Cases against GLP for wearing Army fatigues

Gorkhaland Personnel, the vigilante wing and sometime moral police of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, is facing police action for donning the fatigues meant exclusively for the armed forces.

According to Kunal Agarwal, the Darjeeling Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), cases have already been lodged at Darjeeling, Kurseong, Mirik and Runglee Rungliot police stations on Wednesday. "We will be executing the warrant order of the court tonight," he said, when asked about the police action.

Formed in 2008, GLP as Gorkhaland Personnel is popularly known has faced severe criticism time and again for its policing activities, which, people felt, are ways of implementing GJM's strongarm tactics.

On January 1, local residents clashed with GLP at Gorubathan in Kalimpong after alleged excesses by the latter. One GLP cadre was seriously injured.

Local resentment against GJM reached a peak when the force was deployed as moral police on Chowrasta, the popular promenade in Darjeeling. GLP would round up those caught smoking or in a drunken state. They were also deployed along NH-31A to check vehicles carrying alcohol from Sikkim.

Though the state government has maintained a policy of no confrontation as far as GJM activities are concerned, there was a crackdown on GLP last year, when they were forced to vacate government and DGHC guest houses it had been occupying for months. The latest crackdown is being seen as additional pressure on a beleaguered GJM, which has seen a downslide of support in the Hills ever since the public murder of ABGL chief Madan Tamang in May 2010.

Though GLP cadres usually wear tracksuits, those guarding GJM chief Bimal Gurung during public meetings are seen in the camouflage fatigues of the Army. GJM claims that the GLP is a voluntary unit that is given physical training in camps in Phagu tea garden in Gorubathan and in Jamune and Roy Villa in Darjeeling.

Col Ramesh Allay, president of Bharatiya Gorkha Bhootpurva Sainik Morcha and GLP head, said, "We haven't broken any law. We are involved social work. We had passed an order asking GLP to not wear army fatigues. It could be that some of our men have been wearing fatigues without our knowledge. Will check on that."

The ASP said that cases against GLP had been started last year itself and that the latest development was not a sudden measure as the Kurseong court had also issued warrants against them.

GLP's misbehaviour leads to clash between Public and GLP

Kalimpong, Jan. 2: An altercation between a few members of Gorkhaland Personnel and residents of a village near Gorubathan descended into a full-fledged clash in which the camp of the voluntary force was ransacked and one persons was injured last night.

The violence was the result of the pent-up anger of the people at Upper Fagu, who said the GLP members were frequently misbehaving with the villagers and creating problems in the area.

The GLP is the voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2008 for “crowd control”. Later, the party had tried to make the squad function like a parallel police force, checking cars and seizing “illegal liquor” in the Darjeeling hills”.

According to sources, the clash took place after a group of GLP members came to the local market around 6pm and started misbehaving with shopkeepers and bystanders. When some locals protested, the volunteers beat up Munna Gurung, 38, and Dominique Thapa, 29.

As the word of the assault spread, the village youths decided to retaliate. Armed with sticks, they swooped on the camp in a tea garden, hurling stones at the tents for the volunteers and smashing the sentry gate. “This resulted in a full-fledged fight between the locals and the GLP boys. The villagers ransacked about 20 temporary tin sheds the GLP had constructed on the tea estate,” said a resident.

A vehicle belonging to the squad was also smashed by the attackers. A GLP volunteer, Pranay Gurung, suffered injuries on the head and was admitted to a hospital in Siliguri.

The GLP sought to downplay the incident. “One of our boys was intoxicated and this led to some problems. There is nothing more to it,” said Ramesh Allay, the GLP president, on phone from Gorubathan, 70km from here.

Munna and Dominique were released after being administered first aid at the primary health centre in Gorubathan, the headquarters of Kalimpong block III.

A villager said ever since the camp had been set up at Upper Fagu two years ago, there had been regular brawls between the volunteers and the local people. “The volunteers would often get drunk and use abusive language against us. People have at last decided to teach them a lesson,” he said.

Confirming the attack on the camp, Darjeeling police chief D.P. Singh said no complaint had been lodged with the law enforcers by either of the parties. “If we don’t receive a complaint, we will start a case on our own because it is a serious matter. The fight broke out as, we believe, both the sides were highly-strung and some of them were intoxicated,” he told The Telegraph over the phone.

Morcha vice-president Kalyan Dewan and the party’s Kalimpong unit secretary Suva Pradhan rushed to Gorubathan today, along with Allay, to defuse the situation. The Upper Fagu camp of the GLP has been running for two-and-half years. Allay said there were about 300 personnel, all boys, in the camp at the moment.

The police, however, said there should be about 75 GLP youths in the camp right now, but the figure kept changing.

Source: The Telegraph

Morcha threatens to unleash Gorkha squad - Rs 3 lakh promised to GLP members dying for statehood

Darjeeling, March 25: Bimal Gurung has threatened to “let loose the GLP” on the administration if it does not stop harassing the common people in the hills. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president has also promised Rs 3 lakh each to families of Gorkhaland Personnel if they are killed during the statehood agitation that the party is spearheading.

“If the GLP members die during the agitation, the party will provide a compensation of Rs 3 lakh (each) to the next of kin,” Gurung told a gathering of party workers at the Ambotia tea garden, 50km from Darjeeling and in Kurseong subdivision, yesterday.

Soon after announcing the compensation, Gurung warned the state government against “continuously conducting raids and harassing the public in Kurseong”.

“If the administration does not stop conducting raids and harassing the public in Kurseong, I will let loose the GLP on them,” he warned. “The GLP is trained by ex-servicemen on every aspect of combat except the use of firearms.” Last month, police had conducted raids across Kurseong town following the attack on the police station there and the torching of the house of Shanta Chhetri, the GNLF MLA from Kurseong. Gurung was referring to the February 18 incident in which more than 70 party supporters were arrested in and around Siliguri for blocking NH55 and NH31 during a 24-hour bandh called by the Morcha’s student front. The arrests triggered the rampage and the arson in the hill town. “If ever there comes a time when people stop talking about Gorkhaland, I along with my GLP, will carry on with the struggle till my last breath,” he said.

The Morcha claims to have around 7,000 men and women in the GLP, who are paid a monthly remuneration of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500. The GLP is made up of volunteers raised initially — according to party claims — for crowd management during public programmes. Later, the party had tried to make it function like a parallel police force, checking cars to seize “illegal liquor”. The administration had then announced that the GLP seizures went against the law. Even though the Morcha president talked about “letting loose the GLP”, he laid stress on a “democratic agitation”.

“The kind of democratic agitation we have undertaken is an example for the rest of the country. Unlike the agitation (for statehood) of 1986 (started by Subash Ghisingh), when 1,200 people died and women along with children were taught to play with gunpowder, we are moving ahead in a peaceful manner now,” said Gurung.

The leader also lambasted Ghisingh for his brand of politics. “After the death of hundreds of his supporters, he left out the Dooars and Terai (from the purview of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council). We are now having to fight for this territory,” he said.

Gurung also referred to Ghisingh’s call to the common people to make offerings of tongba (intoxicant) to the gods and goddesses during his Sixth Schedule campaign. “If people want such a rule and such a leader (who wants people to make tongba offerings), it will be their loss,” he said. The GNLF had organised meetings at Longview and Sukna early this month. “Ninety-nine per cent of the people are fighting for Gorkhaland but a few of them, promoted by the state, are trying to derail our movement. For these people my Nari Morcha is enough. Our Nari Morcha members have long nails which can be used to good effect,” he said in jest.

The leader also had a word for Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL, a Morcha rival. “For 40 years you (Tamang) were in politics and you should be able to show what you have done for the hill people,” Gurung said.

The Morcha president is currently touring the Kurseong subdivision, reorganising the party. “When our party was formed those who came forward initially became the leaders. Now we are seeing to it that the leaders are selected by the local people through election. This will help the party remain strong at the grassroots level,” Gurung said.

The process of dividing the party into block and zonal-level units has already been completed in Kalimpong subdivision. After Kurseong, Gurung is expected to carry out the exercise in Darjeeling as well. The Morcha plans to hold a large public meeting, to be addressed by Gurung, in Kurseong town on March 28.

Source: The Telegraph

CPM demands ban on Gorkhaland Personnel

The CPI-M today demanded a ban on the Gorkhaland Personnel ~ a voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha. The CPI-M Darjeeling district leadership, after a mass convention in Siliguri tomorrow, would write to the state home secretary, demanding ban on the GLP.

“We would send a letter, along with photographs of GLP activities, to the home secretary and request him to take necessary action to ban the outfit,” the state municipal affairs and urban development minister, Mr Asok Bhattacharya said today while speaking on the GJMM's diktat on dress code. The GJMM recently decreed that students and teachers would have to wear traditional dress in colleges thrice a week and GLP personnel would be posted in colleges to check the matter. Mr Bhattacharya today held a review meeting of the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority. The SJDA would publish a booklet on the controversial Kawakhali land deal soon, said Mr Bhattacharya. The minister rejected the Trinamul's claim of alleged corruption in the land deal. “The booklet would contain all details of the deal,” said Mr Bhattacharya.

The minister today also appealed to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation Mayor Miss Gangotri Datta to organise a training programme for the new SMC councillors. “I met her for the first time today after she was elected as the SMC Mayor. I have requested her to organise a training programme to inform the new councillors of the rules and Acts. I would extend all help for the purpose,” Mr Bhattacharya said.

The Statesman

Martial drill for Bimal Gurung’s army

On a large tract of arid land, strewn with boulders and rocks, hundreds of young men and women stand in formation, practising kicks, punches and knee-strikes. Hundreds more are in line to sign up.

This patch of land in the upper Phagu valley near Gorubathan is the training ground of Bimal Gurung’s army of volunteers’ the so-called Gorkhaland Personnel of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Most of them are from very poor families, drawn here by Gurung’s promise of a Rs 2,000 monthly stipend and believing desperately in the dream that he has shown them that Gorkhaland is the magic solution to their poverty and all their problems.

Twenty-two-year-old Kiran Rai is one of them. A Class X dropout, who was idling away at home, suddenly found his calling in the Gorkhaland cry. He follows a punishing schedule from dawn to darkness. Kiran has other dreams as well a job, a little financial stability. And, he firmly believes his dreams will come true only after the formation of Gorkhaland. MORE...