Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08KOLKATA66
2008-02-21 13:36:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Kolkata
Cable title:  

GORKHAS PROTEST FOR A SEPARATE STATE IN WEST BENGAL'S

Tags:  PTER PGOV PHUM ASEC CASC NP IN 
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P 211336Z FEB 08
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1893
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1772
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0812
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0817
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0544
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0537
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0127
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0392
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0437
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2311
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000066 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV PHUM ASEC CASC NP IN
SUBJECT: GORKHAS PROTEST FOR A SEPARATE STATE IN WEST BENGAL'S
DARJEELING DISTRICT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000066

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV PHUM ASEC CASC NP IN
SUBJECT: GORKHAS PROTEST FOR A SEPARATE STATE IN WEST BENGAL'S
DARJEELING DISTRICT


1. (SBU) Summary: Political tension have increased in West
Bengal's Darjeeling area over revived local demands for a
separate Gorkhaland state. Since February 19, local "godfather"
and administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC)
Subhas Ghising has been blocked by the opposition faction Gorkha
Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) from returning to Darjeeling after his
visit to New Delhi to negotiate greater local governance. The
GJMM opposes Ghising and the GOWB's plan to grant Sixth Schedule
Status under the Indian Constitution to the region, which would
give greater powers to Communist Party of India
(Marxist)-supported and Ghising-controlled DGHC. The GJMM began
its latest protests on February 7 with an indefinite hunger
strike of some supporters and since February 12, has shut all
government offices in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong. As a
result of the worsening situation, Post issued a
Department-cleared warden message advising Amcits to avoid
travel to the area. In October 2007, Bimal Gurung founded the
GJMM with support from Gorkha organizations. It is estimated
that 75 percent of Darjeeling's 1.6 million people now support
Gurung as Ghising is widely seen as corrupt, inefficient and
authoritarian. A senior police officer told ConGen on January
31 that he was concerned about the worsening situation in
Darjeeling as he had information indicating that Gurung was
receiving weapons and support from Maoists in Nepal. A WB state
official commented to ConGen that eventually statehood for
Gorkhaland would likely have to be given. The recent Gorkha
strife in Darjeeling reflects the dangers of identity politics
among India's myriad minority groups. End Summary.


2. (U) On February 21, DGHC administrator and head of the
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) Ghising spent his third
day in a government cottage in Pintail village near the northern
West Bengal city of Siliguri. Ghising has been unable to return
to Darjeeling as hundreds of opposition faction GJMM supporters
block National Highway 55 from Siliguri to the mountains. On
February 19, 500 GJMM activists initially broke through police

barricades protecting Pintail but more police were called and
the demonstrators were pushed back.


3. (U) The GJMM's recent political agitation reflects a growing
schism within the ethnic Nepalese Gorkhas, who live in the
mountainous areas of northern West Bengal and have sought a form
of local or separate government. The traditional Gorkha
homeland includes the city of Darjeeling and picturesque towns
of Kurseong and Kalimpong. The area is run with a degree of
limited autonomy by the DGHC, a federation of Gorkha political
parties led by the GNLF's Subhas Ghising as chief administrator.
Ghising, who has the support of the CPM, has run the DGHC and
the territory as his own personal fiefdom, controlling money and
patronage.


4. (SBU) The GJMM was formed recently in October 2007, when
former GNLF leader Bimal Gurung openly defied Ghising's
unchallenged leadership with a renewed call for a separate
Gorkhaland state. Ghising, with the backing of the GOWB,
proposed a form of greater local autonomy under the Sixth
Schedule of the Indian Constitution rather than a new Gorkhaland
state. The Sixth Schedule proposal would strengthen the DHGC
and in turn strengthen Ghising's influence, giving him greater
control over local budgets and administration. (Comment:
Ghising is widely seen as corrupt, inefficient and
authoritarian. However, the CPM GOWB also saw him as palatable
and malleable in not demanding a separate Gorkhaland state.
Ghising effectively was willing to remain "bought," once he
gained greater control of local public funds and contracts. End
Comment.) A number of rebel GNLF members, the All Gorkha
Students Union (AGSU),and other Gorkha organizations have
supported Gurung's new GJMM, reflecting Ghising's waning support
in the Gorkha-Nepalese community.


5. (SBU) On February 7, the GJMM, with its rapidly rising
popularity, launched an indefinite hunger strike. On February
12, all state and central government offices in Darjeeling,
Kurseong and Kalimpong sub-divisions have been shut in response
to GJMM's strike called in support of statehood. On February
13, hundreds of former army personnel - Gorkhas -- marched
through the streets of Darjeeling with their service medals to
form the Bharatiya Gorkha Bhutpurba Sainik Morcha, affiliated to
the GJMM. The retired soldiers threatened to surrender their
medals to the President of India if the demand for a separate

KOLKATA 00000066 002 OF 003


state is not met. In response, GNLF-dominated local
administration officials refused to collect trash provide public
water or other service, claiming GJMM prevented them from
performing their responsibilities. As a result of the worsening
situation, Post issued a Department-cleared warden message
advising Amcits to avoid travel to the area -- a popular tourist
spot. A senior law enforcement official in North Bengal told
post that Gurung and his GJMM have made massive inroads into
Ghising's support base, undermining the GNLF and the CPM which
backs it. He said that the threat of violence had risen so much
that Ghising could either end-up being lynched or "disappeared,"
if he were not protected.


6. (U) On February 13, WB officials sought to mollify the GJMM
and W. Bengal Chief Secretary A.K. Deb and Home Secretary P.R.
Ray met with a seven-member GJMM delegation to discuss their
demands. The GJMM leaders asked for Ghising's removal as the
DGHC administrator and demanded that the Parliamentary Standing
Committee on the proposed Sixth Schedule status should visit
Darjeeling before making its decision regarding the areas
status. On February 20, WB Municipal Affairs Minister Asok
Bhattacharya said that Ghising's tenure as DHGC administrator
would not be extended past its March 24 expiration.


7. (SBU) On February 20, ConGen discussed developments in
Darjeeling with Special Secretary to the WB Chief Minister Mr.

S. A. Ahmed (protect). Ahmed said that the GOWB had few options
to respond to the GJMM's demands. He noted that it could not
afford another spate of violence as occurred over the past year
in Nandigram, where villagers protesting plans for a Special
Economic Zone (SEZ) and were brutally suppressed, with several
deaths. He added that the CPM-ruled GOWB was especially
reluctant now as the state was preparing for local-village level
panchayat elections in May. Ahmed commented the state
government could try to block food and other supplies going to
the Darjeeling but he speculated that eventually, the GOWB and
the GOI would likely have to concede to granting statehood to
Gorkhaland area.


8. (SBU) On January 31, ConGen met with a senior WB police
official responsible for border security, who said that he
thought the situation in the Darjeeling area was spiraling out
of control. He also claimed that Gurung had links to Nepali
Maoists and that he believed that Gurung might be receiving
weapons and support from Nepali Maoists. Other post contacts
have noted that Gurung has a reputation for violence and
criminal activity. The official felt that since the senior
Maoist leadership was now involved in the political process in
Nepal, the mid-level Maoist insurgent leadership needed to be
redirected and their focus engaged in other areas, or they would
be discontented with their more circumscribed role in Nepal.
Directing the energies of the lower level Maoist insurgents to
new areas, such as the Darjeeling area in West Bengal and
possibly Bhutan, would avoid the lower ranking Maoists accusing
its leadership of selling out for political and personal gain as
it participates in the formation of the Constituent Assembly.
In his February 20 conversation with ConGen, Special Secretary
Ahmed also indicated that Gurung likely had links with Nepali
Maoists and on the same day, Former Chief of Staff of the Indian
Army's Eastern Command Lt. General (Retd.) John Ranjan Mukherjee
(protect) also agreed that there was likely that Gurung and his
GJMM received some degree of support from Nepali Maoists.


9. (SBU) Comment: Ghising's gross corruption and incompetent
administration in Darjeeling over the last few years has
contributed to the latest political imbroglio giving Gurung an
opportunity rise to prominence as his GJMM gains local popular
support. Gurung, however, is unlikely to offer better
governance for the Darjeeling area, having a reputation for
violence and criminal activity. The internecine strife among
the Gorkha groups demonstrates the failure of identity politics
in India. Local figures seeking to capitalize on ethnic,
linguistic or cultural identities often do so more for personal
gain than a real concern for the promotion of their communities'
interests. This pattern has been true among Assam's Bodos, the
Meiteis of Manipur and the Nagas in Nagaland, to name a few
other examples. The GOWB is apparently ready to ditch Ghising
but the question of a new Gorkha state is far more complex and
conflict is likely to continue in the Darjeeling area until the
GJMM believes that some gesture is being made by the GOWB to

KOLKATA 00000066 003 OF 003


move the statehood process forward with the GOI.


10. (U) This message was coordinated with AmEmbassy Kathmandu.
JARDINE