Call it politics of convenience. Left Front constituent Forward Bloc is toeing the CPI(M) line in West Bengal in opposing a separate Gorkhaland, while in Andhra, it is in unanimity with the CPI, which is supporting the formation of a Telangana state.
On a second states reorganisation commission (SRC), too, it is speaking in two voices. While it supports SRC for a final decision on Telangana, it does not see a justification for it to decide Gorkhaland.
On the concluding day of the Forward Bloc congress in Kolkata on Monday, general secretary Debabrata Biswas said the party was not against small states, but it did not agree with the way the Congress-led central government was going about it.
“It [formation of small states] needs to be done in a democratic manner and a fresh SRC should be set up for that. Only SRC should decide the necessity of forming a separate state. The formula should be applied in case of Telangana,” he said.
Biswas, however, opposed an SRC for Gorkhaland. “There is no question of division of West Bengal. We do not find the necessity of an SRC for it,” he said.
Justifying the part’s stand, a senior state leader of Forward Bloc said, “A majority of Bengalis in the north have tasted the bitter pill of eviction. The fear of another eviction is killing them.”
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