‘GTA has no legs to stand on if put under constitutional scrutiny’- GTF 1st anniversary of GTA black flagged at different parts of the country



MUKESH SHARMA
KALIMPONG
July 18

The Gorkhaland Task Force held a protest sit-in at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on the first anniversary of the signing of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement on July 18. Dismissing the GTA as the greatest obstacle to the formation of a separate State for the Gorkhas of India, speakers at the black-band event also renewed their commitment to Gorkhaland.
GTF General Secretary Munish Tamang pointed out how the GTA was the result of the Government’s belittling attitude towards the genuine demand of the Gorkhas for a separate State that would undermine their national identity. “The GTA Act accords no reservations for the SC, ST and women in the GTA Sabha, which defies constitutional convention that reserves such seats in all electoral bodies in India. This only proves the GTA has no legs to stand on if put under constitutional scrutiny,” he said. He added, “The GTA elections are being conducted by the Hill Affairs Department and District Magistrate. The GTA, therefore, is only a minor body that does not warrant the West Bengal Electoral Office conducting the polls. It is even less than the panchayats.”
Wearing black bands on their arms, speaker after speaker categorized the culmination of the Gorkhaland movement run by the GJM in the GTA as a betrayal of Gorkha aspirations. “Thankfully, the traitors have been exposed in time and we can now continue with our struggle for a separate State,” said Uttam Chhetri, President of the Delhi Unit of the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist.
Other speakers included eminent Supreme Court advocate P Niroop, Joel Rai from the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh,  Kiran BK of the Haryana CPRM, Raja Rai of the Gorkha Shahid Sewa Samiti, Andrew Gurung of the GSSS and Samir Pradhan of the Gorkha Democratic Front.
Similarly, the Bharitya Gorkha Parisangh of Uttarakhand also observed today, the 18 July 2012 as Black Day on the occasion of the first anniversary of the signing of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement among the West Bengal Government, Central Government and the GJM of Darjeeling.
At a programme to express disappointment at the GTA, BGP Uttarakhand President Lt Col DS Khadka said the Gorkhas of Uttarakhand remember July 18 as a day on which the Gorkha aspiration for the creation of separate State was betrayed by the GJM.  He also said the Bhartiya Gorkha Parisangh of UK rejects the GTA and supports Gorkhaland Task Force.
Similarly the Mizoram Gorkhas observing the black day criticized the act of the GJM accepting the GTA which also excludes the Terai-Dooars. “This is for another time that the Gorkhas has been betrayed” states a press release issued by the General Secretary, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, Mizoram Rajya Sakha, Nirmal K. Pun.
In an another press release issued by BB Chettri, President of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh Meghalaya Unit, the BGP and the Gorkha Public Panchayat, Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya, have jointly condemned the agreement to accept the GTA instead of a State by the GJM.
BGP in Assam, Rajya Sakha, Vice President Adhibakta Nityananda Upadhya and General Secretary Dr. Chintamani Sharma also informed that the singing of the GTA by the GJM has also hurted the aspirations of the Assamese Gorkhas. It is only Gorkhaland that can really fulfill the aspiration of the Gorkhas of not only Hills but of the whole country, added the release.
The Gorkhas of Darjeeling District first demanded a separate State for Gorkhas in the year 1907 and since then different political parties have been demanding the creation of separate State for Gorkhas. The Gorkhas of India have been supporting the demand for the distinct identity for Indian Gorkhas.
Many Indian Gorkhas had sacrificed their lives for the cause from time to time. In the year 1988 Subash Ghising and his party Gorkha National Liberation Front betrayed the cause by accepting Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council instead of Gorkhaland. Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was a development council under West Bengal. The demand of the Gorkhas were to  have a separate State of their own outside Bengal domination by carving out the Darjeeling District and Dooars from Jalpaiguri but Ghising accepted the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council within Bengal. In the year 2007, a ray of hope was seen when Bimal Gurung started fresh agitation for creation of Gorkhaland by opening a new political party under the name and style “Gorkha Janamukti Morcha”. People had given unqualified support to the agitation spearheaded by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha with a hope that one day the Gorkhas will have their own State. Bimal Gurung also betrayed the people and  threw a wet blanket on the aspiration of 1.25 crore India Gorkhas by signing an agreement at Pintail Village on 18th July 2011 for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration without defining its territorial areas. 
Now the Justice Shyamal Sen Commission has offered 5 mouzas only against 396 mouzas demanded by the GJM. The Morcha gladly accepted it without any protest. When the GJMM decided to contest the GTA election in the present form, it is a second injury inflicted on the hopes of Gorkhas. The GJM has agreed that Darjeeling Hills will be a part of West Bengal, this indication was given when GJM supremo Bimal Gurung and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee jointly addressed the Press Conference recently at Kalimpong.
Munish Tamang said that the GJM betrayed the people of hills, specially the Gorkhas of Dooars and Terai areas, as well as Gorkhas from other parts of India. As such 18th July 2011 was the day of betrayal and a Black Day for Gorkhas.




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