GJM rally on the streets of Darjeeling hills

Kalimpong, Feb. 12: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha took to the streets for a separate state for the first time today since the signing of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement and a day after Mamata Banerjee’s visit to the hills.

The move, party leaders admitted, was part of a two-pronged strategy to force the government for an early implementation of the pact and to counter rivals who have been trying to use the delay to drum up support in their favour.

Rallies and public meetings were held across the hills by the frontal organisations of the Morcha, whose supporters shouted slogans for Gorkhaland.

The processions culminated in public meetings, where speakers spoke in favour of statehood. Although planned earlier, the rallies come a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Centre for the delay in implementing the GTA and promised the Morcha that she would discuss the matter with the Prime Minister.

Asked why the rallies were still being held despite the chief minister’s assurance, Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “The programmes announced will continue. We want speedy implementation of the GTA.”

The Morcha will hold similar rallies and public meetings all over the hills every Sunday in the weeks ahead.

Binay Tamang, the Morcha assistant secretary, said the GTA would not be a stumbling block to Gorkhaland and the party would continue to raise the demand for a separate state before and after its formation.

Tamang said a series of programmes would also be held in Mirik from February 24 to March 1 in favour of Gorkhaland.

Although Tamang denied the Mirik programme was an attempt to thwart the GNLF from campaigning for a Sixth Schedule status for the hills, many felt it was otherwise. “The GNLF has said it will hold a public meeting in Mirik on February 26 to drum up support for the Sixth Schedule. The Morcha’s Mirik-centric programmes are an obvious attempt to counter that,” said an observer.

Arjun Rai, a GNLF leader from Mirik, said his party was yet to decide on the public meeting.

“Nothing is firmed up. We are thinking of holding the meeting. I don’t want to react to other parties’ decisions but what is important is that we are in favour of Sixth Schedule. We will do all that is in our means to force the Centre to implement the tripartite pact granting Sixth Schedule status to the hills,” he said.

The Morcha has accused its rivals of trying to use the delay in the formation of GTA to their advantage.

Morcha president Bimal Gurung last week launched a scathing attack on Gorkhaland Task Force, targeting Chhatrey Subba in particular and accusing him of harbouring Maoists.

The ABGL, CPRM, GNLF(C), Bharatiya Gorkha Parisang and the Gorkha Rajya Nirman Morcha are members of the GTF.

“The Morcha obviously believes that the opposing voices are getting vocal by the day because of the delay in the implementation of GTA. They seem to have learnt the lesson from the GNLF, which lost ground partly because of the long delay in the implementation of the Sixth Schedule pact,” said an observer.

Gurung has also accused a section of the media of providing a platform to his opponents so that they can continue with their campaign against his party even though they do not enjoy any public support.

The local channel here has stopped airing news based programmes after Gurung’s allegation.

The Morcha denied that the party had anything to do with the programmes going off air. “The decision to stop telecasting the news is that of the cable operator,” said Tamang. The civil society has taken strong exception to the development.

“The news programmes must be allowed to resume. The local cable operator should not be allowed to feel insecure. This is the demand of the public,” said N.P. Dixit, the president of the Citizens’ Rights Forum, Kalimpong.

Source: The Telegraph

AIGL appeals to Chidambaram to accept Gorkhaland demand

The All India Gorkha League (AIGL) on Sunday appealed to Union home minister P Chidambaram to accept the demand for Gorkhaland.

AGIL leaders plan to go to New Delhi in the first week of January to meet the Union home ministry officials to press for their demand of Gorkhaland, senior AIGL leader Laxman Pradhan.

Pradhan asked the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) not to accept the Gorkha Council as proposed by the Centre and West Bengal government. The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) committed a blunder by accepting the Council and I would ask the GJM not to commit the same mistake.

DM reaches office in state car - Rival rally in the time of shutdown

The district collectorate remained open for the first time today during a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha strike, the state government testing waters as the hill party kept its cadres off the roads to avoid confrontation and delink itself from the violence it has come to be associated with after Madan Tamang’s murder.

Also, despite the bandh, around 250 ABGL supporters brought out a peace march in town from Clubside motor stand where its leader Madan Tamang was hacked to death exactly a month ago.

However, the Morcha threatened to intensify its agitation by starting an indefinite hunger strike from June 27 to press for demands like judicial inquiry into the lathicharge on its supporters in Kurseong on Wednesday.

At 11am, Darjeeling district magistrate Surendra Gupta along with two additional district magistrates, the subdivisional officer and about eight deputy magistrates entered the office.

In every bandh that the Morcha had called in the past, it had put up pickets in front of the district magistrate's office to prevent the entry of officials. The party has made an exception this time and has not come out onto the streets to enforce the bandh.

While Gupta came in his official vehicle, the others arrived in government jeeps that had “on law and order duty” stickers pasted on the windscreens.

“As government officials, we are duty bound to attend office,” said Gupta, refusing to take any further questions. During the earlier shutdown called by the Morcha, the district magistrate always functioned from his residence, which also has an office. Most of the government officials discharged their duties from the DM’s bungalow in the past.

Sources said this time the state government had instructed the officials to attend work during the shutdown to send a message to the Morcha.

The government has been stepping up heat on Bimal Gurung’s outfit since Tamang’s murder and the anti-Morcha backlash that it triggered.

The state had not only implicated the Morcha in the killing, but had also started asserting the writ of administration in the hills taking advantage of the people erupting in anger over Tamang’s murder.

As a first step, three companies of the CRPF were deployed in Darjeeling town for the first time since the Morcha was formed in 2007. This was followed by DGHC administrator B.L. Meena filing FIRs against Gorkhaland personnel — a Morcha squad of lathi-wielding volunteers —occupying government properties for the past two years.

The Morcha has countered this by mounting pressure on the government by calling an indefinite strike in the hills. But it has been careful in avoiding confrontation and distancing itself from all violence by ensuring that its cadres do not come onto the streets to enforce the bandh, especially with the CRPF patrolling the roads.

“The government is hatching a conspiracy to derail the statehood movement. We have called a strike to protest the police excesses on our party supporters at Kurseong. We demand a judicial inquiry into the lathicharge on a peaceful demonstration. If the state fails to act, seven members each will sit on an indefinite hunger strike at Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong from June 27,” said Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha at a media conference.

Lashing out at Meena, Giri said: “He is inefficient and is issuing statements as if he is a political leader. We don’t want an administrator who works from Siliguri despite having his headquarters in Darjeeling. The government must not give him any further extensions after his tenure ends on June 30.”

Asked about the district magistrate’s decision to function from his office during the shutdown, Giri said: “We have not stopped anyone from working.”

Binay Tamang, an assistant secretary of the Morcha, said the Gorkhaland Personnel would not vacate the government buildings. “The Kalimpong police station yesterday sent a notice to the camp at Chest Clinic (a DGHC owned community hall) but the GLP will not vacate the property and we have already written to the administration conveying our message.”

In the meantime, an ABGL seven-member team will leave for Calcutta tomorrow to meet chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. “The team would discuss the prevailing situation in the hills,” said ABGL leader Mohan Sharma.

Telegraph

ABGL for referendum on ‘set-up’

Darjeeling, April 18: The ABGL has urged the government to hold a referendum to find out whether the interim set-up mooted by the Centre, state and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is acceptable to the people.

“If the referendum goes in favour of the (interim) set-up, we have nothing to say. However, the government must not thrust any provision on the people unless it is accepted by them,” ABGL president Madan Tamang told a media conference today. “The Morcha is now talking as if the interim set-up is equivalent to the statehood. We do not think the people will accept it.”

The ABGL chief also demanded a probe into the assets of Morcha leaders. “We believe that Rs 1,200 crore has been spent through the DGHC in the last two years. We demand a CBI inquiry into the projects executed by the council in the past 24 months and a probe to ascertain Morcha leaders’ properties,” said Tamang.

Ghisingh salvo

The GNLF chief, Subash Ghisingh, said in Jalpaiguri on Sunday that the Morcha’s settling for an interim set-up was “nothing but begging”. Ghisingh said he was “101 per cent” sure that the Centre and the state had rejected the demand for Gorkhaland. He criticised the Morcha’s demand for the inclusion of the Terai, Dooars and Siliguri in the interim set-up and quashed rumours that he had been invited by the Union home minister for talks.

Source: The Telegraph

Rival spews ‘mislead’ fire

Darjeeling, March 22: The ABGL has been accused of “misleading” the people and trying to create a law and order problem in the hills, a day after its supporters burned the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s proposal for an interim set-up.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “Madan Tamang is misleading the hill people over our demand to grant tribal status to the hill people. Granting tribal status and including the region (under Sixth Schedule) are two different issues which Tamang has not understood.”

“The Nagas are tribals but Sixth Schedule is not applicable there (in Nagaland). The same holds true in Arunachal Pradesh. In fact, the Sixth Schedule is applicable to only four of the eight northeastern states. Tamang is deliberately trying to mislead the people and create a law and order situation so that our proposal for a state within a state is affected,” Giri added.

Tamang had yesterday organised a rally in Darjeeling where copies of the Morcha’s proposal for an interim arrangement were burned. Tamang accused the Morcha of trying to hoodwink the people by settling for a special status under the Sixth Schedule. “The Morcha’s demand to grant ST status to all Gorkhas and to set up a tribal research institute are a sure give away that its proposal is nothing but the Sixth Schedule status,” he said.

Today, the Morcha leadership iterated that they had little interest in the special status. “Our proposal is far stronger than the Sixth Schedule. Ours is a state within a state for which we have demanded legislative and judiciary powers also,” said Giri.

Describing Tamang as a failure in politics, Giri said: “The people have never accepted him. Moreover, in his long political career he has done nothing but criticism. He has never raised any issue at a proper forum like Delhi but only speaks at the Motor Stands of Kalimpong and Kurseong and in Chowk Bazar in Darjeeling.”

Tamang should also understand that the proposal is not a final settlement, said Giri.

From The Telegraph

ABGL “demands” before extending support for Darjeeling LS Polls

The ABGL today ruled out fielding its own candidate for the Darjeeling seat but said it would place a number of demands before the BJP and the Congress and then take a decision on April 10 on extending support to any of the two parties.

Both the national outfits have fielded their candidates for the Darjeeling seat. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which has not fielded its own candidate, has agreed to support the BJP’s Jaswant Singh. MORE...

AIGL refuses to support Singh

In what appears to be a body blow to the much-hyped political unity claim for the Darjeeling hills by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha, the All India Gorkha League today flatly declined to extend support to the GJMM-backed BJP candidate, Mr Jaswant Singh, in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.

Another important constituent of the broad-based hill configuration the Communist Party (Revolutionary Marxist) appeared wary of the candidature of the BJP veteran. And, the GNLF appears all set to announce its poll stand in a day or two. MORE...

AIGL likely to field Darjeeling candidate in LS polls

The All India Gorkha League (AIGL) or Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL) president, Mr Madan Tamang today hinted that his party might put up a candidate for the Darjeeling constituency in the upcoming Parliamentary elections. “We would not enter a poll alliance with any of the national parties. We would either contest or remain neutral depending upon the unfolding of the now-embryonic poll scenario,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the AIGL allied with a few parties including the Communist Party Revolutionary Marxist and put up a consensus candidate in the last Parliamentary elections. MORE...

Madan Tamang scan on Balasun project

Madan Tamang, the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, today raised questions on the feasibility of the Rs 55 crore Balasun water scheme and urged people to remain vigilant to ensure that the project was a success.

“I had visited Balasun recently and held discussions with people associated with the project. If we are not vigilant and we start questioning its feasibility, the project could be a non-starter,” said Tamang. MORE...

RTI: Tamang seeks fund account

DARJEELING, Nov. 19: The AIGL president, Mr Madan Tamang said that he would take legal action against the DGHC administrator Mr BL Meena if he failed to give an account of the funds that have been allotted to and utilised for development from the DGHC exchequer.

It may be mentioned that Mr Tamang had filed an RTI application with the DGHC on 6 October alleging that a fund of Rs 30 crore had been released to it and the mandatory period of 45 days to reply will be over in a few days. According to him the GJMM while defying the state government with non-cooperation movement is still accepting funds.

“Why maintain this duplicity of civil disobedience when they are accepting government funds? All details on who filed the tenders, what works were being done, should be made public. If the DGHC administrator fails within the stipulated period we shall take legal action against him,” Mr Tamang said.

Incidentally, all DGHC offices and development work under it have been indefinitely closed as per GJMM president Mr Bimal Gurung's directive since 9 November claiming that tenders and contract bids were distracting the youth from the Gorkhaland movement.

The period also overlaps with the pen down strike of DGHC ad-hoc workers demanding regularisation. Recently, the GJMM has filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against Mr Tamang for trying to malign the party with baseless allegations. Students who are now at the forefront of the movement have been entrusted with the responsibility of demanding proof from the leader. They are also observing a relay hunger strike for the success of the tripartite meet.

In the same context, Mr. Tamang would also register a complaint with the “highest authority” regarding the involvement of students in a political movement on 21 November. “There is a Supreme Court ruling which forbids students from participating in political programmes. We will move to the highest level in the education department against this,” he said.

The GJMM students’ wing, however, has repeatedly maintained, “demanding one's birthright is not politics.”

Morcha double case blow to Tamang - Court asks cops to treat probe request as an FIR Rs 1 crore suit against ABGL chief

Darjeeling, Nov. 12: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has filed a Rs 1-crore defamation suit against Madan Tamang and has submitted a plea in court, asking for a probe into the alleged misuse of funds by the ABGL president.

The lawyer representing the Morcha, Taranga Pandit, said the chief judicial magistrate, in whose court the plea was admitted, has directed the inspector of Sadar police station to treat the complaint as an FIR and to report the findings by November 29.

The defamation suit has been filed in the court of civil judge (senior division). Both the cases were filed by Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha.

In the defamation suit, Giri claimed that Tamang, who “lost his political image amongst the masses after the emergence of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, has started a war of vilification”.

As an example, the suit cited Tamang’s allegation that the Morcha had relaxed its movement after a “secret meeting” in Takdah with the state home secretary.

The meeting, according to Tamang, had been held on October 11 following which the Morcha announced that it would not force vehicles to use “GL” number plates in the hills and stop wiping out “West Bengal” from government signboards.

The Morcha had said the relaxations were made after governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi requested them to ensure a congenial atmosphere before the second round of tripartite talks were held in Delhi in November.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had asked Tamang to prove within November 7 his allegation and to provide the number of the Sikkim registered vehicle that were allegedly used by his party members to go to Takdah.

“The statements and utterances by the defendant (Tamang) were made in bad faith and without any bona fide and with malice, enmity and is reckless without due care and attention fully well that the same were without basis whatsoever,” the complaint reads.

Apart from the value of the suit (Rs 1 crore), the plaintiff has asked for “a permanent mandatory injunction restraining the defendant either by himself or through his agents or employees for verbal utterances and written statement with intent to defame (Giri and Morcha leaders)” besides the legal expenses.

“The suit has been accepted and the next date of hearing has been fixed on November 17,” Pandit said.

In the second case, Giri has accused Tamang of collecting donations in 2006 on the pretext of fighting in court the scam and corruption in the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA).

“I had donated a sum of Rs 100 (receipt number 1233),” said Giri.

When the SSA scam of about Rs 5.15 crore became public, the People’s Democratic Front, whose chairman was Madan Tamang, had collected money for an anti-corruption fund to file cases. Tamang, who admitted that the PIL could not be filed because no individuals had dared come forward, said he had the details of expenses incurred in consulting lawyers and was willing to make them public.

Today, the ABGL chief welcomed the Morcha decision to move court. “This is the way to go about in a democratic process. Threats and ultimatum are not part of democracy but this (filing of cases) is. If I file similar cases, they too, should not feel bad,” said Tamang.

‘New front’ to pitch for Gorkhaland

As a culmination of the recent development in the Hills pro-Gorkhaland democratic forces from Darjeeling and Dooras region and the rest of West Bengal will possibly unite to form a political Front for the political demand of a separate state in the initiative of All India Gorkha League.

“This is the inevitable outcome of the undemocratic acts of GJMM. Discussions are going on with all intellectuals from Bengal, concerned citizens and pro-Gorkhaland parties to form a united front to generate a public opinion in the rest of the state for the separate state demand”, said AIGL president Mr. Madan Tamang.

During GNLF's reign a united Opposition comprising of all anti-GNLF parties had formed the Peoples' Democratic Front which was rendered dysfunctional after GJMM came to existence last year. The main reason was the falling out between the CPRM and AIGL, two major constituents of PDF when the former befriended GJMM but the latter refused to surrender.

“The PDF still exists but is keeping a low profile. This will be on a larger scale and formed in the lines of All Party Hill Leaders Conference, an association of different north-eastern parties instrumental in attaining the state of Meghalaya. The Front will be formed within November. Our vision of Gorkhaland is a fearless society where people will not have to follow diktats”, Mr Tamang said.

But the criterion is they will have to adopt a district level resolution for Gorkhaland. “By pro-Gorkhaland we mean all parties in favour of it. Even if the CPIM wishes to join they can by adopting a resolution for the separate state,” Mr Tamang replied when asked if GJMM would be part of it.

The CPRM leadership stated that decisions on such prospects could be taken only after a formal intimation from the AIGL. “We have not received any proposals so far. However, we have to review such a development within our own party before taking any stand,” CPRM general secretary Mr RB Rai said.

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.

Consensus on hill poll yet to be reached

Darjeeling, March 19: The ABGL announcement that it would not contest any polls till the bill conferring Sixth Schedule status on the hills is scrapped and Gorkhaland achieved might put the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in a spot. Although Bimal Gurung, the president of the newly formed party, had said that “election was secondary” to Gorkhaland, his party had never shot down the idea altogether.

On the other hand, the ABGL stand that it will boycott elections till Gorkhaland is achieved will keep the Morcha under pressure, especially after it has, in recent times, revived the statehood demand.

The ABGL announcement comes in the wake of the Bengal government’s keenness to conduct panchayat elections in the Darjeeling hills at the earliest. Although the hills are supposed to have a two-tier panchayat system, election to panchayat samities never took place after 1988 while gram panchayats, too, have been defunct since June 2005.

“We will boycott all elections till our demand for Gorkhaland is realised. We also want the Sixth Schedule bill to be scrapped. The Congress is trying to impose the status so that we cannot place the statehood demand when the Second Reorganisation Commission is set up before the next elections,” said Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL.

The party maintains that contesting elections at this juncture will only help the state government to silence pro-Gorkhaland voices.

The CPRM, another major anti-GNLF party, said it is yet to discuss elections. “We are planning to hold a meeting on March 23 where it is likely to be discussed,” said D.S. Bomzom, the spokesperson for the CPRM.

Tamang criticised the government for not forming a board of political parties to oversee the functioning of the DGHC after Subash Ghisingh resigned from the post of caretaker administrator. “By allowing administrative officials to be at the helm of affairs, the CPM has indirectly come into power at the council. The board would have put in place a check-and-balance system in the council,” said Tamang.

Dharna in Delhi

The Morcha has decided to organise a dharna in front of Parliament at the end of April in demand of Gorkhaland.

Roshan Giri, the general secretary of the Morcha, said over phone from Delhi: “We had met Sonia Gandhi and Shivraj Patil, who asked us to suggest an alternative to the special status. The only alternative would be Gorkhaland.” He added that the dharna would be organised by the Morcha’s Delhi unit.

ABGL not with the All party coalition

Darjeeling, Feb. 4: Except for the ABGL, all the opposition parties in the hills today shared a common platform and pledged to overlook the hurdles of coalition politics to fight for statehood.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha along with the CPRM, GNLF (C), Congress, Trinamul Congress, BJP, Sikkim National Front and Gorkha Rastriya Congress addressed a public meeting at Chowk Bazar.

The ABGL has refused to join the forum unless “collective leadership is practised in letter and spirit”. With this announcement, the death knell of an earlier coalition — the People’s Democratic Front, an anti-Subash Ghisingh forum — was sounded.

R.B. Rai, the general secretary of the CPRM, said: “The abilities of leaders are not judged by their age. Bimal Gurung (the Morcha chief) might be the youngest politician among us but he enjoys mass support and we must stand by him so that our dream for separate statehood is fulfilled.”

Rai, a former Darjeeling Rajya Sabha MP, and one of the senior most leaders, requested the ABGL once again to join the forum. He, however, made it clear that people should reject leaders who refuse to unite because of personal squabbles.

G.S. Yonzone, the president of the BJP hill unit, demanded that Ghisingh leave the council and proposed the formation of Siliguri District Dooars Development Authority instead of the DGHC.

“Siliguri and Dooars are our territory and we will never let them go,” said Yonzone.

ABGL not in the joint coalition to oppose the Sixth Schedule

Darjeeling, Jan. 28: Opposition parties in the hills have once again tried to put up a united front on the Sixth Schedule issue, but the ABGL has refused to take part in the joint plans.

The rift was not so evident yesterday when all hill parties, except the GNLF and the CPM, attended a meeting called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to formalise an action plan against the special status before a parliamentary standing committee arrives in Darjeeling on February 6.

The committee, which will be here for three days, is scrutinising the constitutional amendment bill granting Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills.

The ABGL, an important Opposition outfit, attended the meeting held at Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan Hall here along with the Morcha, CPRM, Congress, BJP, Gorkha Rastriya Congress, GNLF(C), Bharitya Gorkha Janshakti and Trinamul Congress.

R.B. Rai, the general secretary of the CPRM, said: “It was an historic moment as all the parties agreed to come on a common platform and organise a public meeting at Chowk Bazar in Darjeeling on February 4.”

Dawa Lama, a central committee member of the Morcha, said: “Right from the start, we are appealing to all political parties to join hands to achieve our goal of a separate state for the Darjeeling hills. At the meeting, we also discussed how we could unitedly welcome the standing committee and voice our opposition to the Sixth Schedule status.”

However, the ABGL leadership today begged to disagree. “Our representatives attended the meeting as observers. We will not be part of the (Opposition) agitation unless everyone agrees on a collective leadership. We will organise our own public meeting in Darjeeling on February 1,” said ABGL president Madan Tamang.

The ABGL maintains that a decision on the collective leadership is important so that no individual leader can later compromise on the statehood issue.

Morcha rally

The people of Kalimpong block I turned up in huge numbers at a Morcha rally in Kalimpong town today, suggesting that the three-month old party has breached the last bastion of the GNLF.

Around 7,000 people braved the winter chill for close to five hours to listen to speeches by a host of Morcha leaders, including party president Bimal Gurung.

“I’ve always said that people of Kalimpong take time to warm up, but once they are charged up it becomes very difficult to rein them in. The days of the GNLF are numbered,” said Gurung to wild cheers from his supporters.

“We are against the politics of violence. We will not take recourse to khukuris and guns to achieve our goal, but fight with the might of pen,” the Morcha president added.

The Morcha will organise rallies at Algarah tomorrow and at Gorubathan on Wednesday.

ABGL man, Madan Tamang against Bimal Gurung

Darjeeling: The rift between the ABGL and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has widened even as Madan Tamang’s party demanded more territory for any self-rule arrangement that is being envisaged for the hills.

The rift between the two parties came to the fore during a public meeting of the ABGL at Chowk Bazar today. The ABGL has been harping on collective leadership and with the Morcha showing little interest in it, there is enough indication that Tamang’s party will go it all alone in rejecting the Sixth Schedule status.

“I have been opposing the special status for the past three years. These new kids on the block had once burst crackers and performed my last rites. Now they are opposing the Sixth Schedule, but there are indications that they are ready to compromise. I will not accept this,” said Tamang in an obvious reference to Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president. Gurung, Tamang hinted, had been one of those who had performed the ABGL leader’s last rites after the Memorandum of Settlement for the Sixth Schedule was signed in 2005. Gurung was then a GNLF strongman. He formed the Morcha around three months ago.

Tamang also alleged that the Morcha was not sending the right message to the people after meeting the Standing Committee to which the bill on the Sixth Schedule has been referred. “Why does one have to say that Gorkhaland will be formed before March 10, 2010. It seems he (Gurung) is speaking on the direction of some avatari (spiritual leader). It sounds more like Ghisingh (GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh). What will happen if a separate state does not materialise by that time?” said Tamang. He was referring to Gurung’s public address after he returned from Delhi.

The ABGL chief said the clashes between the Morcha and the GNLF were only creating an atmosphere of terror. Those who have left the GNLF should also discard the mentality of Ghisingh’s party. “Otherwise, it will be old wine in a new bottle,” he added.

Although Tamang did not reveal the details of his meeting with the parliamentary committee, he claimed that he had raised the issue of “territory” with the BJP leaders.

“Asok Bhattacharya is saying that the chapter (on territory) is now closed. But I have told the national leaders that in 1982, a bill brought by Somnath Chatterjee, Samar Mukherjee and Ananada Pathak (all from the CPM) demanding regional autonomy for the Darjeeling hills had included pockets of the Dooars where the Nepali-speaking people are in the majority,” said Tamang.

He claimed that all demands for self-autonomy from 1907 onwards had included the Dooars. “It was only in 1988, during the formation of the DGHC, that Ghisingh decided to restrict the autonomy till Sukna.”

Source: The Telegraph

BJP sends ‘feelers’ to hill party

Darjeeling: The central leadership of the BJP has sent feelers to the ABGL to work together, one of the leaders of the hill party claimed today.

Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL, who arrived here from Delhi today, said: “During my meeting with Rajnath Singh (BJP president), he categorically asked me if we were willing to work with his party.”

The BJP does not have much hold in the hills and in the last parliamentary elections, its candidate from Darjeeling had got around 1 lakh votes. The ABGL had then, along with the CPRM and the GNLF (C) — all members of the PDF, an anti-Subash Ghisingh coalition in the hills — backed Dawa Narbula, the Congress candidate, who went on to win the elections.

In recent times, the CPM and the GNLF, Subash Ghisingh’s party, have been wooing the BJP since its support is necessary to get the Sixth Schedule amendment bill passed. The amendment will give Sixth Schedule status to the Darjeeling hills.

Tamang also claimed that the PDF never had any alliance with the Congress, but had supported it in the parliamentary elections out of political compulsions.

“But we are looking at an alliance with the BJP. The equations are favourable as both the ABGL and the BJP are opposed to the CPM,” the leader added.

Although Tamang has not yet conveyed his message to the PDF members, he is likely to do so through a public meeting schedule to take place at Chowk Bazar tomorrow.

“Forging a working relation with the BJP will be of immense help as all decisions on the Sixth Schedule status will be ultimately taken on a political level. I have given lots of documents to the BJP to help it corner the CPM as far as its hill policy is concerned,” said Tamang.

Source: The Telegraph

48 hour ABGL Strike

Kurseong : The ABGL has called a 48-hour strike in town starting tomorrow to protest against the civic chairman’s alleged reluctance to execute the will left behind by his son Sami Agarwal.

Sami had died in March 2000 and had reportedly bequeathed all his property to the underprivileged.

The GNLF on the other hand has decided to defy the bandh and has urged establishments and shops to remain open.

The ABGL, which is a member of the anti-Subash Ghisingh coalition in the hills, has also said it will not allow P.C. Agarwal, the chairman of Kurseong Municipality, to hoist the Tricolour on Independence Day.

“He is not fit for it. Sami’s registered will clearly states that he has donated his property to the poor people of the hills. Even his flat in New Delhi is supposed to be sold and money raised to set up a school for poor children. We got hold of the will seven years after his death and realised that Agarwal has not bothered to execute it,” said Saroj Khatri, an ABGL member.

Pranoy Thapa, the general secretary of the ABGL in Kurseong, said Agarwal should not have kept silent about the will so long.

Though the ABGL has made it clear that the issue has nothing to do with politics or Ghisingh’s party, he GNLF has decided to stand by its member. “The allegations against Agarwal are personal. It has got nothing to do with the Independence Day. The Opposition’s move is anti-national,” said N.B. Khawas, the general secretary of the GNLF in Kurseong.

Vinod Agarwal, whose name appears as a witness, said he is not aware of what is written in the will. “I had signed it, but did not read it,” Vinod, who is Sami’s cousin, said.

Agarwal said the Opposition was trying to tarnish his image. “I don’t have any information on the will, but if it is there, they should go to court.”

Source: The Telegraph