The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) had demanded 396 mouzas in the Terai and Dooars region to be included in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The Justice Shyamal Sen Committee has approved the inclusion of only five mouzas in the GTA. A clause in the agreement between the West Bengal government and the Committee stated that the recommendation of the Committee would be accepted by the former and the GJM. But the GJM’s adamant attitude has persuaded Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to meet a GJM delegation on June 14th and a civil society delegation from Darjeeling the next day. The Morcha has described the Committee’s recommendation as humiliating and threatened a renewal of its agitation. What is holding it back is the fact that Darjeeling is enjoying a booming tourist season. The GJM has also threatened to boycott the GTA elections. West Bengal government sources have created the impression that the GJM is legally and morally bound to accept the recommendation.
Mamata Banerjee was hasty in thinking that the agreement to set up the GTA had brought the Darjeeling crisis to an end. The GJM insists on including part of the Terai and Dooars region in the GTA as a stepping stone to the creation of Gorkhaland. The Centre and the state government had nixed the proposal to bifurcate West Bengal . The majority of the people in the foothills, especially Adivasis refuse to come under the GTA which is apprehended to be a thin end of the wedge. The threat of agitation in Darjeeling is disturbing. The demand for Gorkhaland is prompted by a desire to serve the economic interests of Darjeeling Nepalis but the agitation can only be counter-productive.