GLO leader Chattrey Subba: Do not try to mortgage Gorkhaland

GANGTOK: February 3, 2012: Within month of the formation of the much hailed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, talks of reviving the demand for a free Gorkhaland have started cropping up yet again. In the most recent development 71-year-old former Gorkhaland Liberation Organization (GLO) chief Chhatrey Subba has said, “I spent 11 years in Jalpaiguri Jail for the cause of the identity for the Gorkhas, and I am always ready for it.” The GLO president Chattrey Subba said in an interaction with a local daily on February 2, at Kalimpong.

 Chattrey Subba, for his staunch support for a separate state, had fallen out with Ghisingh after the latter signed the accord to establish the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988. Subba opposed the accord which came after a 28- month agitation for a Gorkhaland state. The people felt cheated that after such a long struggle, the end result came to a naught. Subba went on to form the GLO and used militant tactics to continue the Gorkhaland struggle in the 80s. Later he was arrested in 2001 in connection with a murder attempt on Subash Ghisingh, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader. Subba was released from the Jalpaiguri correctional home last year on February 10, 2011.

Subba said to this daily, “Ghising sold the desire of Gorkha community in 1988 as he was lured by money.”

Expressing his displeasure with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) led Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), Subba said, “It is because of identity crises that Gorkha are still facing problems. Gorkhaland is a hundred year old demand and it must reach its culimination,” said Subba.

Subba vowed, “I will start a fresh movement under my own banner. I am not interested in the unification between Darjeeling and Sikkim and want salvation from the clutches of West Bengal”, however, “We hope a great deal of support from Sikkim for Gorkhaland.”

Subba warned the all the Darjeeling Hill parties not to give false hope and suggestions on the issue of Gorkhaland. The communities are in a position to sacrifice their life for the cause and the leaders should lead them in the right direction. He asserted, “Do not try to mortgage the native (Gorkha) land.”

People are still confused about Gorkhaland. It is but on the part of they themselves to choose the right leaders, said Subba. However, Subba called he praised GJM chief Bimal Gurung Subba as sincere, honest, and soil lover who is misguided by people around him.

Source: iSikkim

Rebel Gorkha leader Chattrey Subba criticizes GTA

Darjeeling: Seventy one years old Chattrey Subba is considering taking sannyas from politics. However the rebel did not fail to criticize the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA- an administrative arrangement for the Darjeeling Hills) and pitched for the separate state of Gorkhaland. It was a day of mixed emotions at the Subba household at Raushey Bazar in Kalimpong on Saturday, the day after Chattrey's release from the correctional home after 10 long years. While the family celebrated his return; bail being denied to his son Santosh Subba in a different case, cast a long shadow on the revelry. Subba had been arrested on March 24, 2001 in connection with the Subash Ghising assassination bid case. He was finally acquitted on September 9, 2011. Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) leader Subash Ghising, then the Chairman of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) had been attacked at Saath-ghoomti under the Kurseong sub division, on his way back from Delhi. Two police drivers died in the attack along with a suspected attacker. Six others were injured. “Whosoever raises the demand for Gorkhaland is either murdered as in the case of Madan Tamang or sent behind bars like me. Even the GTA deal has been clinched over Madan Tamang’s dead body. Blackmailing over the murder forced a compromise” alleged Subba. “I believe that only Gorkhaland can resolve the crisis of the Gorkhas. I do not have faith in anything less. Because I opposed the DGHC earlier Ghising along with the government conspired and sent me behind bars. The attack on Ghising was orchestrated by Ghising and the government to put me behind bars. While in the Correctional Home the government had offered me a high power Council which I could head. However I did not accept their proposal hence I was forced to languish in jail. They even tried to kill me” alleged Subba. He stated that while he was in the correctional home in 2003 he had a severe heart ailment and was shifted from the Jalpaiguri Correctional Home to a medical facility in Kolkata. “There they had kept me under heavy security without giving me a single medicine for my cardiac ailment. But seeing that I did not die they were forced to send me back to the correctional home in Jalpaiguri. Subba used to head the militant wing of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) during the violent agitation of the 80’s led by Subash Ghising. He however had parted ways with Ghising over the formation of the DGHC in 1988. He had floated a new outfit Gorkha Liberation Organisation (GLO) Subba had vehemently opposed the DGHC and had given a call for the continuation of the separate state agitation. “Councils and similar administrative bodies delay the main goal of separate State. It also does not fulfill the political identity issue not accords a political security to the Gorkhas. Only a separate state than ensure this” stated Subba. When questioned on his future plans, Subba stated “My family members want me to retire from politics and I am planning to do so.” More than 10 years behind bars seemed to have dampened the rebel spirit. Regarding his son Santosh Subba being arrested in the Kalimpong blast incident, Subba stated “If he is guilty he should be punished. If not they should not keep him behind bars like they did to me for 10 years after which they acquitted me. I have lost precious years of my life” On July 26, 2011, the Kalimpong motor stand was rocked by a low intensity blast at around 3am in the morning with a stove allegedly planted below a North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) bus having exploded. Santosh was arrested in connection with this case on July 31. “I am happy that my husband is back home after 10 long years but I am also sad that my son is behind bars though he is innocent like his father” stated Monika Subba, wife of Chattrey Subba. Source: Hindustan Times