Tamang walks for ‘democratic voices’ - proof will be provided at the right time: abgl president

Darjeeling, Oct. 26: A day after nearly 300 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters demonstrated in front of his house for two hours, Madan Tamang walked 3km to his office, instead of taking the car, to “reaffirm the existence of democratic voices”.

Tamang’s house is at INA Bypass and the office is on Ladenla Road.

The protesters yesterday were demanding proof of the “secret meeting” that Tamang alleged had taken place between state home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti and the Morcha leaders at Tinchuley in Takdah on October 11.

Around 8.30am today, Tamang walked from Dali and went across town greeting people with 20 of his supporters. The ABGL leader walked right up to Chowrastha.

Two security personnel accompanied him, while a police jeep kept watch from a distance. “When I woke up early this morning, I said to myself that I have to walk all the way to office. This is to reaffirm the existence of democratic voices and to tell everyone that in democracy, people can speak (their minds),” Tamang said.

This is not the first time that the ABGL president had walked through town to send a message. “In 1992, when Subash Ghisingh was opposing the inclusion of the Nepali language in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution and some hooligans destroyed the statue of Bhanu Bhakta, I had walked around town,” said Tamang, who has been active in politics for more than 28 years. Around 2pm, Tamang drove home in his maroon Toyata Innova.

The Morcha has asked Tamang to provide proofs of the meeting by November 7 but the party’s unit in Takdah-Teesta valley — Tinchuley where the session was allegedly held is part of Takdah — wants evidence within the next 48 hours.

“If Madan daju provides us with proof of the meeting I will request my followers to join him. However, if he cannot provide the evidence, he should quit politics after November 7,” Gurung had said on Friday.

The Morcha leader had also said in the absence of proof of the meeting, the people may do to Tamang what they had done to Ghisingh — ask him to leave the Hills.

The controversy started when Tamang announced on October 23 that the Morcha had decided to withdraw two of its non-cooperation movement against the government — deleting “West Bengal” from office signboards and forcing vehicles to use “GL” number plates — following the clandestine meeting with the home secretary.

The Morcha had denied the charges. Gurung had announced the decision to soften the agitation after “repeated” requests from governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on October 22 to create a congenial atmosphere before the next tripartite meeting in November.

Tamang had said he would “provide proof when he thinks the time is right and would not bow down to pressure and coercion”.

The ABGL today started distributing the 51-page memorandum that the Morcha-lead all-party delegation had submitted to the Centre on September 8. The contents have been also put up on www.gorkhajanmuktimorcha.org.

Earlier Tamang had said not many people had access to the Net and so printed 1,000 copies of the memorandum.