On the Road before E Day | March 29, 2014

Day 6: Will the real BJP please stand up?

In the hills of Darjeeling, S.S. Ahluwalia, the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from the constituency, promises to divide Bengal and create a new state. In Kolkata North, Rahul Sinha, the BJP’s candidate from the constituency, denies any such plans. “Listen to me,” he says, “I am the state party president. Don’t listen to that man.” The “that man” is Ahluwalia.

It is astonishing that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has done a deal with the BJP yet again. In 2009, the two parties combined to have Jaswant Singh elected by over 200,000 votes. Once chosen by the good people of Darjeeling, Singh simply disappeared and was the absent constituency MP. In fact, the GJM asked people to file an FIR and a complaint about a missing person (their MP).

The BJP is speaking about Darjeeling in two voices. The Congress has done one better – or worse, choose your adjective – by speaking in a non-voice. A few days ago, Rahul Gandhi was touring north Bengal. After addressing a public meeting, he was walking off the stage and leaving for his next engagement. Suddenly, a journalist shouted out to him: “Mr Gandhi, Mr Gandhi, a question… What do you have to say about the GJM’s demand for a separate state?”

Mr Gandhi stopped. He thought for a moment. He stepped back a few steps, and then he answered the question: “No comment.”

Postscript: Whatever the BJP candidate may say, the Trinamool Congress is committed to a united Bengal, with equal, fair and just treatment, and quick development, for the people of Darjeeling. Acting on these words, Mamata Banerjee has made about 30 trips to Darjeeling and north Bengal since becoming chief minister in 2011.

This is in contrast to the chief ministers and top leaders of the CPI(M) who, over 34 years of Left Front rule (1977-2011), barely visited or even thought about Darjeeling.

To put things in perspective, Mamata Banerjee has promised justice to Darjeeling. However, to use her own words, the state will be broken up only over her dead body.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress

On the Road before E Day | March 27, 2014

Day 4: A day in the tea gardens

My trip to north Bengal and the Darjeeling constituency has been a most unusual one. I have participated in a series of singular but heart-warming political and semi-political interactions that can only happen here. Earlier this week, I met wives of tea garden workers from 11 gardens at the Gulma Tea Estate. I was seeking votes for Bhaichung Bhutia, Trinamool Congress candidate from Darjeeling, but that seemed almost beside the point.

As we walked into the Recreation Club at the tea estate, I was struck by the venue. Despite its grand name, the “Club” was really a weather-beaten wooden room that was used by workers. Welcomed in the traditional manner, with sandalwood paste applied to my forehead, I decided to ignore the lone chair and sit on the floor with the others. It was an icebreaker as the shy women opened up with their problems. It helped when I told them my wife had grown up in the tea gardens of north Bengal and we knew the region extremely well.

For this humble tea-garden community, the big issues of a national election seemed rather distant. Rather, it was immediate problems they wanted the government – and specifically Mamata Banerjee, who was mentioned often in our conversation – to sort out. These problems may seem minor in a broader context, but to the women of Gulma, they were and are existential issues.

Hospital access from outlying and remote tea gardens, one of my interlocutors told me, was a concern. The winding journey it required meant people had to pay for fuel for the ambulance. Often this led to poor families borrowing money – not to buy medicines but to buy fuel! Another lady spoke about the quality of rice and wheat in the ration shops and the fact that there were so few ration shops in the first place.

A young girl spoke up towards the end and said she was worried the delay in getting appropriate caste and identity certificates would deprive her of the chance to apply for scholarships. I took notes, promised to help, and promised to be back.

On the return journey, I was lost in thought. In that interaction, not once was Delhi mentioned, not once was the UPA or the NDA, or the blockbuster issues and scandals influencing the national capital’s self-important media, raised. In Gulma, I sensed the rhythms of the real India. Thank heavens there were no television cameras around.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress