VZCZCXRO3712
PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHCN
DE RUEHCI #0066/01 0521336
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
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 
 
¶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