CPM govt bans Tibet rally in Kolkata, China envoy says absolutely right move

By Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay & Mouparna Bandyopadhyay

Kolkata, April 10: Trust the comrades in this city to champion dissent and then clamp down on it — to please Beijing.

Two weeks after it allowed Tibetan activists to hold a candlelight vigil, the CPM-led West Bengal Government has denied them permission to hold a three-day anti-China public rally scheduled to begin today forcing them to go indoors.

Ironically, there were as many as 11 rallies in the city during the day. These included a rally by the Trinamool in Park Circus to protest against the state government’s failure to check prices and a similar one by CPM supporters in Tollygunge to protest against inflation.

“We are shocked and depressed by the government’s decision. It is a democratic country and there is no bar on holding peaceful, democratic protests and rallies,” said D Dorjee, spokesperson for the Tibetan solidarity sub-committee for Kolkata, an outfit of Tibetan students and businessmen in the city.

Praise came from Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Mao Siwei. “This is a correct decision because the Government of India made a commitment to the Government of China that no anti-China rallies will be allowed to take place anywhere in the country,” Mao claimed when contacted by The Indian Express.

When he was told that several such rallies had taken place across India, he said: “I don’t know of other places but I can say that what the Kolkata police have done is absolutely right.”

Members of the Tibetan group had a written permission from the Kolkata Police allowing them to hold the rally and prayer meeting across Metro Cinema in Esplanade. But last night, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Vineet Goyal called them up to say the government had denied them permission. Hundreds of Tibetans from Dharamshala, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Sikkim had already arrived in the city to participate in the rally.

“GJM trying to destroy State unity” - Biman Bose

Kolkata: The CPI(M) said the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) was engaged in undemocratic activities and was trying to destroy the unity between the people in the hills and the plains in West Bengal.

There was an immediate need for the GJM to sit with the State and the Centre to resolve the situation, it said.

In a statement on Saturday, CPI(M) West Bengal state committee chairman Biman Bose, said that for the last few days the GJM activists were carrying out activities which were tantamount to terrorising the people and targeting the Opposition parties, especially the CPI(M) leaders and workers. “CPI(M) offices were being attacked, furniture broken and flags and festoons shredded in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik,” the statement said.

The houses of CPI(M) leaders and workers were being attacked and at times they were being held hostage in their houses and threatened for their party links. For the past few days, the GJM has tried to disrupt life in Siliguri, which is the gateway to the region.

Mr. Bose said that the GJM was persistently trying to bring disharmony among the people. [The Hindu]

Top News in Himalaya Darpan Today!

Top News Today!

Maoists set to win Nepal Elections

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha should meet the Central and the State Government - Biman Basu

A public convention held to maintain Hills - Plains solidarity

Prashant Tamang welcomed in Kurseong

and more…

A New Beginning!

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Darjeeling! Yes, I am back. I must thank you all for your concerns. You have emailed me and wondered as to what happened and you have called at my home and inquired about my well being. I must say that every time, you folks write to me, I am overwhelmed. While there is no money in this blog or in the entire journalistic endeavors that we indulge in the Darjeeling Hills, the driving force at least for me has always been your interest and your feedback. The general discussions that we indulge in are worth a lot. And this Blog itself has within a period of 3 months risen from a mere readership of 87 in its first month to 58,000 plus. You have yourself together contributed more than 2000 articles and Beacon Online has gained much respectability. There is much yet that can be achieved in the future with a little bit more cooperation amongst us.

I have always believed myself to be a facilitator of sorts who not just caters news, views and opinions from and of Darjeeling Hills to all concerned globally but also brings together all concerned on a truly global forum discussing on important issues critically and based on global perspective. To, what extent have I been successful, only you can tell, yet much of my time, energy and money have been put into it and lately, I have been facing some problems. As you are all my patrons, I have deemed it fit to come to you for advice and support.

RED RULES KINGDOM- Surge catches Delhi napping

Kathmandu, April 12: The red flag is flying high over Kathmandu. Prachanda’s Maoists have stolen a lightning march over rivals in Nepal, sparing none save the Nepali Congress, the nation’s oldest political party.

The Maoists’ stunning electoral surge, only two years after they came overground, left the royalists dumbstruck and panicking, the mainstream communists of the UML gasping for breath, and the Indian mission in the throes of anxiety. [Maoist supporters celebrate Prachanda’s victory in Kathmandu on Saturday. (AFP)]

Pursued and persecuted till only the other day, the Maoist cadres took Kathmandu in a euphoric octopus-like embrace this afternoon. They jammed the streets, unfurled long and loud processions and shook this somnolent capital with the vigour of their victory.

The town centre was a throbbing red tableau — thousands of flags and banners fluttering and seamlessly merging on ground, the air an eruption of vermilion. And floating above them, the ringing cry that is beginning to unsettle the insulated Kathmandu elite: Lal salaam! Lal salaam!