www.kalimpong.info

www.telegraphindia.com

Feb. 29: A phone call from party president Bimal Gurung in the afternoon was the trigger that ended the indefinite fast of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters at Dagapur near Siliguri.

“We were closely following the developments on TV,” said Lalit Thapa, the president of Sukna unit of the Morcha. “However, it was only after we got a call from the high command (read Bimal Gurung) around 4.30pm, that we decided to withdraw the strike.”

Gurung told his supporters that Subash Ghisingh was stepping down as the caretaker administrator of the DGHC within 10 days.

Although the 34 protesters broke their fast with glasses of water or juice, it was saline drips that proved to be more important. “Doctors have advised them to have soft rice from tomorrow,” Thapa said.

Eleven Mocha supporters had begun the indefinite hunger strike in front of Pintail Village on February 21.

Ghisingh had been holed up in Pintail Village for four days, as the Morcha prevented him from entering the hills. Other people joined the strikers later.

All those who were fasting — be it 21-year-old Bishal Sharma of Tindharia or Md Chand Mia of Darjeeling — were today anointed with green and yellow-coloured rice grains matching the colours of the Morcha flag, garlanded with marigold and given traditional silk scarves.

More than 500 men and women accompanied the protesters to the Sukna health centre. After they had dispersed, a steady flow of visitors kept the centre abuzz.

Till late in the evening, doctors were busy screening the patients, checking their condition and deciding on the line of treatment.

There was similar frenzy in Darjeeling too, as hundreds of people came to the district magistrate’s office to witness the end of the hunger strike there. The 44 fasting Morcha supporters were taken to Darjeeling Sadar Hospital.

In one incident of violence, a GNLF leader’s house was set on fire in the Seilimbong tea garden of Pokhriabong valley. “The house of D.K. Bantawa, the local GNLF head, has been gutted,” said Darjeeling additional police superintendent Jayanta Pal.

Kalimpong march

“LF ko jhanda hatai deu, Gojamumo ko jhanda lagai deu Gojamomu gojamamu om, gojamomu gojamamu om (Replace the GNLF flag with that of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Blessed be the Morcha)”

Kalimpong reverberated with the refrain, sung to the tune of a popular Nepali folk song, as thousands of women supporters of the Morcha marched through the streets of the town today.

Midway through the procession, rumours started doing the rounds that Ghisingh had resigned. Shouts of “Litipiti litipiti, Ghisingh lai chuti (Ghisingh goes down the slippery path)” rent the air as the women started dancing, to the amusement of hundreds of people lining the streets.

However, the bystanders were taken aback when the women took potshots at them too. “Ramita haina saat deu, haina bhane taap deu (Join us or disappear, instead of just watching the fun)” teased some girls as they approached Thanadara. A bespectacled young man standing in front of the statue of Dal Bahadur Giri beat a hasty retreat; his political affiliation remained a matter of conjecture.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung was clearly more popular among the marchers than Ghisingh. “Bimal Gurung lai cha hi, Ghisingh lai bye-bye (Hi to Bimal Gurung, to Ghisingh it’s bye-bye),” they shouted.

www.telegraphindia.com

Calcutta, Feb. 29: Bimal Gurung today likened the Sixth Schedule bill and Subash Ghisingh to cats crossing the path of oncoming cars.

“Hamara gari ka samne dotho kala billi aa gaya tha, to kya kartey hain hum? Billi ko ukharkey phek diya… (Two black cats had come in front of our cars. What were we to do? We picked them up and threw them away),” the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president said in Calcutta today.

“These two cats (referring to the Sixth Schedule and Ghisingh) have been dealt with and now we can concentrate on our movement to achieve Gorkhaland,” a triumphant, garlanded Gurung added.

The Morcha president said once Ghisingh resigned and an administrator — a “senior IAS officer” — was appointed in his place, the GNLF chief’s remaining supporters in Darjeeling would be “allowed” to take away his personal belongings from his Lal Kothi abode, which is the DGHC headquarters. Gurung said at today’s meeting he had requested the Bengal chief minister not to try and send Ghisingh back to the hills.

“We will ask the administrator not to allow them to remove any documents from Lal Kothi. He should then scrutinise the files and tell the people of the hills how Ghisingh has stolen their money,” Gurung said. (more…)

VIVEK CHHETRI

www.telegraphindia.com

Darjeeling, Feb. 29: The Gorkhaland movement in the eighties had left 1,200 people dead in the hills before Subash Ghisingh decided to head the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC).

Exactly 20 years later, a movement based on Gandhian philosophy, which did not lead to a single killing, has virtually forced Ghisingh to step down from his chair and has left his party, the GNLF, searching for a survival strategy.

With the Centre deciding to send the Sixth Schedule bill back to the Bengal government and the state virtually forcing Ghisingh to resign before March 10, the GNLF’s trump card has apparently been sidelined. (more…)

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, Feb. 29: The state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya today said that the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha sponsored bandh and hunger strike has been withdrawn from today following the intervention of the chief minister.

“Peace would soon return to the troubled Hills. Once normalcy is restored the government’s focus would be on holding elections in the DGHC at the earliest,” the minister, said assuring that the state government would bear the expenses for the treatment of the hunger strikers.

“I have already asked the hospital authorities both in the plains and the Hills to take special care of the GJMM hunger strikers,” the minister, said.

Statesman News Service

SILIGURI, Feb. 29: The state urban development minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya today said here that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has asked the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council caretaker administrator Mr Subash Ghisingh to resign from the DGHC within ten days.

Regarding the deadlock over the Sixth Schedule Bill, the minister, said that the state government would try its best to have it passed in Parliament during the ongoing Budget Session.

The Left Front allies are, however, not satisfied with the development on Mr Ghisingh. “The state government should have asked the GNLF chief to step down much earlier,” The LF allies said collectively.Reaffirming the state’s commitment to have the Sixth Schedule Bill for the DGHC passed in the Parliament Mr Asok Bhattacharya, said that Sixth Schedule Bill for the DGHC would not hang in balance forever. “The delay on the part of the Centre in presenting the proposed Bill before the Parliament resulted in the deadlock,” he added.

The principal Left Front constituents, on the other hand, again slammed the state government for the stalemate over the Sixth Schedule issue.

DGHC chief to comply

Succumbing to the persistent demand of his agitating rivals, the GNLF chief Mr Subash Ghisingh has decided to resign as the caretaker administrator of the DGHC which he ruled since 1989.

Mr Ghisingh, who is at the Gorkha Bhawan in New Delhi, would tender his resignation after returning to Darjeeling any day now. According to Mr D Kaushal, protocol officer at the Gorkha Bhawan, New Delhi, Mr Ghsingh decided to put down his papers following a request by the West Bengal chief minister on Thursday. This morning, the 72-year old politician finally decided to resign and intimated his aides accordingly. While disclosing the crucial decision, Mr Ghisingh told his close circle that he was “never hungry” for power. Peace and general well being of the hills had always been his priority, he said.“If the Opposition feels I can manipulate the hill council elections as the caretaker administrator, I would better resign. But be sure, the GNLF would again win the hill council elections with huge public mandate and would be back in power,” Mr Kaushal, said quoting Mr Ghisingh. Meanwhile, even after deciding to quit, the GNLF chief today met the Union Home minister Mr Shivraj Patil and the external affairs minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee over the Darjeeling Sixth Schedule Bill (Constitutional amendment), which now hangs in balance.

1 Mar 2008, 0144 hrs IST,TNN

DARJEELING: Gorkha National Liberation Front supremo Subhas Ghising has finally agreed to quit as caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.

The council erupted with joy as soon as news about Ghising agreeing to put in his papers by March 10 reached.

“We’ve suspended our indefinite strike and fast-unto-death till March 11,” said Gorkha Janmukti Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri over the phone from Kolkata on Friday.

Giri was part of a GJM delegation, led by party chief Bimal Gurung, which held talks with West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday and Friday.

Two demands of GJM were removal of Ghising from DGHC and withdrawal of the proposal to include the Hills in the Sixth Schedule. Ghisingh has been heading DGHC since 1988.

“At Friday’s meeting, the chief minister told us that Ghising had asked for 10 days to quit his post. The Sixth Schedule Bill is now in the dustbin. The state government won’t do anything about it without talking to us,” Giri said.

At a press conference in Kolkata, Bimal Gurung said, “The 200-odd agitators decided to call off their hunger strike on Friday following an appeal by the CM. Since he is a respected politician, we have decided to give him 10 days’ time to ensure that Ghising resigns.”

Earlier in the day, the CM urged all concerned to call off their agitaiton and hunger strike and help restore normalcy in the Hills.

In Darjeeling, thousands of GJM supporters celebrated Ghising’s decision by organizing a “funeral of GNLF leaders”. The GJM brought out “victory” processions in the Hills and the Terai, including Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik. In Kurseong, people took to the streets, bursting crackers.

“Our leader has taken the right decision. We’re always ready to leave DGHC, which is as good as dead,” said Dipak Gurung, GNLF’s Darjeeling unit chief.

www.hindu.com

Kolkata (PTI): The caretaker administrator of the Darjeeling Hill Council Subhas Ghising has sought ten days time from the West Bengal government to step down from the post which he has been holding for last 20 years, chief of agitating Gorkha Janamukti Morcha said on Friday.

“We have won,” President of GJM Bimal Gurung told reporters after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here.

The Chief Minister, he said, had told him that after ten days as sought by Ghising, the GNLF chief, who has ruled the Darjeeling hills with an iron hand for 20 years, would be made to step down in case he did not resign from the post.

Gurung said that Ghising sought 10 days time to remove his personal belongings from the premises of the Hill Council

Speaking about the bill on the 6th Schedule to give certain special powers to the Council, Gurung said that the Parliamentary Standing Committee had referred it back to the Union Home ministry.

“It has been thrown into the dustbin. It will not be passed without our approval,” Gurung, who fell out with Ghising and floated the rival GJM in November last year, said.

About the indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills, he said that the GJM would take a decision on it shortly.

The Chief Minister, when asked about reports that Ghising who was in Delhi had resigned, said he did not have any information on them.

www.telegraphindia.com

Kalimpong, Feb. 28: Several NGOs here have sought the intervention of the central government and a human rights organisation to save the lives of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha members who are on an indefinite hunger strike.

In separate memorandums to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, the NGOs said the condition of most of the over 200 activists sitting on the hunger strike in the hills was a “matter of concern” and only an “immediate intervention” by authorities would prevent the loss of lives.

Twenty-two Morcha activists have been on fast since February 17, while others joined later. In Kalimpong, 35 supporters are now on fast.

After much persuasion, some of them have started taking medicine. “Six of them, including three women, are on medication. Five others resumed fasting after receiving intravenous treatment in the morning,” said P.T. Sherpa, the subdivisional officer of Kalimpong.

The Morcha has been demanding the removal of Subash Ghisingh as the caretaker administrator of the DGHC and immediate scrapping of the Sixth Schedule bill.

In a letter to the prime minister, Citizen’s Right Forum of Kalimpong pointed out that the whole region has been paralysed by an indefinite bandh. “We request your immediate intervention to bring about an early solution to the problems in the hills,” said forum president N.P. Dixit.

The Kalimpong branch of the Indian Red Cross Society has urged the governor to intervene immediately as the situation has turned alarming. “As the grandson of the Father of the Nation and president of the Red Cross, we request you to come and visit the young souls, determined to end their lives, to defuse the situation and prevent any loss of life,” said O.B. Das, the branch secretary of the society.

Vision Kalimpong has written to the UPA chairperson, requesting her to use her office to bring an end to the hunger strike.

www.telegraphindia.com

Darjeeling, Feb. 28: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha is jubilant that a parliamentary panel has appeared to have put the brakes on the Sixth Schedule bill that would have accorded special status to the Darjeeling hills instead of statehood.

The committee, led by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, has cautioned and advised Parliament “to make fresh assessment of the “ground realities all over again” before proceeding with the bill in the two Houses.

“The panel could not come to the hills to collect first-hand information on ground realities. This was reflected in its report and we welcome it. The aspiration of the hill people must be taken into consideration before any further steps are taken. The report will definitely damage the Sixth Schedule bill now,” said Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, from Calcutta.

Gurung has been camping there, demanding the removal of Subash Ghisingh as caretaker administrator of the DGHC. The Morcha had earlier alleged that the Bengal government, in connivance with Ghisingh, had stopped the panel from visiting the hills citing law and order problems.

The GNLF, which was banking on the bill being passed in the budget session, has been pushed to the wall. The party had been maintaining that if the Sixth Schedule does not get passed during the budget session, it would start the Gorkhaland agitation.

Deepak Gurung, the president of the Darjeeling Branch Committee of the GNLF, said: “It is for Parliament to reassess the situation. We have no problems with it, but we stick to our stand: the bill must be passed in the budget session.”

Pranay Rai, the GNLF MLA from Darjeeling has, however, requested Ghisingh to resign following today’s development. “He should now join hands with others to strengthen the Gorkhaland movement,” Rai said from Calcutta.

Madan Tamang, the president of the ABGL, an anti-GNLF party, however, cautioned the people about the government’s game plan.

“The panel has asked the government to reassess the situation. It means the review will be done by the government, not the panel. Some changes will probably be made and the bill will be passed before the second state reorganisation committee is formed prior to the general elections.”

www.telegraphindia.com

Takdha (Darjeeling), Feb. 28: T.N. Ghisingh, the GNLF president of the Teesta Valley, today switched over to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

T.N’s move is being seen as a major political development in the hills and has further pushed the GNLF against the wall. Teesta Valley has six tea gardens and a population of about 8,000, most of whom are now with the Morcha.

“I did not win the election on Subash Ghisingh’s ticket. Today I am not surrendering to the Morcha but joining the Gorkhaland movement whole-heartedly. All GNLF leaders from the area will also become primary members of the Morcha at their respective village units. I will no longer continue to be a leader but just a soldier fighting for Gorkhland,” said T.N. at a programme at Bara Mangmaya, about 30km from Darjeeling.

T.N. had won the 1999 election by defeating Keshav Lama, who was then the vice-chairman of the DGHC.

Maypal Yonzone, the secretary of the Teesta Valley Morcha unit, said: “People who have joined us today must not play spoilsport. They must come forward and support the Gorkhland issue wholeheartedly and we welcome T.N. to our party.”

Pasang Bhutia, the joint director of the ecclesiastical department of the DGHC, has also resigned from the council and so has Ashok Chhetri, the spokesperson for the GNLF students’ front.

Manikala Tamang, GNLF commissioner from Ward 30, has said she, too, will resign from both the GNLF and the Darjeeling Municipality once she returns from Delhi.
Top