The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has urged the Union Home Ministry to make “fresh assessment of ground realities” before proceeding with the two Bills that seek to provide special status to the Darjeeling Hill areas. In its report, tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the committee — headed by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj — cautioned and advised the ministry to relook into the ground realities.The Sixth Schedule to the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2007 and the Constitution (107th Amendment) Bill 2007 were introduced in the Winter Session to provide Sixth Schedule status to Darjeeling hill areas. The Bills were referred to the committee after the Opposition made a demand for it. Including Darjeeling in the Sixth Schedule, on the lines of certain areas in the Northeast, will give the region a degree of administrative and functional autonomy.The committee observed that if the Bills had been passed immediately after the tripartite agreement on the Sixth Schedule was signed, “the situation would have been different” because Subhash Ghisingh was the “undisputed leader at that time”. Not holding elections had added fuel to the fire over the past few years, the report noted. The region has seen violent protests in the past few weeks by groups led by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, which opposes the grant of the Sixth Schedule status to the area. The proposed move will alienate the non-tribal population and create tension in the area, these groups argue. The protesters have prevented Ghisingh, president of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), from entering the area.The committee could not be oblivious to the opposition by the “overwhelming” majority of the representatives who appeared before it and asserted “time and again that there would be bloodshed if the Bills are passed”. Simultaneously, the committee could not ignore the official position that there will be “chaos, unrest and agitation” if the Bills are not passed.The Union Home Secretary and the West Bengal Chief Secretary had told the committee that passage of the Bills will fulfil the aspirations of the people of Darjeeling. They had assured the panel that fears of civil unrest after grant of the status were exaggerated.The last election to the DGHC was held in 1999 and its term ended in 2004. The Centre, the state and the DGHC had signed a tripartite agreement to replace the council with an autonomous council under the Sixth Schedule. The rights of non-tribals was to be protected under the new dispensation.
