative and financial powers of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council can be considered with sympathy.”
Meanwhile, Gurung’s meeting decided the GJM would ask the Centre to create a separate Gorkhaland, comprising areas of Darjeeling and those contiguous to the Dooars.
Hill representatives of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and even the CPI have ratified this demand, the GJM claimed. However, except for the state leadership of the BJP, no other party highcommand was too happy about these men.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee said, “Party member Gopal Singh Chhetri, who attended Gurung’s meeting, was not authorised to do so by the Kolkata headquarters.”
Meanwhile CPI’s Mohan Singh Rai — the party leader in Darjeeling and a former MLA from Kalimpong— is staring at an angry leadership because he had not taken permission to attend Gurung’s meeting. The party’s state secretary Manju Majumder said, “He has violated the party’s decision and we shall take action against him.”
Congress’ Dasmunsi said, “The politician who attended the Hill meeting, saying he belonged to the Congress, is not even an office-bearer.”
However, BJP’s Rahul Sinha said, “Our representative was sent to attend the meeting, though what he said was entirely his personal opinion.” The BJP favours smaller states, he said.
A copy of the GJM’s resolution has been faxed to the President, the Prime Minister, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and all important central leader— ¿ both in government and in the Opposition. Chief Minister Bhattacharjee has also got one, GJM’s publicity chief Benoy Tamang said.
Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand, all these states suffered most for the Bengali ruling Hegemony. Even the Dalits and Muslims, the tribals and backwards turned to be the slaves of Brahmins in bengal. East Bengal based dalits were driven out of Bengali History and geopolitics without any resistance.
Thus, the ruling Marxists in West Bengal underestimated the Militant Gorkhas and never expected any change in the Hills. Famine in sick tea gardens was denied. Unemployment never addressed. No serious attempt was made to develop the Hills. For Bengalies all the Himalayas regions including Darjiling happened to be tourist spots or hillsatation with spellbound landscape. They are totally detached with the Humanscape. The story is not different in other parts of Asia, including the Maoist Dragon, China.
Gorkhaland Agitation followed by end of Monarchy in Nepal and a violent uprising in Tibet exposes the Himalayan psyche. You can not kill it. you have to deal with it. But the ruling hegemonies are never habitual to behave.
Gorkhaland is the latest battlefield in this divided bleeding subcontinet where nationalities along with indigenous and underclass people are enslaved for time infinite. Whenever any attempt is made to break the oldest sackles, Ethnic Cleansing and Genocides happen to be only answer from the ruling Hegemony. It happened in Tibet. It occured in east pakistan, now Bangladesh. It continues to happen all over the Himalayas by different State Powers. Sometimes it is Military Islamic Rule. Sometimes it is some great spirit, say ideology as Maoism and Marxism. Sometimes it is Manusmriti and Castebased Hindutva. Sometimes it is colonisation and Imperialism. Sometimes Monarchy and Religion. Sometimes Globalisation, Privatisation and Liberalisation. Sometimes it is War and Civil War. Now it is pure marxism playing Havoc in the Himalayas!
The story is always same. The result is always same.
The West Bengal government on Tuesday hinted it was not averse to discussing the Gorkhaland issue with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, saying more power for the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council may be considered, even though an all-party meeting convened .
The crucial Left-UPA meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the India-US nuclear deal has been postponed by a week till June 25 but the Communist parties are not changing their opposition to the agreement.The official reason for the postponement was that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was busy with the delegation of visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but sources tell CNN-IBN the Government is buying time to arrive at a consensus with the Left parties.
The four-party Left Front has refused to allow the Government to finalise the India-specific safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as it believes that the move would put the nuclear agreement with Washington in “auto pilot mode”.
Mukherjee, who heads the 15-member UPA-Left committee, tried hard to convince CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat about the nuclear deal when they met on Monday night and Tuesday night but to no avail.
Sources told CNN-IBN that the Government had again conveyed that it wanted to go ahead with the talks with IAEA but the Left Front wasn’t convinced.
Meanwhile,the deadlock between the Rajasthan government and the Gurjars has finally ended with the community getting a special category reservation of five per cent from within the existing Other Backward Castes (OBC) quota.The government also announced five per cent quota for Rebaris and Banjaras.The stalemate ended at the end of the fifth round of talks between Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Gurjar leader Colonel (retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla in Jaipur on Wednesday.Raje expressed satisfaction that the talks have been fruitful and that will put and an end to the agitation that has been on for about a month now.
Raje made the announcement in the presence of Col Bainsla and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Das Agarwal who had led the government side in the talks with the Gurjars.
The Himalayas is not a Geographical or Geological entity only. It is live. Absolute statepower never understands this. Thus, whenever the Statepower addresses the Hiamalayas is is always a military solution. Thus, we have to bear with AFPSA for full Six decades.
Latest play of Gorkhaland Politics is a classic example how the Ruling Hegemony treats the nationalities, indigenous people, dalits, tribals, backward classes and minorities. There is a rule of silent terror and intimidation in West Bengal under the Brahminical Marxist Rule for long thirtyone years! Bengal is one of the first states in india which came in contact with the British and imbibed their Imperialist Culture.It is an classic example of feudal communal imperialist system under Caste Hindu hegemony.
They divided India to establish Caste Hindu Brahminical Hegemony . Bengali ruling Class was most instrumental in Partition as they had no hope for governance in United bengal ruled by muslim and dalit majority. Hindu Mahasabha played the key role igniting Communalism and Muslim League politics of two nationalities.
It is well exposed that the West Bengal based Indian Marxist movement banks heavily on West Bengal brand Brahminical bengali Communalism. Thus, they rule. This continuous Communal Mobilisation and Vote Bank Equations with havoc Demographic Readjustment has been halted by Nandigram Singur Indigenous Peasant Uprising. Encashing on peasant movements from preindependence era particularly Tebhaga and Food Movements the Marxists in West Bengal captured Writers Buildings. They enabled Land Reforms and it followed with Rural development. With introduction of Panchayati System, Marxist Gestapo esclated its roots on Grass root level. But Insurrection in Nandigram and Singur undermined the timetested Votebank and demographic equations as Muslims as well as Dalits crossed fences to oppose the marxists. Marxists were able to hold on the most of the district boards, but the results in Gram Panchayats and Gramsabha turned to be alarming as the Left front lost half of the Gram sabha seats. Once again the East Bengal based militant Dalits, the Namoshudras and Paundras in North and South 24 Pargans, Nadia, Howrah and East Midnapur took the initiative to change the power equation allying with Muslims.
It is quite reminscent with Interim Governments while Fazlul haq, Nazibullah and Suharawardi held the helms of power!
Marxists always used its best tool of Bengali Brahminical Communalis against other castes, groups and communities to ensure nonchallangeable dominance of Hundred or Two hundred ruling Brahmin families in every sphere of life. With introduction of Gorkhaland movement, it was successful to strike a deal with Subas Ghising, then the greatest Gorkha Icon. darjiling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council was established and the power was transfered to GNLF supremo, Ghisning. he ruled the Hills with lietinents like Bimal Gurung, Subba and others. it was perfect deal to share power without addressing the Gorkha Nationalities and the genuine problems of Hills. The ploy was on despite continuous strategic and security warnings of the Centre.
No one looks on the Himalays beyond Religious salvation, Expedition, Tourism, Sex, Military recruitment, domestic help and security and the exploitation of resources.
Ruling Class of India is never concerned with the so called Myth of National Integrity, Unity, sovereignity, Democracy , Human rights, Environment, the Himalayas itself with its strategic importance and the Himalayan people beyond its vested intest. Thus the Brahminical media highlights only on revenue losses, not on the plight of Himalayan People.
Turning down Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's request to hold talks with West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Saturday reiterated it was open to a tripartite dialogue involving the Centre only if the central issue was Gorkhaland.
GJM secretary Roshan Giri said, "We haven't received any formal communication from the external affairs minister. But we have made our point clear. We are interested in a tripartite meeting and nothing else. We will go to Delhi for talks on a one-point agenda - Gorkhaland. We will go to Delhi to meet Central government leaders and tell them our grievances."
Earlier in the day Mukherjee gave a shocker to GJM leaders when he rejected the demand for Gorkhaland. "There is no question of creating a separate state of Gorkhaland. The Centre doesn't want further disintegration of the state." But, he said, the UPA government was open to talks with agitators without any pre-condition.
Later in the day, Union minister and West Bengal Congress chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi spoke in a similar vein. "We are against division of our state. GJM chief Bimal Gurung may have some genuine issues that he wants to sort out within the ambit of the constitution.
We can always have a discussion on such issues like giving more economic power to the Hill authorities."
With the GJM not invited for talks, and main opposition party Trinamool Congress staying away from the Tuesday's all-party meeting, Buddhadeb isn't likely to make much headway in breaking the impasse in the Hills despite main parties like Congress and BJP too rejecting the demand for a separate state.
The Gorkha protests have hit tourism in Sikkim and North Bengal badly and haven't spared the tea industry too. The political uncertainty in the region has affected the best season for Darjeeling tea, which is another blow to the industry already struggling with problems like labour unrest and rising input costs.
It is said that Darjeeling tea is to India what Champagne is to France. It's also West Bengal's big revenue earner.
This is the time for second-flush tea which fetches anywhere between Rs.800 to Rs.8,000 per kilogram in the West. But in the last six days alone the industry has incurred losses of over Rupees three crores.
''This is the real time when the gardens make profits that will help them carry on their operations for the rest of the year. If they miss out on the high realization for this time of the year, Darjeeling gardens at the end of the year will end up making losses,'' says Aditya Khaitan, Chairman of Tea Association of India.
Its bad news for a tea industry grappling with increasing costs of production and labour unrest. This political instability now threatens to cripple it. (shots of tea gardens)
It is not just the big players. There are several small tea growers also who are affected. Tea can't reach Kolkata until the bandh continues.
''Exports have been hampered in a big way, and over all the image of Indian tea in the sense of giving commitments also has suffered a set back, '' says Roshni Sen, Deputy Chairman,Tea Board of India.
The effects of a strike in India's Darjeeling hills over demands for autonomy have spread to the mountain state of Sikkim, scaring away tourists and causing huge losses to hoteliers, officials said on Wednesday.
Thousands of tourists flock to Sikkim every year, also known as the "Land of Mystic Splendour", nestled below Mount Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world.
The state is popular for the grandeur of the mountain peaks, its lush green valleys, cascading waterfalls and fast-flowing rivers.
The strike has been called by ethnic Nepalis or Gorkhas living in the Darjeeling hills to demand a separate "Gorkhaland" state be carved out of the eastern state of West Bengal.
Strike supporters have forced tourists out of Darjeeling, a Himalayan resort town, shut down hotels and also blocked a key national highway that connects the state of Sikkim to the north with the rest of the country.
The northeastern state, nestled high in the Himalayas, between Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal, depends on one connecting road from the plains below for supplies. Government officials said tourists were not able to reach the state.
"Sikkim is losing at least 100 million rupees ($2.3 million) every day from the agitation in Darjeeling," Jasbir Singh, a senior government official, said.
"The strike has crushed us," said Raj Kumar Chettri, manager of Denzong Inn, a hotel in Gangtok, Sikkim's capital.
The strike has badly hit the tea industry in the Darjeeling hills, the mainstay of the local economy, and a tea industry official warned exports of premium Darjeeling tea could fall 20-25 percent this year.
On Wednesday, India's defence officials said their soldiers deployed in Sikkim were not getting supplies from the plains. Hundreds of Indian soldiers guard Nathu La, a Himalayan border pass with China, at 14,200 feet (4,328 metres).
"The strike has cut off supplies of fuel, rations and other items to the forward locations guarded by our soldiers," Ramesh Kumar Das, a defence spokesman said from Kolkata, eastern India's biggest city.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Tuesday suggested it was not averse to a tripartite meeting with Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which is spearheading an agitation for a separate Gorkhaland, and the Centre on the Darjeeling issue and made an unconditional offer of talks with the Gorkha group.
Asked if the government would be ready to discuss a separate Gorkhaland state as demanded by GJM, the Chief Minister told reporters here after an all-party meeting that "in my earlier letter to GJM for talks, we did not set any condition. We still do not have any pre-condition."
Bhattacharjee said he would inform the Centre about the outcome of Tuesday's meeting and ask the political parties which attended the meeting to make efforts in initiating dialogues with the GJM for a solution.
In reply to a question, Bhattacharjee said that he did not have any objection to a bipartite or triparite meeting with the GJM.
"We want a solution to the problem, be it through a bipartite or tripartite meeting. But this requires preparation of the ground. For this, there is a greater need to exchange views with the Centre as also with the agitators," the Chief Minister said.
Appealing to GJM to call off its indefinite bandh in Darjeeling Hills, he said "we will have to stand together and convince the leaders of GJM that bandhs will not solve any problem. What we need is a political dialogue."
He said the meeting, attended by the Congrees, BJP and Left Front partners, unanimously resolved to find a political solution to the impasse through dialogue "with patience and tolerance."
The depression over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh that moved west-north-westwards and lay centred at 1730 hrs on the 17th June 2008 over Gangetic West Bengal close to Burdwan about 100 kms northwest of Kolkata. It further moved north-westwards and now lies centered at 0830 hrs Ist of today, the 18th June 2008 over Jharkhand, about 50 kms southwest of Dumka. System is likely to move in a north-westerly direction and weaken gradually. The off-shore trough at sea level from Maharashtra coast to Kerala coast persists. The trough at sea level passes through Anupgarh, Alwar, Fatehpur, Daltonganj, centre of Depression and thence south-eastwards to east central Bay of Bengal. The cyclonic circulation extending upto 2.1 kms a.s.l. over east Uttar Pradesh and neighbourhood persists.
The western disturbance as an upper air system extending upto 4.5 kms a.s.l. lies over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir. The cyclonic circulation extending up to 2.1 kms a.s.l. over central Pakistan and adjoining northwest Rajasthan now lies over Punjab and neighbourhood. Above two systems are likely to move east-northeastwards. A cyclonic circulation extending up to 2.1 kms a.s.l. lies over Haryana and neighbourhood.
In the regions where the southwest Monsoon is yet to set in, the day temperatures were appreciably to markedly below normal in some parts of Rjasthan.
Total India: Total rainfall during the past 24 hours at 169 available stations in the plains, out of 291 stations, is 171 cms. Normal for the above 169 stations is 100 cms.
THE WEST Bengal government called in the army on Wednesday in West and East Midnapore district to assist in rescue and relief operations as floods swept the two districts killing five persons and affecting six lakh people. Three people are missing. Among the missing are Trinamool Congress general secretary and two of his friends.
Mind you, every year Rural West bengal faces this floods. But the Writers Building is never engaged in any longtime planning. Urbanisation and industrialisation with MNCS and Builders have blocked the sponataneous flow of Water bodies everywhere. The result is disastrous. Mangrove forsts once upon a time covered the south suburbs of metro Kolkata. It exists no more. savge deforestation is justified as an excuse for development everytime. The government works on war level to dry up Kolkata. But it never cares for even Howrah across the river Hugli. Festivals are never postponed for any rural tragedy.
It is the sustaing attitude towards indigenous people and the nationalities all over India!
It is the sustaing attitude towards indigenous people and the nationalities all over India!
So far 16 lakh people have been affected by floods in Bengal, the state's finance minister Asim Dasgupta said. He said the flood situation was causing anxiety. Hooghly is another district affected by the floods following incessant downpour since yesterday.
In one of the worst floods since 1978, the state called in the 3 Madras Regiment and Engineers and 200 troops helped in rescue operations in West Midnapore. Soon after, the army was asked to help out in contiguous East Midnapore. Eight hundred houses have been damaged so far.
The embankment of the swirling Kelaghai river in Midnapore burst. Eight wards in Midnapore town were flooded as were large parts of Jhargram. The railway town of Kharagpur has also been badly affected. Relief and rescue operations are on in Sabang, Narayangarh and Pungla and other areas of the two districts.
The finance minister said priority is being accorded to rescue and relief operations and evacuating people to safer places. The government is arranging for dry food to be distributed among the affected people amidst allegations that relief is not reaching the affected people.
A number of trains of the South-Eastern Railway have been cancelled since yesterday after there was a cave in under the railway tracks in Panskura in Midnapore. Floods have affected large areas in Howrah district. The West Bengal minister of state for cooperatives, Rabindranath Ghosh has threatened to launch a road blockade if the state government did not take immediate steps to alleviate the miseries of the flood affected people.
That the situation in the two Midnapore districts was turning grim was evident since late yesterday evening, when three people, including the former confidential assistant of the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and two others were swept away in the flash floods in the Keleghai river. Gautam Bose, who is also a Trinamool Congress general secretary, along with six others tried to cross the swollen river in an SUV at about 7.30 pm. The group was on its way back to Kolkata from Balasore in Orissa and was trying to cross near Poktapole.
According to officials of the district the river was flowing four feet above the danger level when the car tried to cross over. The car sank in the flood waters. The Trinamool Congress office-bearer and the others came out of the car. A police team which was hailed for help rescued four, including the driver with ropes but Bose and two others were swept away. The police and divers from the Haldia Port Trust are trying to trace the bodies Trinamool Congress leader and his friends.
The southwest Monsoon has been vigorous in Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and east Uttar Pradesh and active in Orissa, west Uttar Pradesh and east Madhya Pradesh. It has been subdued in Punjab, west Rajasthan, Gujarat state, Marathwada, Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and interior Karnatak.
Realised rainfall and chief amounts (in cms) during past 24 hrs at:
East: most places: Assam and Meghalaya++,Nagaland-Manipur-Mizoram-Tripura, West Bengal and Sikkim+, Orissa+, Jharkhand#, Bihar+, many places: Arunachal Pradesh+. Balasore 9.7, Gaya 8.6, Gangtok 8.5, Digha 7.4, Kolkata(ALP) 6.2, Dibrugarh 5.1, Sambalpur 4.1, Jharsuguda 3.2, Patna 2.7, Chandbali 2.6, Jamshedpur 33.8, Cherrapunji 18.1, Ranchi 13.6, Passighat 12.1, Shillong, Cooch Behar 2.1 each, North Lakhimpur 2.0, Bankura, Malda 1.9 each, Daltonganj 1.8, Jalpaiguri 1.7, Cuttack 1.5, Tezpur, Sriniketan 1.4 each, Bhagalpur 1.1, Imphal 0.9, Kohima 0.8.
North: most places: east Uttar Pradesh, west Uttar Pradesh+, Himachal Pradesh+, a few places: Jammu and Kashmir, east Rajasthan, isolated places: Uttarakhand, Haryana, mainly dry: Punjab, west Rajasthan.
Shimla 9.1, Jhansi 8.1, Bahraich 6.4, Hardoi 6.3, Banda 5.6, Mathura 4.0, Sundernagar 3.7, Gorakhapur 3.6, Lucknow, Jaipur 3.2 each, Shajahanpur 3.1, Una 2.8, Agra 1.9, Sawai Madhopur 1.5, Bareilly 1.4, Sikar 1.0, New Delhi (PLM) 0.7, Quazi Gund, Jammu city 0.5 each, Dehra Dun 0.3, Srinagar, Banihal 0.2 each.
Central: many places: east Madhya Pradesh+, Chattisgarh, a few places: west Madhya Pradesh, mainly dry: Vidarbha. Tikamgarh 10.6, Nowgong 4.8, Khajuraho 3.9, Ambikapur 3.7, Pendra 2.7, Gwalior 2.5, Guna 1.8, Sheopur, Champa 1.5 each.
Peninsula: most places: coastal Karnataka, Kerala, isolated places: Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu*, interior Karnataka*, mainly dry: Gujarat state, Marathwada, Andhra Pradesh. Cannur 2.8, Mangalore 2.2, Honavar, Alapuzha 1.5 each, Cial cochi 1.2, Thiruvananthapuram ap 1.1, Mahabaleshwar, Punalur, Kozhikode 1.0 each, Mumbai(SCZ) 0.7, Bhira 0.5 Kolhapur 0.4, P0anjim, Sangli, Belgaum(SMB) 0.2 each, Kanyakumari, Gadag 0.1 each.
Islands: a few places: Lakshadweep, isolated places: Andaman and Nicobar*. Minicoy 0.8, Port Blair 0.1.
History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historically, Darjeeling and its surrounding terai areas formed a part of the then Kirat kingdom called Bijaypur. After the disintegration of the Bijaypur kingdom, it fell to Sikkim and Bhutan. From 1790-1816, Darjeeling and its immediate contiguous area were overrun by the Gorkhas of Nepal. After the Anglo Nepalese War (1814-1815), the Treaty of Sigauli was signed between the Gorkhas and the East India Company. Darjeeling was taken from the Gorkhas of Nepal by the British and returned to the Sikkimese after the Treaty of Titaliya. In 1835, Col Lloyd became the representative of East India Company for Darjeeling. During his tenure Darjeeling was annexed into the British Indian Empire. However the original map of Darjeeling came into existence only after the induction of Kalimpong and Duars area after the Anlgo-Bhutanese war of 1864 (Treaty of Sinchula). Darjeeling as we know of today was organised in 1866. The ethnic identity "Gorkha" comes from the district of Gorkha within Nepal which was the kingdom of the Prithvi Narayan Shah.
In 1835 there were 10,000 Gorhkas in the Darjeeling Hills. By the start of the twentieth century, Gorkhas made a modest socio-economic advance through government service, and a small anglicized elite developed among them. Following this in 1907, the first ever demand for “a separate administrative setup” for the District of Darjeeling was placed before the British government by the “leaders of the hill people”. The “Hill people” here referred to the Lepchas, Bhutias and the Gorkhas. Their main reason for doing so was their growing sense of insecurity against the educated hordes of the plain. The demand was ignored. In 1917 the Hillmen's Association came into being and petitioned for the administrative separation of Darjeeling in 1917 and again in 1930 and 1934. In 1923 the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (All India Gorkha League) was formed at Dehradun.It soon spread to Darjeeling. On 15 May 1943, All India Gorkha League came into existence in Darjeeling. It gained additional support after World War II with the influx of ex-soldiers from the Gurkha regiments who had been exposed to nationalist movements in Southeast Asia during service there.
On 19 December 1946, the party's heart and soul, D.S. Gurung even made a plea in the Constitution Hall before the Constituent Assembly for recognition of Gorkhas as a minority community "Sir, the demand of the Gurkhas is that they must be recognized as a minority community and that they must have adequate representation in the Advisory Committee that is going to be formed. When the Anglo-Indians with only 1 lakh 42 thousand population have been recognized as a minority community, and Scheduled Castes among the Hindus have been recognized as a separate community, I do not see any reason why Gurkhas with 30 lakhs population should not be recognized as such."
But leaders within its own ranks such as Randhir Subba, were not satisfied with this meagre demand. Soon after the death of D.S. Gurung, Randhir Subba raised the demand for a separate state within the framework of the Indian Constitution called Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand could be composed one of the following ways.
Darjeeling district only or
Darjeeling district and Sikkim only or
Darjeeling district, Sikkim, Jalpaiguri, Dooars and Coochbehar or
Darjeeling district, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar
This movement was discussed even by the masses. Initially Randhir Subba was in favor of a militant movement but was dissuaded by other leaders. The movement never gained momentum as its leaders were moblised to other purposes.
On April 6, 1947, two Gorkhas Ganeshlal Subba and Ratanlal Brahmin members of the undivided CPI (Communist Party of India) submitted a Quixotic memorandum to Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Vice President of the Interim Government for the creation of Gorkhasthan – an independent country comprising of the present day Nepal, Darjeeling District and Sikkim (excluding its present North District). The demand was more of an attention seeker. It never was genuine.
During the 1940s, the Communist Party of India (CPI) organized Gorkha tea workers. In presentations to the States Reorganisation Commission in 1954, the CPI favored regional autonomy for Darjeeling within West Bengal, with recognition of Nepali as a Scheduled Language. The All India Gorkha League preferred making the area a union territory under the Central government. In all from the 1950's to the 1985, first the CPI (1954), then the Congress (1955), then the triumvirate of Congress, CPI and AIGL (1957), then the United front (1967 & 1981), then again Congress (1968) and finally CPI(M) 1985 dangled along with the carrot of Regional Autonomy for Darjeeling
Subash Gishing
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Subhash Ghising
Born 22 June 1936
Manju Tea Estate, Darjeeling
Occupation Politician
Subhash Gishing was the chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in West Bengal, India. He spearheaded the Gorkhaland movement in the 1980's and till the late 80's the movement had gained tremendous momemtum.
The Gorkhaland movement grew from the demand of Nepalis living in Darjeeling District of West Bengal for a separate state for themselves. The Gorkhaland National Liberation Front led the movement, which disrupted the district with massive violence between 1986 and 1988. The issue was resolved, at least temporarily, in 1988 with the establishment of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council within West Bengal.
[edit] Life
He was born on 22 June 1936 at Manju Tea Estate in Darjeeling. While a student of class IX in St. Robert’s High School, Darjeeling, his father died. As a result, he left school and joined the Gorkha Rifles of Indian Army as a soldier in 1954. He completed his matriculation in 1959, while working but quit the army in 1960 and returned to Darjeeling.[1]
After working as a teacher in Tindharia Bangla Primary School for about a year, he enrolled in Kalimpong Junior BT College in 1961. As result of an altercation with the college principal he left the college. He joined Darjeeling Government College and passed Pre-University Arts in 1963.[1]
While a second year B.A. student he was arrested for participating in a political agitation against the poor condition of the hills. He had to quit studies. He was then general secretary of Tarun Sangha, it was the beginning of a long political career.[1]
In 1968, Ghisingh was vocal on issues concerning the hills and formed a political outfit, Nili Jhanda, to further the cause. On 22 April 1979, for the first time, he raised the demand for a separate state for the Nepali-speaking people of the Darjeeling hills. On 5 April 1980 he demanded the formation of Gorkhaland. He formed the Gorkha National Liberation Front to achieve statehood. After a prolonged struggle marked by much bloodshed, on 22 August 1988, he signed an agreement with the state and the Centre for creation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, an autonomous body.[1]
[edit] Demonstration
In 1986 the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front, having failed to obtain a separate regional administrative identity from Parliament, again demanded a separate state of Gorkhaland. The party's leader, Subhash Ghising, highly believed to be an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing, headed a demonstration that turned violent and was severely repressed by the state government. The disturbances almost totally shut down the districts' economic mainstays of tea, tourism, and timber. The Left Front government of West Bengal, which earlier had supported some form of autonomy, now opposed it as "antinational." The state government claimed that Darjiling was no worse off than the state in general and was richer than many districts. Ghising made lavish promises to his followers, including the recruitment of 40,000 Indian Gorkhas into the army and paying Rs100,000 for every Gorkha writer. After two years of fighting and the loss of at least 200 lives, the government of West Bengal and the central government finally agreed on an autonomous hill district. In July 1988, the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front gave up the demand for a separate state, and in August the Darjiling Gorkha Hill Council came into being with Ghising as chairman. The council had authority over economic development programs, education, and culture.
However, difficulties soon arose over the panchayat elections. Ghising wanted the hill council excluded from the national law on panchayat elections. Rajiv Gandhi's government was initially favorable to his request and introduced a constitutional amendment in 1989 to exclude the Darjiling Gorkha Hill Council, along with several other northeast hill states and regions (Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and the hill regions of Manipur), but it did not pass. However, in 1992 Parliament passed the Seventy-third Amendment, which seemed to show a newly serious commitment to the idea of local self-government by panchayats . The amendment excluded all the hill areas just mentioned except Darjiling. Ghising insisted this omission was a machination of West Bengal and threatened to revive militant agitation for a Gorkhaland state. He also said the Gorkhaland National Liberation Front would boycott the village panchayat elections mandated by the amendment. A large portion of his party, however, refused to accept the boycott and split off under the leadership of Chiten Sherpa to form the All India Gorkha League, which won a sizable number of panchayat seats.
In 1995 it was unclear whether the region would remain content with autonomy rather than statehood. In August 1995, Sherpa complained to the state government that Ghising's government had misused hill council funds, and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu promised to investigate. Both Gorkha parties showed willingness to use general shutdowns to forward their ends. The fact that so many people were willing to follow Sherpa instead of the hitherto unchallenged Ghising may indicate that they will be satisfied with regional autonomy.
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