Vimal Khawas*
Mamata Banerjee, somehow, has been
able to evolve a relatively unique, efficient and effective tool to progressively
sideline more than a century old political aspirations of the Gorkhas for a
separate state of their own through establishment of a series of Boards commonly
called ‘Development and Cultural Board’ designed on ethnic and communal lines.
Concept of Development Board and Gorkha Temptation
The idea of cultural and development board was initially mooted to
protect the socio-cultural and economic interests of the Lepchas in the
proposed Gorkhaland region[i]. But the
idea was little different at that point of time. It started with ‘Mayel Lyang Lepcha
Development Board’ in 2013[ii]
followed by ‘Tamang Development Board’[iii] in
2014 and ‘Bhutia Development Board’[iv] in
2015.
From amongst the larger Gorkha community, Limbu and Tamang were the first
groups[v] to
aspire for a development board of their own. Gorkhas, particularly younger lots, saw money flowing through these
boards and could not resist their temptation. Soon after, almost all sub-Gorkha groups started to make
noise, like seasonal insects, for the ‘boards’ of their own, forgetting and
more pertinently disregarding the larger collective Gorkha aspiration of
separate state.
Perfect Recipe to dislocate Gorkha Unity and their
Collective Voice
Mamata Banerjee immediately
understood and internalized that the very idea and concept of ‘Board’ was the
perfect recipe to tackle the dejected Gorkhas and a critical card of the moment
to dislocate and dismantle the bigger political aspiration of separate
Gorkhaland state. Consequently, she took full advantage of the situation.
Eventually, by the
end of 2017, 15 odd ‘Development and Cultural Boards’ were formed[vi] for
the Lepcha, Bhutia and Gorkha Communities of the proposed Gorkhaland region. Not
surprisingly, Government of West Bengal yet again notified another development
board called ‘The West Bengal Terai, Dooars, Siliguri Development and Cultural
Board (Gorkha community)’[vii] on August 13, 2018
making a total of 16 development boards. While the first 15 boards have been
formed on communal line, the last one is based on geography.
Development and Cultural Boards in
the Gorkhaland Area at a glance
|
Sl No
|
Name of the
Board
|
Year of Establishment
|
Created Under
|
|
1
|
Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board
|
2013
|
Backward Classes Welfare
Department[viii]
|
|
2
|
Tamang Development and Cultural Board
|
2014
|
Tribal
Development Department[ix]
|
|
3
|
Sherpa Cultural Board
|
2015
|
Tribal
Development Department[x]
|
|
4
|
Bhutia Development Board
|
2015
|
Tribal
Development Department[xi]
|
|
5
|
Khambu Rai Development Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xii]
|
|
6
|
Mangar Development Board
|
2015
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xiii]
|
|
7
|
Limbu Development Board
|
2016
|
Tribal Development
Department[xiv]
|
|
8
|
Pahadia Minority Development & Cultural Board
|
2017
|
Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department[xv]
|
|
9
|
Gurung Development and Cultural Board
|
2017
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xvi]
|
|
10
|
Kami Development and Cultural Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xvii]
|
|
11
|
Khas Development and Cultural Board
|
2017
|
North Bengal Development Department[xviii]
|
|
12
|
Sarki Development and Cultural Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xix]
|
|
13
|
Bhujel Development and Cultural Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xx]
|
|
14
|
Newar Development and Cultural Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xxi]
|
|
15
|
Damai Development and Cultural Board
|
2016
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xxii]
|
|
16
|
Terai, Dooars, Siliguri
Development and Cultural Board (Gorkha community)
|
2018
|
Backward
Classes Welfare Department[xxiii]
|
Some critical reflections
- Development Boards are, fundamentally, NGOs without any teeth. They are registered under The West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961 and may be dissolved in accordance with the provisions under section 24 and 27 the said Act. All the members are nominated and removed by the government of West Bengal.[xxiv]
- Barring few like Lepcha and Bhutia Boards, almost all the development boards are breakaway faction of their parent organisation/association. They target youth wing of their traditional community organisations and vehemently permeate the philosophy of divide and rule policy. They have divided the fragile, dynamic and evolving Gorkha community and have done irreparable damage to the social fabric of larger Gorkha identity.
- Development boards have not been formed under Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) but under other departments of the Government of West Bengal (see the table) and therefore are not answerable to GTA. Such an arrangement often creates conflict of powers and interests between the boards and GTA. Consequently, bigger interests of the Gorkhas have been sabotaged with the formation of development boards based on communities.
- Mamata Banerjee now uses development boards to mobilize the often poor and gullible Gorkhas in-order to support interests of her party in the hills and Tarai/Duars. The task now has become exceeding easy for her. She just calls[xxv] on the 16 heads of the Boards and the entire Gorkhaland, Duars and Terai are mobilised! With the formation of 16 parallel development boards, she has now almost made Gorkhaland Territorial Administration an irrelevant and defunct entity. More recently, critics have been increasingly questioning the validity of GTA in the presence of so many development boards in the region.
- Lastly, but not the least, West Bengal’s project of ‘Development and Cultural Board’ in Darjeeling and Duars region is nothing but a populist approach to appease people on communal line. It will eventually fragment and divide the Gorkha society in the long run and will not address the fundamental issues for which Gorkhas have been collectively fighting for more than 110 years.
* Head, Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management,
Sikkim University
References
[iii] https://www.wbtdcb.org/
[iv] http://wbbdb.org/
[v] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/after-lepcha-tribes-in-darjeeling-demand-formation-of-development-councils/1207893/
[vi] http://darjeeling.gov.in/dev_boards.html
[vii] vide
notice number 2970-BCW/65-07/2017, dated August 13, 2018.
[viii] https://wbxpress.com/mayel-lyang-lepcha-development-board/
[ix] https://wbxpress.com/tamang-development-cultural-board/
[x] https://wbxpress.com/sherpa-cultural-board/
[xi] https://wbxpress.com/bhutia-development-board/
[xii] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-khambu-rai-development-board/
[xiii] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-mangar-development-board/
[xiv] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-limbu-development-board/
[xv] http://www.wbpmdb.com/
[xvi] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-gurung-development-cultural-board/
[xvii] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-kami-development-and-cultural-board/
[xviii] http://kalimpongonlinenews.blogspot.com/2017/03/khas-devpelopment-cultural-board-formed.html
[xix] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-sarki-development-and-cultural-board/
[xx] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-bhujel-development-cultural-board/
[xxi] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-newar-development-cultural-board/
[xxii] https://wbxpress.com/west-bengal-damai-development-and-cultural-board/
[xxiii] https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/govt-sets-up-authority-for-dooars-gorkhas-252338
[xxiv] https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170501/jsp/siliguri/story_149174.jsp
[xxv] https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170617/jsp/bengal/story_157296.jsp
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