PTI: Siliguri (WB): The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today
announced a 48-hour fast from February 9 on the statehood issue, even as police
arrested 220 GJM members for violating prohibitory orders at Birpara in the
plain.
GJM supremo Bimal Gurung said morcha activists would observe fast in
three hill sub-divisions and here in protest against the arrest of fellow
members and to press for statehood demand.
In Dooars of Jalpaiguri district, a 12-hour bandh was called by Adivasi
Vikash Parishad in protest against the GJM's move to launch fast in the area to
press for inclusion of some Dooars areas in the proposed state.
Inspector general of police (North Bengal) KL Tamta told PTI, 220 GJM
activists were arrested for coming to the Birpara Nepali Higher Secondary
School ground to hold the meeting forcefully defying the section 144 CrPC in
force.
Police had to act as there was every possibility of a clash between the
GJM and activists who had been opposing holding of a Morcha meeting at the
ground where a huge police force was present. Parishad leader Rajesh Lakra said
under no circumstances they would allow the meeting at Birpara or in any part
of Dooars region of Jalpaiguri district, where adivasis have a stronghold.
Alleging that the West Bengal government once again showed its
'undemocratic side' to the Gorkhas, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI
that it has decided to observe martyr's day in memory of one Akbar Lama who was
killed in February, 2007 at Birpara in violence allegedly perpetrated by
adivasi activists.
"We are not being allowed to hold any meeting and even to pay
homage to our martyrs. Is it a civic government," Giri asked.
Sikkim
slams GJMM
PTI, Gangtok: Slamming the pro-Gorkhaland agitationists for
carrying out frequent traffic disruption on the National Highway 31A, the sole
road link connecting Sikkim with the rest of country, chief minister Pawan
Kumar Chamling today urged the Centre to intervene in the matter to enable the
people of Sikkim to lead a life of dignity and respect.
A state of lawlessness was prevailing in the Darjeeling Hills since 1986
on the issue of a separate statehood demand with the agitationists resorting to
frequent blockade of the NH-31A that has adversely affected the economy of Sikkim
and traumatised its people who have had to live in a state of fear, he said at
the meet on internal security presided over by the prime minister Manmohan
Singh at New Delhi.
The loss to the state economy has been to the tune of Rs1,000 crore
because of traffic disruptions on NH-31A since 1986, Chamling said, an official
release said here today.
Something needs to be done (uninterrupted traffic
on NH-31A) urgently as the agitationists had sought to isolate Sikkim and its
people at will and even on the slightest pretext, Chamling implored the Centre.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha heads for split over
Gurung's plan
Sumanta Ray Chadhuri, DNA Kolkata: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha
(GJM), which is demanding a Gorkhaland state, is heading for a split as most of
its top leaders are opposing a statehood plan by its president, Bimal Gurung.
In a hurry to convince the Centre to green-signal the statehood demand,
Gurung announced that GJM would not ask for the inclusion of the
tribal-dominated plains of Terai and Dooars in the proposed state. In fact,
Gurung also wrote to the home ministry showing a map of Gorkhaland without
Terai and Dooars.
The decision has angered other top GJM leaders, including general
secretary Roshan Giri, who is the second to Gurung in importance, as well as
publicity secretary Dr Harkabahadur Chetri.
Giri and Chetri told reporters that Gurung did not
discuss the contents of his letter with the GJM central committee.
The duo said that Gurung’s plan would not be accepted by the people. “We
strongly feel it is possible to include the plains of Terai and Dooars in
Gorkhaland,” Giri said.
Though Chetri is not in favour of directly attacking Gurung on the
exclusion of Terai and Dooars, he is angry that the latter kept other leaders
in the dark about the letter.
“When the president has not informed us anything about the letter’s
contents, there is no point in discussing the matter right now,” Chetri said.
Gurung’s position has become even more stickier, since other forces
supporting Gorkhaland such as the Indian Gorkha League, have criticised the
decision to exclude the plains from the Gorkhaland plan.
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