Butchery of dissent Gorkha leader hacked to death at Darjeeling meet venue guarded by armed policemen

Darjeeling, May 21: Dissent was hacked to death in Darjeeling today, the khukuris falling mercilessly on a 62-year-old leader sitting at the venue of a public meeting in front of armed policemen.

Madan Tamang, one of the few voices in the hills that had challenged the writ of current Gorkhaland-spearhead Bimal Gurung, died a grisly death at the hands of a mob a little past 9 this morning.

The daylight murder, the audacity and gruesome nature of which has rarely been seen before in Bengal, took place at a spot that was ringed by some of the most famous landmarks in the hills such as Planter’s Club and Keventer’s.

The outspoken police boss of north Bengal directly blamed Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for the murder of Tamang, who was the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL).

The ABGL, though not as powerful as the Morcha which has displaced Subash Ghisingh’s GNLF as the principal campaigner for statehood, has been trying to take on Gurung by saying that he has failed to deliver Gorkhaland.

Dissent has been a casualty ever since the Morcha exploded on the scene two years ago, so much so that other parties have been allowed to hold only a handful of meetings in Darjeeling.

Four days ago, Tamang had met governor M.K. Narayanan, who is in Darjeeling for the summer, and complained to him about the absence of democracy in the hills and the Morcha’s high-handedness.

Narayanan, who issued a statement that was stronger than the comments of the state government which is handling the sensitive issue with extreme caution, today referred to the point raised by the slain leader.

“The fatal attack on him can only be regarded as an attack on democratic forces,” the governor said. “This state of affairs will not be allowed to continue,” Narayanan added.

Till late this evening, the hills were cloaked in a shutdown. The Centre is sending three companies of the CRPF and the state has despatched two companies of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) to maintain peace.

This morning, Tamang had sought to defy the unwritten Morcha bar on other parties’ meetings, arriving with around 50 supporters at the Clubside motor stand in front of Planter’s Club to celebrate his party’s foundation day.

The ABGL had originally scheduled the meeting at Chowk Bazaar, around half a kilometre from the motor stand. However, with the Morcha also deciding to hold a meeting at the same place, Tamang’s party had changed its venue.

At 9.15am, when preparations for the meeting were going on, a mob of 100-odd youths, all armed with lathis and khukuris, descended on the venue, vented war cries like “aayo Gorkhali” and pulled down flags.

Around 40 police personnel were guarding the roads leading to the venue. Ten men belonging to the IRB, a state force, were carrying arms. The ABGL supporters were also armed with lathis and khukuris but the outnumbered ranks fled.

Before Tamang, who was sitting in a chair, could whip out his licensed revolver, he was hacked on the neck. He slumped to the ground, the spurting blood forming puddles.

Tamang’s bodyguard, a state armed police constable, fired from his service revolver, injuring Sangay Yolmo, 33, and Subash Tamang, 53. They are in different hospitals but had not been arrested till late this evening. The police refused to say if they were affiliated to any group.

Tamang was first taken to Planter’s Hospital, about 50 metres away. He was immediately referred to the Darjeeling district hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”.

K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general of police, north Bengal, said: “The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha attacked Madan Tamang.”

But Morcha president Bimal Gurung termed the killing a “conspiracy hatched by the state and the ABGL” to tarnish his party’s image.

Tamta, the police chief, deflected to the state government the question why his force did not act. “The question should be asked to the government. But we want the Morcha leadership, particularly Amar Lama, who is Tamang’s younger brother, to say who is responsible for the murder,” Tamta said.

Contacted, Lama termed the murder “a cowardly act”.

Eighteen people have been arrested from Morcha-dominated areas.

Source: The Telegraph