The Death of a King!

Source: Himalaya Darpan

Bandh to hit Sikkim vehicles as well

SILIGURI, Feb. 24: Beginning tomorrow, vehicles hailing from Sikkim are also coming under the ambit of the GJMM’s indefinite Darjeeling bandh, which is underway since 20 February. According to the GJMM general secretary, Mr Roshan Giri, the party activists have been instructed not to allow any vehicle to ply along the NH31A to Sikkim from early morning tomorrow.  Until today, the GJMM had kept the vehicles with Sikkim registration number out of the bandh, while vehicles with West Bengal numbers were barred from plying between Siliguri and Sikkim. The NH31A is the only road link that connects Sikkim to the rest of the country via Siliguri and a sizeable stretch of the arterial road falls in Kalimpong sub-division of the Darjeeling hills. The fresh GJMM diktat means, beginning tomorrow there would be no vehicles plying to and from Sikkim. In another development, the GJMM has relaxed the indefinite bandh in the cinchona and tea plantations in the hills for a week beginning tomorrow. This, the agitating Hill party say, has been done keeping in mind the plight of the plantation workers.

Left Front peace rally

The district Left Front today brought out a huge public rally from Baghajatin Park in Siliguri in support of peace in the Darjeeling hills and a harmonious relationship between all communities in the region. The rally marched up to the Air View More and then returned via Sevoke Road-Bidhan Road. [The Statesman] 

Hill MLA Pranai Rai calls for referendum

Kalimpong, Feb. 24: Darjeeling MLA Pranai Rai’s suggestion to hold a referendum on the Sixth Schedule for the hills has been well received more by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha than by his colleagues in the GNLF, at least in Kalimpong.

While most GNLF leaders we spoke to refused to go on record, Kalimpong MLA Gaulan Lepcha brushed aside the suggestion.

“Why should there be a referendum now when the people have already given their verdict in favour of Sixth Schedule in the last Assembly election,” said Lepcha.

The three-time MLA said his single-point poll plank had been Sixth Schedule status, and the people had voted overwhelmingly for him. .

Given that there are no takers within the GNLF for a referendum, it appears Rai was speaking in his individual capacity. Or, probably, he is trying to wriggle his way out of the party, having seen the writing on the wall, said an observer.

The Morcha, on its part, said it would always welcome a referendum.

“In fact, this has been our demand right from the beginning. It was the state government and the GNLF who were not in favour of holding a referendum,” said Harka Bahadur Chettri, central committee member of the Morcha. He felt that by floating such an idea so late in the day, Rai could be trying to gain the goodwill of the people and, maybe, even leave the party. [The Telegraph]

GNLF loses civic majority

Darjeeling, Feb. 24: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has managed to garner majority support in the Darjeeling Municipality after two GNLF councillors today switched allegiance.

Ramesh Chhetri, councillor of Ward 22 told reporters that he was joining the Morcha. “I had some personal problems because of which I could not join the Morcha earlier. Now I can and I am not under any pressure,” he said.

Apart from Chhetri, the councillor of Ward 26, Nirmala Ghalay, also resigned from the GNLF. He has conveyed the message in a letter to Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president.

Deepak Gurung, the president of the GNLF Darjeeling Branch Committee, said he was unaware of the development.

Following today’s development, the Morcha now enjoys a thin majority of 15 councillors against the GNLF’s 13. However, the Morcha will not be able to form the civic board immediately, as the state government is yet to give its opinion on the election that was held to elect a new chairman on February 16.

At that time, 15 councillors elected Pema Yolmo from the GNLF as their chairman. Darjeeling district magistrate Rajesh Pandey had sent a copy of the resolution to the director of local bodies and the principal secretary, municipal affairs, for their opinion as the election was held in the absence of an observer.

“I have not yet received any reply,” said Pandey.

The Morcha leaders, too, are waiting for the government’s report.

If the government nullifies the election, the Morcha would be in a position to form the board in Darjeeling but if it is upheld then the party would have to wait for another six months. Under the Bengal Municipality Act, there must be a six-month gap before a no-confidence motion can be moved.

More protesters join fast in plains

Dagapur (Siliguri), Feb. 24: Nine more Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters today joined the 11 protesters who have been on hunger strike here since Thursday even as the Darjeeling district Left Front brought out a peace rally in Siliguri this afternoon. Over 4,000 people had participated in the rally.

“The fast will continue at Dagapur along with similar agitation programmes that are on outside the subdivisional offices at Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling,” said Roshan Giri, the Morcha general secretary, who visited the spot.

“Two of the protesters have developed chest and renal problems. Doctors attending to them have advised hospitalisation but they have refused. Around 120 supporters are on hunger strike at the moment,” he said.

In Jalpaiguri district’s Birpara, 11 Morcha supporters, who were on a 28-hour hunger strike since yesterday, withdrew their agitation at three this afternoon.

“Our intention was to express support in favour of those on fast in Darjeeling district, fighting for the demand of a separate state. We wanted to prove that the seven lakh-odd Gorkhas residing in the Dooars are in support of a separate state,” said Madhukar Thapa, a central committee member of the Morcha.

“We are in contact with the central committee and have decided to organise rallies across the Dooars over the next four-five days.”

In Siliguri, Left Front leaders and supporters assembled at Baghajatin Park after bringing out a rally.

“We want peace and harmony among people of different communities residing in the district, be it plains or the hills,” state urban development minister and district front convener Asok Bhattacharya said.

“A section of evil forces had tried to create tension in Siliguri on September 28 last year but was successfully thwarted by us. Similar vile efforts are on and they need to be foiled again,” he added.

CPM state secretariat member Jibitesh Sarkar, however, was more aggressive. “Common people residing in the hills and plains are in favour of the Sixth Schedule,” he said.

“It is time to resist forces that are into an undemocratic and violent movement. We would like to reassert that whether a common man or a political leader, everybody has the right to travel to the hills.”

The leader was referring to the shifting of the CPM district conference from the hills to Siliguri after the Morcha threatened to call an indefinite bandh if chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee attended it.

Earlier, the rally travelled through Hill Cart Road and Sevoke Road before ending at the park from where it had started. [The Telegraph]

Cinchona spared, but not Shanta

Darjeeling/Kurseong, Feb. 24: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today decided to keep for a week the tea gardens and the cinchona plantation outside the purview of the indefinite bandh. [Inset: Morcha supporters burn an effigy of Ghisingh in Darjeeling. (Suman Tamang)]

“The party has decided to let gardens and cinchona plantations remain open for the next seven days. After that, the bandh will resume in the plantations,” said Binay Tamang, press and publicity secretary of the Morcha.

Although this is the lean season, the 87 Darjeeling gardens still employ 55,000 permanent workers during the period. In the plucking season, which starts from mid-March, the gardens take an equal number of temporary workers.

The cinchona plantation has bagged orders of Rs 20 crore for this year. It is the biggest public sector undertaking in the hills and provides sustenance to around 40,000 people.

While work at the cinchona plantation had come to a grinding halt following the indefinite bandh that started on February 20, 12 of the 87 tea gardens had carried on with normal work.

Apart from essential services, the Morcha has exempted educational institutes from the bandh. The protesters today gathered at Chowrastha in Darjeeling and burnt the effigies of Subash Ghisingh and Shanta Chhetri, the GNLF MLA from Kurseong. The supporters later brought out a torch rally in the town.

Buddha proposes, Morcha disposes

Feb. 24: The Bengal chief minister has invited all opposition parties in the hills for a meeting in the capital on February 26. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has refused to be part of the team although three of its leaders will be heading to Delhi. [Inset: Morcha supporters burn Ghisingh’s effigy in Kalimpong. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha]

“They will meet the Opposition leaders and will seek an appointment with the Prime Minister,” said Binay Tamang, the press and publicity secretary of the Morcha. He said the party had earlier attended a meeting with the state government in Calcutta and was interested in talks provided such a discussion was held in Darjeeling.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s invitation was conveyed to the hill parties by Darjeeling district magistrate Rajesh Pandey.

“The Darjeeling situation is worrisome. I appeal to those who are on hunger strike to withdraw it. I also invite them for a discussion after they end the fast,” said Bhattacharjee in Calcutta before leaving for the CPM politburo meeting in Delhi. Sources in the CPM said Bhattacharjee would like to meet the Morcha leadership after his return to the city.

At an all-party meeting convened by the BJP in Darjeeling yesterday, it was decided that representative of six parties, except the Morcha, would meet Bhattacharjee in Delhi.

G.S. Yonzone, president, BJP (hills), said the delegation would be apprising the chief minister on the situation in the hills and demand the scraping of the Sixth Schedule status bill. The GNLF and the CPM had not attended the meeting.