Talk it out

Talk it out

Gorkhaland protests must not be allowed to spiral out of control
With the agitation in Bengal's Darjeeling Hills intensifying over the last few days, all stakeholders in the region must realise how close the situation is to a complete breakdown. While unrest in the hills began as a response to the Bengal government's initial announcement that Bengali would be made mandatory in all schools, the protests now have morphed into a full-fledged demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. In fact, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) called a meeting last week where several hill parties adopted a resolution for the creation of Gorkhaland. Bengal government has really stirred up a hornet's nest here.
The Gorkhaland movement had quietened and chief minister Mamata Banerjee should have left it that way. Resorting to parochial politics and trying to impose Bengali language was always going to be a recipe for disaster. What's surprising is that all of this comes at a time when Mamata's Trinamool Congress was actually making political gains in the hills and had won the Mirik municipality elections last month. Trinamool was also expected to provide stiff competition to GJM in the upcoming Gorkhaland Territorial Administration elections.
In continuing to deal with the situation in a heavy-handed manner, including police raids on GJM chief Bimal Gurung's office and residence, Mamata has fuelled the separate statehood demand. Now the hills are seeing both an indefinite bandh called by GJM and the vandalisation of government sites. At least one person has been killed in the agitation while GJM claims that at least two of its workers were killed in police firing. That said, GJM too must refrain from violence. Otherwise, it will only undermine its legitimate grievances.
BJP, which is an ally of GJM and has its own MP from Darjeeling, should also be careful here. Though the party supports the concept of small states in principle, demand for a separate Gorkhaland cannot be divorced from security concerns stemming from the region being a border area. The party is also trying to make electoral inroads into Bengal and doesn't see eye to eye with the Mamata government.However, using Gorkhaland as a political chip could backfire for BJP and damage its prospects in rest of Bengal. So all sides would do well to step back, come to the talking table and help restore calm to the Darjeeling Hills.