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Journalism of Courage
The demand for a separate state or Union Territory comprising the districts of north Bengal gained ground last year, with BJP leaders such as Alipurduars MP John Barla and MLAs Anandamay Barman and Shikha Chatterjee demanding that north Bengal be turned into a Union Territory.
The BJP, however, stayed away from the subject, saying the leaders’ comments did not reflect its stand. Last week, the discussion on the matter was revived again following a meeting between Ananta Rai of the Greater Cooch Behar Peoples’ Association (GCPA) and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik, who is the Cooch Behar MP. After the November 4 meeting, Rai claimed that the creation of a new “Union Territory of Cooch Behar” was “only a matter of time”.
“I believe it (new Union Territory) will happen soon. I cannot comment on the time and date. But rest assured that the new Union Territory of Cooch Behar is only a matter of time.”
This sparked a war of words between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP, which distanced itself from Rai’s comment. The crucial panchayat elections in West Bengal are scheduled to be held early next year and the revival of the statehood or Union Territory demand was possibly the BJP’s ploy to polarise the political atmosphere in the state ahead of the rural polls, the Congress claimed,
But, underlining Rai’s importance in the region, the state government invited him to the inaugural ceremony of the 210th Rash Mela in Cooch Behar district on November 8. Sources said the invitation was a means of reaching out to Rai, who is a descendant of the erstwhile royal family of Cooch Behar and the self-proclaimed king of the Koch-Rajbongshi people of north Bengal.
Rai’s faction of the GCPA has been demanding, for long, a separate Cooch Behar state comprising parts of north Bengal. He holds sway over a section of the Koch-Rajbongshi community and claims to have over 18 lakh followers. Over the years, Rai raised the statehood demand but it did not meet with any positive response from the political parties. Until now.
After the meeting, Pramanik trod cautiously. “I will comment on it when the time comes,” he said.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar attached no importance to Rai’s statement. “Only Ananta Rai can answer why he made such a comment and what he actually meant. He is not a political leader. He is a social and religious leader in north Bengal. I cannot comment on his claims. At the same time, we can say that we have received no such proposal (creation of a Union Territory in north Bengal) from the Centre,” Majumdar told reporters.
But, refusing to let the matter slide, the TMC hit out at the Opposition party and asserted it would never allow the division of West Bengal. State minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim said, “If needed we will shed blood but not allow anyone to divide the state. There will be no division of Bengal.”
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury also said his party would never allow the division of Bengal. “We will never allow the division of the state. Panchayat polls are coming, and that’s why the BJP is raising such issues. Congress will fight against any attempt to divide the state. If the people of north Bengal feel neglected, then it is the responsibility of the state government to do something about it,” he said.
According to political observers, too, the north Bengal question may be the BJP’s strategy to tap into the sentiment for separate states that has always existed in the region and gain maximum dividends in the rural polls. The party currently holds seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal.
Support for BJP
The Rajbongshi, or Koch-Rajbongshi, community consists of more than 33 lakh people in the districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Malda, and Murshidabad. The community supported the Left Front during its 34-year rule but shifted allegiance to the TMC in 2011. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP swept the region, largely on the back of support from the Rajbongshis.
GCPA general secretary Bangshi Badan Barman, who heads the other faction of the outfit, first raised the demand for a separate state in 1998. The proposed state of Greater Cooch Behar comprises seven districts of north Bengal along with Assam’s Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, and Dhubri. Among the other Rajbongshi groups that demand a separate state are the Kamatapur People’s Party, the Greater Cooch Behar Demanding Committee (GCDC), the All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union, and the Koch Rajbongshi Sanmilani.
