DARJEELING: Cornered by the government crackdown and ignored by the Centre, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supremo Bimal Gurung is changing tack rapidly in a desperate bid to wriggle out of the standoff in Darjeeling.
The Gorkhaland agitation has dragged on for almost a month during which the Morcha tried out everything — enforcing a total shutdown, keeping people indoors, threatening to block the tea industry. There have even been two immolation attempts. But the Mamata-led administration did not blink. And neither did the Centre pay any heed to the Gorkhaland demand, dealing a crushing blow to the Morcha. The Calcutta high court also pulled up the Morcha and called the bandh illegal and unconstitutional.
After running into a wall on all fronts, the GJM president on Wednesday called a meeting of all Hills outfits on August 30 to decide the next course of action in the Gorkhaland stir. The buzz is that the party might relax the shutdown on schools and government offices.
A day ago, Gurung had surprised many by saying he might ask for "something other than Gorkhaland". On Wednesday, he changed his mind and called a Morcha central committee meeting to discuss the lifting of the indefinite strike. When they could not arrive at a decision, Gurung decided to take up the issue at an all-party meeting of the Hill outfits that have come together to form the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC). According to Morcha insiders, Gurung fears that his party's decision to settle for something less than Gorkhaland might hurt the dominant sentiment in the Hills.
Confusion was writ large on the faces of the Morcha leaders as they emerged from the central committee meeting on Wednesday without being able to make a decision. The party leadership took stock of the spate of arrests and the tough stance of the state government and discussed if there was a need to relax the strike in schools and government offices. Around 854 Mocha leaders and activists — including 11 central committee members and eight GTA sabhasads — have been put behind bars since the agitation started. The arrest of Gurung's trusted aide Binay Tamag had spurred the Morcha supremo into throwing a challenge to Mamata: "Let her come to the Hills, we will show her who we are."
On Wednesday, however, the GJM spokesperson made no comment on the chief minister's visit to the Hills in early September. The GTA meeting on September 4 that Mamata is likely to attend was not on the agenda on Wednesday. "We had called the emergency meeting to discuss the ongoing agitation with our frontal organizations," said GJM spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri. "Leaders of the frontal organizations have submitted their views in writing. We are going to discuss them at the all-party meeting on August 30," he added, without saying what the suggestions were. The meeting was held at Malidhura, 6km from Darjeeling town.
There have been differences in the Gorkhaland joint forum right from the start. After Tamang's arrest, Gurung had called an indefinite strike in the Hills without consulting the forum. GJAC leaders called off their planned demonstrations from August 19 to August 26. On Tuesday, Gurung clarified that he had given the strike call out of anger against the state and the Centre that haven't paid heed to the Gorkhaland demand.
Source : timesofindia
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| Darjeeling Strike |
The Gorkhaland agitation has dragged on for almost a month during which the Morcha tried out everything — enforcing a total shutdown, keeping people indoors, threatening to block the tea industry. There have even been two immolation attempts. But the Mamata-led administration did not blink. And neither did the Centre pay any heed to the Gorkhaland demand, dealing a crushing blow to the Morcha. The Calcutta high court also pulled up the Morcha and called the bandh illegal and unconstitutional.
After running into a wall on all fronts, the GJM president on Wednesday called a meeting of all Hills outfits on August 30 to decide the next course of action in the Gorkhaland stir. The buzz is that the party might relax the shutdown on schools and government offices.
A day ago, Gurung had surprised many by saying he might ask for "something other than Gorkhaland". On Wednesday, he changed his mind and called a Morcha central committee meeting to discuss the lifting of the indefinite strike. When they could not arrive at a decision, Gurung decided to take up the issue at an all-party meeting of the Hill outfits that have come together to form the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee (GJAC). According to Morcha insiders, Gurung fears that his party's decision to settle for something less than Gorkhaland might hurt the dominant sentiment in the Hills.
Confusion was writ large on the faces of the Morcha leaders as they emerged from the central committee meeting on Wednesday without being able to make a decision. The party leadership took stock of the spate of arrests and the tough stance of the state government and discussed if there was a need to relax the strike in schools and government offices. Around 854 Mocha leaders and activists — including 11 central committee members and eight GTA sabhasads — have been put behind bars since the agitation started. The arrest of Gurung's trusted aide Binay Tamag had spurred the Morcha supremo into throwing a challenge to Mamata: "Let her come to the Hills, we will show her who we are."
On Wednesday, however, the GJM spokesperson made no comment on the chief minister's visit to the Hills in early September. The GTA meeting on September 4 that Mamata is likely to attend was not on the agenda on Wednesday. "We had called the emergency meeting to discuss the ongoing agitation with our frontal organizations," said GJM spokesperson and Kalimpong MLA Harka Bahadur Chhetri. "Leaders of the frontal organizations have submitted their views in writing. We are going to discuss them at the all-party meeting on August 30," he added, without saying what the suggestions were. The meeting was held at Malidhura, 6km from Darjeeling town.
There have been differences in the Gorkhaland joint forum right from the start. After Tamang's arrest, Gurung had called an indefinite strike in the Hills without consulting the forum. GJAC leaders called off their planned demonstrations from August 19 to August 26. On Tuesday, Gurung clarified that he had given the strike call out of anger against the state and the Centre that haven't paid heed to the Gorkhaland demand.
Source : timesofindia
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