“The Unification of ideologies, the like minded people and the movements for self determination, that is our objective”, Bimal Gurung

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha President heralding unification of Statehood Movements in Bengal

The Sea of People attending the GJM Siliguri rally!

Photos by Jiwan

West Bengal minister flays Gurung

West Bengal minister Ashok Bhattacharya called Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung ‘incompetent’ after the latter vowed to work for a Darjeeling state come what may.

Urban Development, Municipal and Hill Affairs Minister Bhattacharya criticised the way Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) president Gurung attacked him and the West Bengal government.

‘GJM is exploiting the emotions of the Gorkha community to achieve political power,’ the minister said. ‘As for Bimal Gurung, he is an incompetent leader and knows nothing.

‘If he was really concerned about the welfare of the hill people, he would have tried to restore peace and harmony rather than provoking people,’ Bhattacharya said.

Addressing a GJM meeting at the Indira Gandhi Maidan in Siliguri Wednesday, Gurung thundered: ‘We will throw out every hindrance that comes in our way to achieve a separate statehood for Darjeeling.

‘Ashok Bhattacharya has said he will not let us include Siliguri within Gorkhaland. But the GJM will not let go Siliguri at any cost.

‘If Bhattacharya turns nasty, we will throw him away as we earlier threw away Subash Ghisingh from the post of Darjeeling hill council chairman,’ Gurung said.

Mongpu reminisces the days of Tagore

By Romit Bagchi SILIGURI, May 7: With politically instigated rancour threatening to dry up the deeper springs of fellow feeling and understanding, it is highly exalting to recollect Rabindranath Tagore’s profound attachment with the Darjeeling Hills and particularly with the tranquil splendour of Mongpu near Kalimpong. He seemed to be enamoured by the transcendental charm of the Darjeeling Himalayas and the simplicity of the Hill populace, mostly people of the Nepali origin. The Darjeeling Himalayas beckoned him with a mesmerising appeal when his sensitive mind got restless and fatigued with the ‘mud and squalor’ of the mundane everyday existence. He sought refuge amidst the austere silence and the wide, compelling ecstasy and peace surrounding the eternally mystifying Himalayas. By his own admission, he turned to the Himalayas when the Ineffable’s timeless call overwhelmed him, compelling him to leave behind the stone load of the striving world for some time.

As per records, Tagore ascended to the Darjeeling hills 11 times. Four times, he came to Mongpu. However, fate intervened when the physically indisposed poet attempted to come to the picturesque spot for the fifth time in 1940, ignoring his physicians’ counsel. He could not reach his destination. He fell ill on his way to Kalimpong. The abnormal swelling of his prostrate gland benumbed his senses with pain. He was brought to Kalimpong in a semi-conscious state. Pratima Devi, Tagore’s daughter-in-law, took him to her Kalimpong residence ‘Gouripur Bhavana’. He, however, could not, stay long as his condition kept on deteriorating fast. He left for Calcutta by train from Siliguri station (now, Siliguri Town station) after staying in Kalimpong for a week.

Gurung deadline to arrest attackers

SILIGURI, May 7: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha president Mr Bimal Gurung today issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Darjeeling district administration to initiate action against those involved in the attack on his party supporters at Hospital More in Siliguri on 2 May. Addressing the first-ever GJMM gathering in Siliguri at the Indira Gandhi Maidan this afternoon, Mr Gurung threatened to paralyse both the Hills and the Terai if the administration failed to book the guilty within the seven-day deadline.  “If the state government wants peace then immediate action should be initiated against the assailants. But if the government wishes otherwise, then let it sit idle,” the GJMM president warned.  Adding on the issue, Mr Gurung severely criticised the CPI-M leaders of Gorkha origin for their alleged anti-Gorkha stance. “The DYFI-SFI activists are beating up our women in public, still people like Mr Ananda Pathak are sticking to the CPI-M and shouting slogans in favour of Mr Asok Bhattacharya,” he said.

Morcha enforces a shutdown in Darjeeling

DARJEELING, May 7: A deserted look prevailed over Darjeeling today as most people from the town and adjoining areas poured into Siliguri to participate in the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha organised rally.
Thousands of GJMM supporters bearing festoons and GJMM flags, left for Siliguri since early morning shouting slogans in support of Gorkhaland creating a shortage of vehicles in Darjeeling.
All shops remained closed and schools declared an out of turn holiday in view of the meeting in Siliguri today. State and Central government employees were on casual leave so offices remained closed as well. While six tea gardens remained open, the rest were closed as workers agreed to work on Sunday due to the leave today. All in all a bandh like situation existed in Darjeeling today. However, this did not dissuade the tourists from visiting the tourist spots that were at a walking distance from the town. Tourist spots including the Darjeeling zoo, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the DHR services were open for the tourists.   “The situation is peaceful in and around Darjeeling,” Mr Rahul Srivastav, SP said. [The Statesman]

Parties suggest meeting with Centre & state to resolve crisis

SILIGURI, May 7: The political parties in Siliguri today called for an immediate dialogue between the Centre, state government and the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha to sort out the crisis plaguing the Darjeeling Hills.
Reacting to today’s mammoth GJMM gathering in Siliguri, the parties appealed to the GJMM to refrain from confrontation and resolve the problem through negotiation. At the same time, they asked the state government not to make it a prestige issue and to arrange for immediate negotiation with the GJMM leadership.

The CPI state secretary Mr Manju Kumar Majumder said that the chief minister should immediately convene a meeting with the GJMM leadership. “The GJMM leadership should also reciprocate if the call comes. It should refrain from fomenting trouble in the name of a democratic movement,” the CPI leader said. The Forward Bloc Darjeeling district secretary, Mr Smritish Bhattacharya said that had the state government allowed the GJMM to organise the meeting earlier the present charged situation could have been avoided. “The government’s inflexibility is complicating the situation further. A dialogue should take place, involving the Centre, state and the GJMM,” the FB leader asserted.

One dead & 8 injured in road accidents

SILIGURI, May 7: A Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha supporter died and at least eight were injured in three separate road accidents today.  Two of the accidents occurred when the GJMM supporters were heading to Siliguri to attend a party meeting in the morning, while the third took place in the afternoon on their way back. A GJMM supporter Binod Pradhan (35) died and four were injured in the third accident that took place at around 4.45 p.m. at SNT Jhora (Kalimpong PS) on National Highway 31A. The mishap took place when a rock fell on the vehicle they were travelling in.

Of the injured four, two are admitted at a private nursing home in Siliguri, while the rest two are being treated at the Kalimpong hospital.  In another mishap at Salbari on the outskirt of Siliguri this morning, a lorry carrying GJMM supporters to Siliguri fell on a roadside ditch injuring two women. Both the injured were admitted to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) and their condition was stated to be critical. Two other GJMM supporters were injured in another accident at Pankahabari in Kurseong this morning as they were heading towards Siliguri to attend the public meeting.

Mood upbeat at ground

Siliguri, May 7: A sense of achievement was clearly written on the face of Nirmaya Gurung of Tindharia who has been in many Gorkha Janmukti Morcha rallies in the recent past.

“Every time we came down, they would turn us away for no rhyme or reason,” the 38-year-old Morcha supporter said, munching a cucumber at Indira Gandhi Maidan. “I felt bad when the administration did not even allow a non-violent mode of protest to be held in Siliguri.” [Inset: An American takes photographs of the Morcha rally in Siliguri on Wednesday. Three media studies students from the US, who are currently in India on an exchange programme with Hyderabad University, had come to Darjeeling on a holiday. When they heard about the rally, they decided to come down to the plains and take a look. They will incorporate the photographs of the meeting in a 50-page photo essay on various aspects of India. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]

The district administration’s repeated rejection of the Morcha’s appeal for permission to hold public meetings in Siliguri was fresh in the minds of the supporters, who were determined to make a success of today’s rally.

Jayantika Sharma of Kurseong usually avoids public rallies and meetings. “But this time it was in Siliguri, where we were not allowed to enter for so long and I had to come to drive home the point that we are not going to take things lying down,” she said.

The Morcha had decided that at least one family member should come from every house in the hills. Sharma left behind her three-year-old son in the care of her husband, a government servant, who had taken a casual leave today.

Mixed bag for 24-hour bandh

SILIGURI, May 7: A 24-hour Siliguri bandh called by the ‘Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee’ (BOBBBC) in protest against the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha’s public meeting at the Indira Gandhi Maidan today went off peacefully. The bandh had a mixed response. Life was paralysed in the northern parts of the town while there was no response to the bandh in other parts. Most of the educational institutions were, however, closed and fewer vehicles plied on the roads as compared to normal days. Big markets remained closed in the day. BOBBBC convened the bandh to oppose the administration’s decision to permit the GJMM to organise a public meeting in Siliguri. It is also opposing GJMM’s persistent demand for a bifurcation of West Bengal to carve out a separate state of Gorkhaland. [The Statesman]

Morcha show of strength in Siliguri- ‘Personal attacks’ anger CPM

Siliguri, May 7: The Darjeeling district CPM has accused the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders of delivering inflammatory speeches at their rally in Indira Gandhi Maidan, thereby violating the conditions laid down by the administration. [Inset: A food stall at Indira Gandhi Maidan. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]

“They launched personal attacks against our leaders, especially Asok Bhattacharya,” said Jibitesh Sarkar, a senior district leader and a member of the CPM state committee.

Police and the district administration had instructed the Morcha not to carry out personal attacks against opposition party leaders as one of the 19 conditions laid down for the meeting to be held in Siliguri. However, Morcha chief Bimal Gurung today spent around 20 minutes vilifying Bhattacharya, the Bengal urban development minister and Siliguri MLA.

Shut down but not shut out to tourists

Darjeeling, May 7: Today, it was like any bandh day that the people of Bengal are so familiar with: no shops were open — not even one selling paan — and a deserted town greeted tourists who outnumbered the few locals on the streets. Neither was there any activity in the tea gardens.

But this time, there had been no call for a shutdown. Only that people had shut everything down to attend a rally of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Siliguri.

Garden sources confirmed that only six of the 70-odd estates in Darjeeling were open today. Tea labourers who attended the meeting are expected to work on Sunday instead.

While there was not a single taxi available, the number of private vehicles plying could be counted on the fingers. Tourist spots like Lloyd Botanic Garden and Dhridham temple were open, but there were few visitors. Instead, most of them had lined up early in the morning for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway’s famed joy ride to Ghoom and back. Since the demand for the ride was high, the DHR officials attached three bogies to the train, which usually has two compartments. [Inset: (Top) A deserted Chowkbazar and motor stand in Darjeeling. (Suman Tamang)

There were no reports of tourists being stranded in town as most of them had left last evening.

“We had apprised the tourists about the expected situation in Darjeeling today. Only tourists bound for Gangtok stayed back and vehicles from Sikkim had been booked for them. Others had left last evening. However, we had some people who were supposed to check in today but it is unlikely that they will make it this evening,” said Naresh Yonzone, an executive of Hotel Anand Palace.

Tashi Pencho, the proprietor of Hotel Seven Seventeen, echoed him: “Most tourists who were supposed to go today had checked out yesterday.”

Supporters beat traffic jams to attend meeting- At the venue

Darjeeling/Kalimpong, May 7: The Siliguri jao (let’s go to Siliguri) campaign of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha could have led to chaos on the roads leading to the plains from the hills, but most people managed to beat the rush and reach the venue on time.

By the time the meeting began at Indira Gandhi Maidan, the ground was nearly full.

The Morcha had only four days to sort out the logistics after the administration gave it permission to hold a meeting in Siliguri on Saturday evening. The people in the hills, however, took it upon themselves to take care of all the arrangements. [Inset: Chandra Chhetri of Darjeeling and (below) Narey Thapa of Kadamtala at the meeting. (Kundan Yolmo)]

“We collected whatever money we could from our village. While some gave Rs 50, others contributed around Rs 150 to hire vehicles. Most drivers only charged for the fuel,” said Amrish Sharma from Judge Bazar in Darjeeling.

Apprehending heavy traffic on NH55, many people left for Siliguri yesterday in the evening. “There was no way we could reach the venue on time even if we had started off at 6am today,” said Poonam Kumar Sharma, a lawyer from Darjeeling.

Others started from Darjeeling at 4 this morning although the rally was to start at 11am. Those who pushed off around 7am could not reach Siliguri on time. “It took us almost two hours to get to Darjeeling More from Pintail Village (a distance of about 2km),” said Sailendra Pradhan of Darjeeling.

People had branched off to different routes via Mungpoo, Rohini Road and Pankhabari, but faced massive traffic jams near the venue. Parking became a major problem and the 3,000 Morcha volunteers struggled to manage the vehicles.

Morcha deadline for CPM arrests

Siliguri, May 7: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has set a deadline of seven days for the Darjeeling district administration to arrest three CPM leaders for spearheading alleged assaults on some of its supporters in different parts of the town last week.

Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, threatened to bring down 10,000 cadres from the hills for a protest meeting and call an indefinite strike across the district if the deadline is not met.

Addressing a rally at Indira Gandhi Maidan here this afternoon, Gurung said: “Based on reports, we have lodged complaints against Jibitesh Sarkar, Mukul Sengupta and Shankar Ghosh, all CPM leaders, for assaulting our supporters, including girls, while they were on their way to the subdivisional office for a hunger strike.”

The death of a 25-year-old while returning to the hills, the arrest of an inebriated supporter, a fire in a kitchen raised on the grounds and a daylong traffic congestion on the Darjeeling More-Bhaktinagar More stretch of NH31 marked the meeting.

Earlier in the day, the Darjeeling district administration, which included 1,000 police personnel, coupled with 5,000 volunteers of the Morcha had monitored the crowd of more than one lakh as they kept trickling into the town from around 10am. A batch of 1,500 Morcha volunteers had already arrived yesterday.

At the receiving end of Gurung’s speech were the CPM and the Bengal urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya.

Senior leaders like Ananda Pathak and S.P. Lepcha were also not spared in the more than 20 minutes of CPM-bashing. “It’s a shame that they are members of a political party whose cadres are beating up our boys and girls. They should not forget their identity,” he said.