‘All-party’ push for Gorkhaland - 13 sign deal for central talks

Darjeeling, June 17: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will press for talks with the Centre and if invited, will take representatives from 13 outfits to Delhi, party president Bimal Gurung said here today.

Members of all the 13 parties, including those claiming to be representatives of the Trinamul Congress, Congress, BJP and the CPI, joined the Morcha in signing a resolution demanding talks with the Centre on Gorkhaland. They condemned the Bengal government for alleged atrocities perpetrated against the Nepali-speaking people of Siliguri and the Dooars. The three-point resolution also criticised the government for stopping the Morcha from holding democratic activities in the plains.

Gurung had called an all-party meeting this morning, coinciding with the one held by the Left Front-led Bengal government in Writers’ Buildings in Calcutta.

“When the centre calls us for talks, we will take representatives from each and every party that attended today’s meeting. This is the first time that all the political parties in the hills have collectively passed a resolution of this kind,” said Gurung after the meeting.

“If the parties in the plains can be united to oppose Gorkhaland, the hills, too, have shown that they can come together to fulfil their aspirations.” The Morcha faxed the resolution, signed by all the parties, to the President, Prime Minister, home minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, soon after the meeting.

Some of the parties like the Sikkim National Front and the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress, which have been citing some historical records to demand that the Darjeeling hills should go back to the Himalayan state, also attended the meeting.

“Our demand is separation from Bengal and this is why we have decided to support Bimal Gurung,” said D.K. Bomzom, president of the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress.

The meeting seems to have smoothened a few ruffled feathers — that of the ABGL and the CPRM for instance. While the Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha had disrupted a public meeting of the ABGL here yesterday, the CPRM had been denied permission to go for a rally in Calcutta on vehicles during the first phase of the indefinite bandh. The CPRM had scheduled a demonstration in the state capital to press for the Gorkhaland demand and had said that its goal was the same as the Morcha.

“It is true we have had some differences. However… such small incidents will not disturb our unity,” said Laxman Pradhan, the secretary of the ABGL.