VZCZCXRO7837
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCI #0130/01 1391135
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191135Z MAY 09
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2361
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2898

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000130 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INSB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ASEC IN
SUBJECT: GORKHAS SUPPORT BJP TO FURTHER GORKHALAND STATEHOOD 
MOVEMENT 
 
REF: 08 KOLKATA 66 
 
KOLKATA 00000130  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:   Voters in the West Bengal Darjeeling 
constituency elected the state's only Bharatiya Janata Party 
(BJP) successful candidate to parliament as part of their 
ongoing movement for the creation of a new "Gorkhaland" state 
within the Indian Union.  The political organization Gorkha Jan 
Mukti Morcha (GJMM) decided to support the BJP after the 
national party had decided to "sympathetically consider" its 
demand for statehood.  The movement has remained non-violent as 
the GJMM leadership pursues a political strategy for building 
national level support for its cause, as contrasted with the 
violent separatist movements in the Northeast.  Before achieving 
statehood the GJMM will have to address the tribal population's 
concerns about the proposed state's boundaries and the West 
Bengal voter's emotional attachment to Darjeeling and the 
historical scars of the previous partition of Bengal.  Neither 
the ruling state party nor the opposition is likely to touch the 
controversial issue of statehood as neither wants to alienate 
any potential voter before the next state assembly elections 
anticipated for 2011.  Local sentiment revolves not around if, 
but rather when and what form, a new state of Darjeeling will 
assume.  PolOFF traveled to Darjeeling and Dooars from May 4 - 8 
to prepare this report.  End Summary. 
 
Darjeeling - Queen of the Hills 
 
¶2. (SBU) Since 1907, Gorkhas, who are ethnically Nepali, have 
sought a distinct political identity in Darjeeling, in the 
northern portion of West Bengal bordering Nepal, Bhutan and 
Bangladesh.  The GJMM has demanded roughly 7,000 square 
kilometers for a separate state with approximately 2.6 million 
inhabitants spread across the Hills of Darjeeling, where they 
represent an overwhelming majority, and the contiguous plains of 
Dooars, where they co-exist with tribals and other ethnicities. 
While the district seat is in Darjeeling, the largest city is 
Siliguri - an important trade and transit town.  The area is 
strategically important as India's 22-kilometer wide 
chicken-neck connecting the northeastern states with "mainland" 
India.  Darjeeling, best known for its premium tea and as a 
tourism destination, is referred to as the "Queen of the Hills". 
 
Bimal Gurung's GJMM Displaces Ghising's DGHC 
 
¶3. (SBU) Bimal Gurung established the GJMM in 2007 to further 
the cause of statehood (Reftel).  He displaced the previous 
Gorkha leader Subash Ghising, who had led the local 
administrative body, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). 
The Council is effectively defunct as its members have resigned 
and a non-elected administrator is currently overseeing the 
basic delivery of municipal and development services.  Ghising 
was widely unpopular due to alleged corruption and 
administrative incompetency.  In 1988, a tripartite agreement 
involving the Government of India, the Government of West Bengal 
and the Gorka National Liberation Front created the Darjeeling 
Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) with a limited amount of 
administrative autonomy to end the violent conflict that had 
claimed more than 1,200 lives. 
 
Non-Violent Political Statehood Movement 
 
¶4. (SBU) GJMM central committee member Amar Lama re-affirmed the 
movement's political and non-violent nature in a May 6 meeting 
with PolOFF.  According to Lama, GJMM had sought national party 
support for the issue, rather than field its own parliamentary 
candidate, as it believed it a more effective strategy of 
raising national attention.  It approached both the Congress and 
the BJP for political support, but only the BJP was willing to 
include consideration of their cause in its manifesto.  (The BJP 
has an insignificant presence in West Bengal, no BJP 
parliamentarians from West Bengal in the last parliament, and 
nothing to lose politically through its support of the 
controversial measure.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) The current iteration of the Gorkhaland statehood 
movement is expressly non-violent and has largely remained so, 
with the exception of the rare minor skirmishes at public 
demonstrations.  At no time have international or domestic 
visitors to the popular tourist destination been targeted or 
victims of crime.  Tourists may be affected by vehicle strikes 
or labor unrest, such as when GJMM leaders called for a 
temporary strike in July 2008.  Local police, reporting though 
their traditional chain of command, are responsible for law and 
order in the Hills and Plains and take appropriate measures to 
ensure public gatherings remain orderly.  Additional public 
demonstrations, by either the Gorkhas or the tribals, may be 
expected; however, they will maintain their peaceful nature. 
 
KOLKATA 00000130  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
Challenges to Statehood: Boundaries and Emotions 
 
¶6. (SBU) Proponents of Gorkhaland will have to address the 
tribal population's concerns about the proposed state's 
boundaries and the West Bengal voter's emotional attachment to 
Darjeeling.  The GJMM has demanded both the ethnically 
homogenous Gorkha Hills and the more heterogeneous Plains, where 
the tribals are numerically superior.  A leader of the tribal 
organization Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parisad told PolOFF 
that the tribals are not against the Gorkhaland demand for 
statehood in the Hills, but that this demand should not extend 
to the Plains.  The more difficult question may be the further 
partition of the state of West Bengal, which has already been 
once attempted (1905) and once realized (1947).  Bengalis are 
fond of their state stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the 
Hills of Darjeeling and are unlikely to willingly cede 
Darjeeling to Gorkhaland.  Some interlocutors have spoken about 
the possibility of the administrative unit of a Union Territory 
within India, as opposed to a state, as this can be created by 
an Act of Parliament without the consent of the state assembly. 
However, the GJMM is resolute in its demand for statehood and 
furthermore believes that the consent of the state affected is 
not required.  Constitutional law is unclear on this point, 
although precedent dictates that the affected states concur. 
 
Comment 
 
¶7. (SBU) Most interlocutors, Bengali or non-Bengali alike, 
concede that a political resolution of the Gorkhaland question 
will happen, the only question is when and in what form.  The 
GJMM leadership of the Gorkhaland statehood movement has moved 
one step closer to its end goal through their support of the BJP 
and its inclusion of the "sympathetic consideration" of the 
Gorkhaland demand in its manifesto.  With Congress and the 
United Progressive Alliance returning to power at the national 
level in the recent parliamentary polls, and the state parties 
unlikely to touch the controversial issue before the state 
assembly polls in 2011, Gorkhaland by 2010 may be less likely 
today than before the elections had taken place.  However, the 
Gorkhas can expect the new BJP parliamentarian from the 
Darjeeling constituency in the current state of West Bengal, the 
influential and former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, to 
tacitly voice their demand for a separate state in the new 
parliament. 
TAYLOR