Adivasi faction joins GJM

The decision was announced by GJM chief Bimal Gurung in presence of president of Dooars unit of AVP John Barla,secretary Tejkumar Toppo and other leaders.

Asked about the turnaround in Gorkha-Adivasi equations,a GJM leader said,The Adivasis by consenting to merge and allow nearly 400 mouzas to come under the new body would have a share in the allocation of funds for the region.

But the merger seemed to lack unanimity as many AVP leaders scoffed at the idea of Gorkhas and Adivasis joining hands and allowing the transfer of nearly 500 mouzas in Dooars and Terai to the proposed new body. Birsa Tirkey,chief of Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad said,This is not an official decision of the party. A faction of our organisation has agreed to joint GATA. But we are not ready. It is a political conspiracy hatched by Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri to capture tribal land in Terai and Dooars.

State government officials,too,feigned ignorance. It is a political decision,not an administrative one. The government was not in the loop, said a senior official.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said,The Adivasis have agreed to join us. Today,we announced the political decision. Regarding administrative changes,including nomenclature of GTA,a resolution has to be passed officially. We will meet the Union Home Minister and CM Mamata Banerjee soon.

ABAVP leader Tejkumar Toppo said,Our people lost their patience and that is why we decided to join the GATA. The political agreement between us and the GJM is that it will run the GTA in the Hills and we will run the Adivasi Territorial Administration in the plains. The GTA and the ATA will share funds.