GJM supporters march towards Lal Kothi

Darjeeling : Hundreds of supporters of the newly formed Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today marched towards Lal Kothi as part of the party’s plan to gherao the DGHC’s administrative headquarters.

The protesters were stopped by a police barricade 500m from the headquarters. They returned after GJM leaders promised to come back in the second phase of their agitation programme.

“The next time we will go unannounced and will definitely reach Lal Kothi,” said Bimal Gurung, the president of the new party.

“We wanted to go to Lal Kothi and seek an explanation from Subash Ghisingh for dropping the Gorkhaland demand despite the fact that 1,200 martyrs had laid down their lives for it. We do not want Sixth Schedule which will only divide our community,” said GJM general secretary Roshan Giri at a meeting at Chowrastha later in the day.

Before the second phase, the party has decided to send a delegation comprising central committee leaders to Delhi on November 13 to meet Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Shivraj Patil to apprise them of their opposition to the Sixth Schedule status and to raise the Gorkhaland demand.

“The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to start on November 15. On that day we will burn copies of documents related to the special status (like the MoS) across the hills as a mark of protest,” said Gurung.

GNLF Darjeeling branch committee president Deepak Gurung refused to read much into the GJM’s agitation and said the new party would lose steam after a few months.

Source: The Telegraph