Views on Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) :
# The participation of Adivasis and other communities from Dooars and plains has to be increased in GMCC.
# This tactic of just ” indefinite strike ” has to be nullified and some alternative ways of parallel forms of protest has to be taken into grounds .
# The GMCC should take youths into its core committee otherwise generational difference will take the movement to this “obsolete ” ways of praxis .
# There are so much cultural personalities, poets and activists in Darjeeling Kalimpong areas, I think they can play an active part in the movement. Example – ‘Pahal’ has been doing some wonderful work in their protest walk. (These kinds of cultural ways of protest should be made more frequent). The idea is to create a political and cultural space for dissent in the hills .
# In order for the movement to survive, the GMCC should open its units in Kurseong, Darjeeling, Kalimpong areas and it’s adjacent places. Doing so, the knowledge of Gorkhaland and it’s history can also be propagated . And also, we will be getting fresh faces in the leadership section from all these sub -committees.
# Most importantly, I think youth leaders( especially women)should be given a chance now .
Having just a GMCC in the name of ” collective leadership” is of no use . The issue of self determination is a very complicated demand in contemporary Indian polity , especially if the said region has only one representative in the higher parliamentary house and that too from a party which doesn’t support formation of smaller states and hence believes in the concept of a ” hindu nation “.
We cannot think of things in the ” normal way of only indefinite hunger strike”. We also have to understand that gorkhaland is also a fight of ” opressed minorities”. If we look into the history of gorkhaland struggle, we have had a very weak leadership when it came to the determination to attain gorkhaland. The leaders were self anointed in their own political circles and with their masculine tactical ways of resistance. Khukuri rally has always been the popular way of public protest . I understand it can can be , but over the years the equation and aspirations of the people and the forms of protest has to change . Change is the only constant. Change is inevitable. So why not a change in our modes of resistance?
The concept of GMCC is an important step in the struggle of gorkhaland. But , the main idea and focus of GMCC should be to absorb the aspirations of the people. It’s been 6 meetings till date , and every single one of them has concluded the same “old obsolete measures” of protest.
I think just having one sole GMCC will not help much since they are out of ideas I presume. In order for GMCC to be actually a people’s voice , we have to understand the importance of peoples participation in GMCC too . We need to have GMCC in every sub divisions of Darjeeling and kalimpong district . We need to have GMCC in every villages . The GMCC has to include anyone who’s willing to be included. Otherwise, gorkhaland being a people’s movement will not hold true . In doing so , we can attain so many hurdles . Firstly, each unit of GMCC can hold on classes on the history of gorkhaland, history of other states and it’s struggle for statehood. Doing so even if the so called leaders sell out, the movement will not wither away . The very idea of what people participation has to be felt by the people and inorder to understand this , they havr to be made a part of decision making process . Secondly, in doing so we will also get new faces of the movement, new youths who could lead the movement n a much radical way .
The responsibility of GMCC should not only be conducting meetings now and then but also working for the future of the movement itself .
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