Bengal request for Army turned down, given paramilitary

While the West Bengal government wanted the Army to conduct a flag march in areas of the state affected by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha...

While the West Bengal government wanted the Army to conduct a flag march in areas of the state affected by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha GJM agitation, the Centre yesterday turned down the request as it was unwilling to rush in troops at the first instance.

Contrary to general impression that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had decided against calling in the Army and had instead asked it to stay on alert, sources said the request was made but rejected after considerable discussion here.

The Centre, however, responded positively to Sikkim8217;s concerns and has decided to help facilitate movement of traffic on the only national highway connecting the state to the rest of the country.

Given the sensitive nature of the issue, the Left Front government in Bengal seemed keen to involve Central troops as early as possible, while unwilling to commit its own police. In fact, there were doubts raised over whether the state was making 8220;proper utilisation8221; of its own police force.

The Home Ministry was sympathetic to Kolkata8217;s request, but cited inability to move in paramilitary forces immediately due to logistic reasons. With no central paramilitary force readily available, a request came for the Army. However, the Defence Ministry made it clear that the Army would move in only as the last resort.

So, about 1,000 paramilitary personnel were deployed while the Army was only put on alert.

Questions have been raised about the Home Ministry8217;s preparation, given that there had been sufficient notice for the agitation. In fact, the matter had been discussed at high levels before the agitation began and the Home Ministry had been advised to prepare for moving paramilitary troops closer to the state. This, sources said, was not done, which put the Centre in a spot when the request came from Kolkata.

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However, since it was felt that the lines of transport and communication should not be affected, the Army was instructed to provide security for vehicles to move in a convoy along the National Highway 31A connecting Sikkim.

The Centre was clear that it did not want a situation like the one caused by the Gurjjar agitation, where the main Delhi-Mumbai railway line has been blocked for days. Here too, sources said, the attitude of the Home Ministry was to leave it to the state government to decide on how to remove the blockade, despite suggestions of using force to disperse the mob.