DARJEELING HILLS: GJMM to intensify stir against talks delay
Posted by barunroy on December 1, 2008
FROM THE STATESMAN
DARJEELING, Nov. 30: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha will neither appeal to the state nor the Central government to expedite the second round of tripartite talks. They would rather intensify their agitation programme from the 7 December in protest against the delay.
“At the first tripartite meeting in September, it was decided that the next meeting would be in November. The month has come to an end and there is still no information about the meet. Hence we have decided to start our next phase of programmes,” party spokesperson Mr Binay Tamang said.
Giving a call to the people to be prepared he added that the strategy they would follow would be totally different from the present. “The movement will be stronger and intense. On what the programmes will be, we will inform the people before 7 December,” Mr Tamang said. The GJMM has entrusted its students wing to pressurise the state and Central government for the successful outcome of the tripartite talks. The party has also elected ex-DGHC councilor Mr RP Waiba as its vice-president for the post that was vacant since senior GJMM leader Mr KS. Ramudamu expired in August.
The GJMM president has also written letters to to the PM Dr. Manmohan Singh and home minister Mr Shivraj Patil, expressing his condolence for those who lost their lives in the terror attacks in Mumbai. GJMM will organise rallies at all places within the proposed Gorkhaland territory on 2 December condemning the attack. Blood donation camps will also be set-up on the same day for those injured in the attacks.
M tamang said
NOW YOUR WAR IS OVER. Statehood activists may be reminded that most statehood demands are more emotional than logical. Stay with your emotions bcause your demand is not logical and ground realities are not properly investigated.
ONLY LOGICAL SOLUTION IS :
Giving Darjeeiing back to Sikkim, it would restore the historical unity of this region. Old Sikkim was the land of the Bhutias and Lepchas; the future Sikim would be a Nepali-dominated state of the Indian Union, which would respond to the frustrations of the Nepalis of India and defuse today’s tensions.
If Darjeeling and Sikkim were to be united, as they were in the past, it would create a Nepali-majority state that has economic clout, with culture to match. The historical partitioning was hardly strategic and had to do with the British need for a sanatorium in the hills. On the other hand, Darjeeling and Sikkim share the same history and geography, and today they also share the same language and ethnicities.Darjeeling, would provide the economic and cultural backbone of the new state to a degree that is out of the reach of present-day Sikkim. Once they are assured of an honourable home in the Indian Union, the Indian Nepalis, who are culturally sophisticated, will immediately undergo a cultural resurgence.
M tamang said
The AIGL president, Mr Madan Tamang said that he would take legal action against the DGHC administrator Mr BL Meena if he failed to give an account of the funds that have been allotted to and utilised for development from the DGHC exchequer.
It may be mentioned that Mr Tamang had filed an RTI application with the DGHC on 6 October alleging that a fund of Rs 30 crore had been released to it and the mandatory period of 45 days to reply will be over in a few days. According to him the GJMM while defying the state government with non-cooperation movement is still accepting funds.
“Why maintain this duplicity of civil disobedience when they are accepting government funds? All details on who filed the tenders, what works were being done, should be made public. If the DGHC administrator fails within the stipulated period we shall take legal action against him,” Mr Tamang said.
Incidentally, all DGHC offices and development work under it have been indefinitely closed as per GJMM president Mr Bimal Gurung’s directive since 9 November claiming that tenders and contract bids were distracting the youth from the Gorkhaland movement.
The period also overlaps with the pen down strike of DGHC ad-hoc workers demanding regularisation. Recently, the GJMM has filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against Mr Tamang for trying to malign the party with baseless allegations. Students who are now at the forefront of the movement have been entrusted with the responsibility of demanding proof from the leader. They are also observing a relay hunger strike for the success of the tripartite meet.
In the same context, Mr. Tamang would also register a complaint with the “highest authority” regarding the involvement of students in a political movement on 21 November. “There is a Supreme Court ruling which forbids students from participating in political programmes. We will move to the highest level in the education department against this,” he said.
The GJMM students’ wing, however, has repeatedly maintained, “demanding one’s birthright is not politics.”
AB said
Personally I have nothing against the gorkhas and of course gorkhaland. My party does not want Gorkhaland…so I can do nothing however if you make me the chief minister of gorkhaland then I will resign from the party and fully support your cause. Actually you know very well that my party is pro-china…and even supported the chinese invasion in 1962 but what to do…to be in power we have to import these illegal Bangladeshis and give them voting rights. These pplz are now kicking us from behind. Anyway i am helpless.
Shahid said
YEAH, I DID NOT KNOW THAT BULLSHIT HAS SUCH MASS PRODUCTION IN DARJEELING.