Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Agreement – The End, Or The Beginning?

Is the signing of the tripartite Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) agreement the end of the around 3 decades old Gorkhaland problem? Or is it a signal step towards the formation of a separate Gorkhaland state?

West Bengal Chief Minister Miss Mamata Banerjee and Union Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram have clearly said that there is no question of accepting any proposal to divide Bengal. The GTA agreement has been signed only to boost development in the Darjeeling area (as if it was impossible without this agreement), and not to smoothen any process to divide Bengal that has already faced the brunt of division once at the time of India’s partition in 1947.

Significantly, during the signing of the agreement, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supremo Mr. Bimal Gurung also did not utter a single word about the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state (though he did not categorically say that they have dropped that demand, either).

All this may be taken as a sign that the GTA has been successful in placating the grievances/feeling of discrimination/etc. of the so called sons of the soil (sorry, all of these local people are not indigenous to Darjeeling), and now they are no more interested in having a separate Gorkhaland state.

However, the matter might not be that simple. While Bimal Gurung himself did not say anything about Gorkhaland demand, the occasion saw many of his supporters raising slogans like “We Want Gorkhaland”. More importantly, on the sidelines of the signing of the agreement, a couple of GJM leaders told journalists that the GTA agreement was not going to put an end to the struggle for Gorkhand state. Rather that demand will very much remain in place, and in fact that is their ultimate goal.

I feel before the signing of the GTA agreement Mamata Banerjee should have got an official assurance from the GJM leadership that after the agreement they would drop their Gorkhaland demand. That (or something like that) would have been a better thing to do. Unfortunately, Mamata did not bother to do anything like that in a hurry to get the agreement signed and claim credit for resolving a long-standing issue.

Anyways, I feel that immediately the West Bengal government and GJM should jointly issue a media statement, wherein they will clarify their stand and view on this. Otherwise there will be room for rumours and false hopes, which is not very appreciable. The common people want to know the truth, and they must be told the truth. It is a sensitive issue, and there must not be any confusion over anything.

And yes, GJM must drop its demand to bring Nepali-speaking parts of Dooars and Terai under GTA. This is simply too much.

Finally, a bagful of congratulations to my friends, brothers and sisters of Darjeeling for getting an autonomous body for themselves. I may not appreciate the idea of Gorkhaland. I may be uncomfortable even with the signing of GTA agreement. But I certainly appreciate the grievances/ethnical sentiments, etc. that have made you support the Gorkhaland movement. (It is only that I feel that Gorkhaland is not a must to address your demands and aspirations.) I sincerely wish that GTA becomes successful in addressing your grievances, demands and aspirations. And yes, I also hope that GTA pays equal focus on the development of every ethnic community (the Gorkhas, the Lepchas, the Bhutias, etc.), instead of remaining obsessed with one or two community/communities.

Darjeeling has always lied very close to our (Bengalis) heart, and we will keep loving this beautiful place (and its inhabitants) whether it remains under the West Bengal government or GTA or any other entity. An average Bengali’s bonding with Darjeeling is purely emotional, which has nothing to do with the political status of that place. We will always love Darjeeling. And we will always love and adore the people of Darjeeling, even if they perceive us as their enemy, or even oppressor.

And, sorry to say, for us Darjeeling will always remain Darjeeling, and not Gorkhaland. Never!

Let There Be “Shoot-At-Sight” Orders Against IM And LeT Operatives

I know it is very difficult for the Indian government to implement, as there are issues like communal sentiment, etc.

However, if the government has to enhance its anti-terror operation, then I feel it should immediately issue “shoot-at-sight” orders against the members of Indian Mujahideen (IM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (a.k.a. Jamaat-ud-Dawa). And I hope technically it will not be very difficult, as both the organizations are now banned by the Indian government.

I understand that the proposal seems to be somewhat harsh, and also appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to the recent Mumbai blasts. However, I will very confidently say that there is no other way. Whenever police arrests one member of any of these banned organizations, it has to waste a lot of time and energy to gather evidence and prepare a chargesheet against him. Until and unless a proper chargesheet is not filed, the person cannot be prosecuted. And he keeps enjoying a happy life in the custody.

More importantly, both IM and LeT have a huge membership. If police takes so much time to tackle one member, then how can it tackle the entire organization?

Prosecuting an arrested terrorist through legal process is a lengthy procedure, which delays his punishment to a huge extent (just recall the examples of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab). Terrorism is now like an ever expanding tumour for India, and we have to wipe out as much chunk of the problem as possible by spending as little time as possible. We have to be fast and swift, ruthlessly cutting down each and every branch and fruit of the two venomous trees – IM and LeT. And in that case there seems to be only one way out – instantly gunning down an LeT or IM operative the moment police can have a hand on him.

The idea might not appeal to so-called intellectuals who are obsessed with catchy words like “Human Rights”, “ethics”, “morality”, etc. Well, I have due respect for the philosophy of “Human Rights”. But I am sorry to say that I do not feel it to be more valuable than the lives of my fellow Indian citizens.

Some Appeals To Mr. Milind Deora, The New MoS – Communications & IT

Hi Milind (or shall I say Mr. Milind Deora?),

A bagful of congrats for getting selected as a member of the Council of Ministers. While becoming a Minister itself is a thrilling experience, what must have made you more thrilled is that you have been made an MoS at the Ministry of Communications & IT. What I feel, after going through some of your newspaper articles, that you take a special interest in Telecommunications gadgets, like cell phones. And you seem to have some definite plans as far as that field is concerned. In that case your ministerial appointment has provided you with a golden opportunity to realize your plans, right?

Anyways, without taking much of your time, I will like to come to the point straightaway. I have some appeals, and with your kind permission I dare to place them before you.

i.) Please try to inculcate some professionalism in the functioning of MTNL and BSNL. Even at this age of high cell phone penetration the basic telephony still enjoys a significant popularity. And when common people think of basic telephony, they usually think of the government players (i.e. MTNL and BSNL) and not the private players. So it is very crucial that MTNL and BSNL upgrade their customer service, which can be called “just average” at its best.

ii.) Please take strict measures to ensure that porn site viewing in cyber cafes comes to an end, or at least gets reduced.

iii.) Please ensure that your ministry keeps a vigil on the social, health and other impacts of the various value added services offered by cell phones.

iv.) (Most important appeal) Finally, can you please conceptualize something like an “e-mail and snail mail combo”? What I mean is like this –

Suppose I want to send an e-mail to Mr. X, who does not have an e-mail ID and is not e-mail friendly in the first place. So I send the e-mail to the post office that is located nearest to his residence. The post office people take out a print of the e-mail, and then deliver the hard copy to Mr. X’s residence in a way snail or postal mails are delivered. Is something like this possible? Sorry if my plan sounds stupid.

OK, so these are some my wishes which I dared to share with you.

Congrats to you again, and a bagful of wishes for a successful ministerial career.

Hey Subhasis, Hearty Congrats For Your Debut Novel – “Those Were The Days”

As a person of little (or better to say no) caliber, I have nothing as such to boast of. So naturally I need to depend on reflected glory, which I manage to gather by trying to get close to talented and successful people who have carved a niche in various fields.

And trust me, I am really lucky in this respect. While god has not given me any quality to stand out from the crowd, he has certainly given me quite a number of friends to feel proud of.

And the latest one in that group of friends is Subhasis Ghosal, the sharp and intelligent software engineer-turned-marketing communications professional who was my colleague at Espire Infolabs, New Delhi around 4-5 years back. And while he quit Espire before I did, we had already cemented a life long friendship which is, needless to say, still there.

A man with equal command on software domain and creative activities, Subhasis had already started working on a novel when I was working with him at Espire. He told me that the novel was based on student life, and he would take some idea from his own student life. I was thrilled that he was writing a novel, and wished him good luck, and was at the same time doubtful about whether it would at all see the light of the day.

I kept touch with him after he quit Espire and moved to Pune with his new job. Whenever we would communicate through Facebook, SMS or phone call, I would ask him about his job, his family, etc. But never I would ask him about his novel, as, honestly speaking, I had forgotten about it.

It was just one or two months back that Subhasis told me, during a Facebook chat, that he was through with the novel, and it would be published soon. And then the other day I got the good news. His novel, named “Those Were The Days”, is out in the market. My beloved friend Subhasis is now an author.

Congrats dear. A bagful of hearty congrats. Only I know how happy I am. And I sincerely hope that “Those Were The Days” is just the beginning, to be followed by many other works. Let your passion for novel writing always be with you.

Mamata’s “Revolutionary” Decision – West Bengal To Have 6 More Official Languages

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC-Congress government of West Bengal has taken an “innovative” and “revolutionary” decision.

From now, apart from Bengali and English, West Bengal will have 6 more “second” official languages - Urdu, Punjabi, Nepali, Ol-Chiki, Oriya and Hindi.

So from now onwards every government communication will be printed in all these languages, the Calcutta Doordarshan will have news programme in all these languages, and so on. Wow, what a revolutionary step by our firebrand Chief Minister.

However, I am such a nagging person that instead of appreciating this step for promoting communal harmony, I rather find the decision to be a bitter ill to swallow. I am so sorry.

Actually, I completely fail to understand the logic behind declaring 6 more languages as the second official language fails me. There are some loopholes in the government’s logic, which I cannot ignore.

For example, the government has said that Punjabi has been chosen as an official language to recognize the fact that the Punjabi speaking community has made a huge contribution in the development of the state. Besides, the Punjabi community has a sizeable presence in West Bengal, that too for several years.

Nobody can dare to contradict the logic that Punjabis have really played a very appreciable role in the in various developments of West Bengal, especially in the field of trade & commerce (courtesy their legendary entrepreneurial skill).

But if by that logic the beautiful Punjabi language can be given an official status, then why not the same be done to the Rajasthani language? Punjabis of West Bengal have been staying here for many years, and the community has also played key role in the economic and other developments of the state. But in that case why Rajasthani (the language of Marwari community) was left out? Marwaris have also been in the state since the days of Jobe Charnock and Sirajdaulla, and have played a very significant role in the overall development of the state, with the main area again being the field of trade & commerce. In fact, if today we try to think of any Calcutta based industrialist, then the two names that will obviously come in our mind ar R.P. Goenka and Harsh Neotia (both Marwaris).

And by what logic was Oriya (one of the world’s richest languages) selected? With due respect to Oriya friends who stay in West Bengal (and we cherish their presence), Odisha or Oriya community has historically not played that much a significant role in any aspect of West Bengal’s development and growth, (though since ancient days we have had cultural and business relations with that region). Nor it is so that the educated and erudite Oriya community has any sizeable presence here. (I wish more Oriya friends made West Bengal their home).

Every community should enjoy equal right/prestige/honour on the soil of every Indian state, with the so-called “sons of the soil” enjoying no special status. But this is certainly not the way to offer the “equal treatment”. Rather I find this decision of the West Bengal government to be a big joke.

By the way, I hope nobody will misunderstand me. While opposing the selection of a language as West Bengal’s official language, I have only questioned the cultural and historical logic behind it. And by no means I have tried to show lack of respect to those languages and their speakers.

Thank you so much for reading the post. You have honoured me.

NY-based Indian Diplomat’s Daughter Arrested For Crime She Did Not Commit, Real Culprit Let To Go Scot Free

It is an unfortunate incident that cannot be expected to take place in a city like New York.

Krittika Biswas, the 18 years old daughter of a New York based senior Indian diplomat, was arrested and suspended from high school for a crime she did not commit in the first place – sending sexually explicit mails to her teachers.

Krittika Biswas is the daughter of Debashish Biswas, the vice consul at the Consulate General of India in Manhattan.

On February 8, 2011, this bright student of John Bowne High School was paraded out of her school in, hold your breath, handcuffs. And that was followed by the ordeal of spending 28 hours in a dark cell.

However, later the school Principal Howard Kwait identified a male student to be the real culprit.

Naturally, now the charges against Krittika were dropped. However, now two interesting (read more unfortunate) things happened.

Though now the real culprit was identified, he did not have to face any legal action like what innocent Krittika had to face. Reason? Well, the school did not want to press charges against him. (Why? Is there any racial angle in this story?)

More interestingly, even after the baseless charges against Krittika were dropped, school officials insisted to keep the hapless girl detained in a suspension centre for more than one month. Reason? Well, I suppose only the almighty has the answer.

Now Krittika is suing the New York City administration for $1.5 million for the wrongful arrest and the subsequent harassments. I feel the amount is quite low given the strong blow that her self-respect sense suffered.

I sincerely hope that the US government will take serious note of the issue, and will ensure that all the people directly or indirectly responsible for Krittika’s nightmarish experience are brought to book.

Grassroots Activism And Digital Activism - Complementary To Each Other

Grassroots activists often look down upon and mock at digital activists.

I appreciate and respect the “hands on” approach of grassroots activists. Given the fact that it is they who actually run a movement on the ground, there is no doubt that they form the most vital part of a movement’s lifeline.

However, while taking justified pride in their role, they should also appreciate the significant role played by digital activists in bringing an issue to the world’s notice, thereby generating public support and sympathy in many parts of the world.

The fact is that grassroots activism and digital activism are complementary to each other. And it is only through a combined presence of the two that a movement can become most likely to be successful.

Digital activism can draw public sympathy and support for a cause, but that sympathy and support will wither away if there are no grassroots activists to tap that support and utilize it in furthering the movement on the ground.

On the other hand, if there is only grassroots activism and no digital activism, then those grassroots activists will have to fight for their cause without the world sympathizing with them and their cause. And in that case they will be deprived of a strong moral support that often plays a key role in a movement.