In less than two months after she came to power, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has signed a major agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to end the regional agitation in the Darjeeling hills which sought to alter the future shape of the state. The fact that the Left Front government was unable to deliver something that promised peace by ending the long agitation that grew with the collapse of the 1988 agreement signed with the Gorkha National Liberation Front underlines both Ms Banerjee’s political sagacity and the leftists’ inflexibility. The new agreement has implications that go beyond the state’s borders and offer a way in which regional agitations, like the one for Telangana, which are tearing apart parts of the country’s polity can be ended. Ms Banerjee appears to have succeeded because her offer has an emotional and a material content. By agreeing to the use of the emotive word Gorkhaland in the name of the new regional setup, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, psychological barriers have been lowered.
The material part consists of substantial administrative powers being passed on to the new formation and the Centre (it is party to the agreement) sanctioning Rs 600 crore to be spent on improving the infrastructure in the state. Subjects like health, education, irrigation and public works have an immediate bearing on people’s lives. Also, the ability to instil a feeling among the leaders of the Gorkhaland movement that they will be substantial arbiters of their own destiny has played a key role in winning their support. No agreement can succeed if those who see themselves as losers – in this case Bengalis, Rajbonshis and adivasis – do not see justice being done. The present agreement gives the new setup what already existed under the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. For the additional areas sought by the Morcha in Siliguri, Dooars and Terai, a joint panel will be set up under the national director of census operations to examine issues of contiguity, homogeneity and ground realities. By agreeing to this, Morcha leader Bimal Gurung has reposed faith in Ms Banerjee, which buttresses her status as a leader.
There are some similarities between the Nepali-speaking people of Darjeeling and those in Telangana. Both groups feel that economically they have got a raw deal, suffer from lack of skills and are intimidated by dominant sections in the state. The solution lies not in creating new states which raise the hackles of contending groups but in bringing genuine decentralisation through transfer of powers. Once people see they can run their own lives and receive special assistance to overcome their handicaps, they can be expected to get on with the ordinary business of living and not go in for agitations. The record of state governments across the country in transferring powers is abysmal. The tasks mandated by the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution, in relation to the panchayats and urban local bodies respectively, remain unfinished. Only leaders with good intentions and stature and those who command trust can work out compromises that make for successful agreements.
