Jan. 30: Another attempt by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters to move from Kumani to Sibchu in Jalpaiguri was thwarted today by police with the agitators claiming that they were baton-charged, a contention that was denied by the administration.
The Morcha supporters led by party president Bimal Gurung, who has been camping in Kumani in Kalimpong subdivision since January 19, have so far made two unsuccessful attempts to breach the police barricade on the Dooars border.
The first attempt was made on January 25, on the day the Morcha leadership met Union home minister, P. Chidambaram in Delhi.
Matters were peaceful at Kumani today where around 10.30am Morcha supporters led by Gurung observed the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Then around 300 Morcha supporters, including those from the Nari Morcha, suddenly headed towards the police barricade at Sibchu, 5km from Kumani.
A number of Nari Morcha supporters also sat on a relay hunger strike at a community hall in Sibchu, protesting the administration’s refusal to allow their party president to lead a padayatra through the Dooars to Jaigaon for Gorkhaland.
At 2pm, police officers, in the presence of divisional commissioner A.K. Singh, requested the Morcha supporters to disperse from the spot as just beyond the barricade Section 144 was in place.
“The demonstrators refused to budge. As they still continued to demonstrate, we ordered the policemen to chase and disperse them from the area. It was done to maintain law and order and there was no lathi-charge,†said Sukhen Baraik, a deputy magistrate posted at Sibchu.
The Morcha leadership has condemned the lathi-charge on their supporters. “Five of our supporters have been injured in the lathi-charge. One of them, Prakash Rai, has fractured his ankle and has been admitted to the subdivisional hospital in Kalimpong. Among the others who have suffered injuries is 67-year-old Kaila Rai,†said Binay Tamang, Morcha assistant secretary, over the phone from Kumani.
Tamang said the administration has “detained†them at Kumani for nearly 13 days. “The administration is treating us like terrorists and have been citing the imposition of prohibitory orders but Asok Bhattacharya held meetings in Malbazar a couple of days back,†he said.
From 4.30pm, the Morcha set up road blockades across the hills for two hours and demonstrated in front of police stations to protest the alleged lathicharge.
Jalpaiguri police chief Anand Kumar denied that the Morcha supporters were lathi-charged. “Our men just chased them away from Sibchu as they were repeatedly trying to violate the prohibitory orders. There was no lathi-charge,†Kumar said.
Inspector general of police (north Bengal) Ranvir Kumar said cases have been started against Morcha activists who blocked NH31A today.
“Subsequently, a case could be framed against Bimal Gurung if investigations reveal that he had called for the blockade,†Kumar said. The national highway is Sikkim’s only road link with the rest of the country.
Jan. 28: New Delhi today said Ugyen Trinley Dorje was no Karmapa and could be questioned by security agencies following the seizure of at least Rs 6 crore in Indian and foreign currencies from his Dharamsala home.
The unaccounted cash, which includes at least 11 lakh Chinese yuans (worth Rs 77 lakh), has buttressed suspicion that Dorje is a Chinese spy and had planned to build a network of China-friendly Tibetan institutions across the Himalayan region.
A highly placed government official said that if any criminal offence was established, Dorje would be tried in a court of law like any other person.
Dorje, 25, had carried out his headline-making “escape†from Tibet to India in January 2000, aged 14. His followers claim he is the 17th Karmapa — head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism — and the successor to the Dalai Lama. (more…)
A Sino-Tibetan love story, welcomed and cherished by an Indian hill station
BY Avantika Bhuyan
Gyalo Thondup not know the precise moment that love happened to him; he just happened to realise, by and by, that his heart felt warm and aglow. And that it had to do with his journey of love from the historic city of Nanking in China to the Himalayan town of Darjeeling in India.
It seems like a fairytale now, as we look back at events from Thondup’s cottage nestled in the natural beauty of an estate off 8th Mile Road in Kalimpong, near Darjeeling in West Bengal. Sepia photographs perched on his living room mantle take us straight back to the beginning—in 1945.
Gyalo’s country of origin, Tibet, was experiencing a measure of peace, back then, having reasserted independence in 1913 after decades of rebuffing British and Chinese attempts at taking control. His fellow Tibetans were suspicious of Chinese intentions, but were hopeful all the same of peace talks with the Chinese Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT). It would not be until 1949 that the Communist regime of the People’s Republic of China, under Mao Zedong, would stake its claim to Tibet.
It was a period of calm, and young Gyalo took this chance to leave home for Nanking in pursuit of higher studies. A close grasp of the Chinese language, his father believed, would equip him well to participate in the expected talks. This was important to the future of Tibet, and that of Gyalo’s younger brother, Lhamo Thondup, who had been recognised as the 14th Dalai Lama only eight years earlier. It was while mulling all this at the Central Political University of Nanking that he first met her. Di Kyi Dolkar. A pretty young girl with a beautiful smile.
Darjeeling/Kalimpong, Jan. 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today rejected the “idea of interim set-up†apparently because the Centre had plans to draw up the proposal afresh against the wishes of the party.
The Morcha also suspended its ongoing shutdown from January 29 to February 7 and instead, will hold hunger strikes at different government offices in the hills during the period.
The latest stand by the Morcha could throw the hills into a fresh turmoil as the interim set-up was being seen as a mutually accepted arrangement that could bring about peace in the region for two years.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Morcha central committee at Kumani. A five-member Morcha delegation which had held talks with Union home minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi on January 25 briefed the committee on the meeting. The delegation was led by general secretary Roshan Giri.
“We deliberated on the home minister’s statement that the interim set-up was a step towards attaining Gorkhaland. The idea of interim set-up was rejected by the party,†said Giri today.
It is not clear why the party has rejected the interim arrangement. Sources, however, said the Morcha leadership was peeved that the Centre wanted to draw up a fresh proposal on the interim set-up which was mooted till December 31, 2011.
“Since there were differences between the state and the Morcha on some issues, the Centre wanted to moot a final proposal. This was conveyed to the Morcha during the Delhi talks,†said a source.
Although major points of difference are not fully known, some of the thorny issues were the transfer of tauzi department (which keeps land records) and transfer of legislative powers to the new body.
The Centre also wanted the Bengal government and the Morcha to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the set-up by the first week of February, though the arrangement was to be put in place after the Bengal assembly elections.
Observers believe that the Morcha was unlikely to have any problems with the signing of the MoU before February but were not comfortable with the interim authority that is not in accordance with the terms set by the party.
“The central committee meeting has rejected the interim set-up. There might have been a division between hardliners and moderates in the party. The hardliners perhaps want that the party should not be seen as too willing to go in for the interim set-up before a final call is made on the Telangana issue,†said an observer.
With the larger issue of the interim set-up being taken off its agenda, the Morcha has decided to change its mode of agitation. The party has suspended the ongoing general strike from Saturday till February 7 and has decided to start 24-hour relay hunger strikes.
“Seven Morcha members each will sit on 24-hour relay hunger strikes from January 29 to February 7 at block and subdivisional offices and in front of the district magistrate’s office. The fast will provide moral support to the president for the padayatra,†said Giri.
Jalpaiguri, Jan. 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has offered votes to the CPM in the coming Assembly polls and wanted to know what the hills will get in return, while telling the Centre that Gorkhaland and Telangana should be created on the same day.
Morcha chief Bimal Gurung also said party supporters stopped at Kumani by police were running out of patience and they might break barricades to enter the Dooars.
“Let Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Asok Bhattacharya come and sit at the table and talk to us. Let them tell me how many votes they need (in the assembly elections) from me. We will ask them what they will give us (Morcha) in return,†Gurung said at a public meeting at Kumani yesterday.
“The 2011 Assembly elections are imminent. We do not care who becomes the chief minister, then, we just want Gorkhaland.â€
Gurung and thousands of Morcha workers have been camping at Kumani on the edge of the Dooars since January 19 when they were prevented from proceeding with a padayatra to Jaigaon. The rally that started at Gorubathan was scheduled to pass through the Dooars. (more…)
Jan. 25: Nearly 5,000 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters walked past a few scattered security personnel at Kumani before squatting down on the road saying they had entered the Dooars — a claim disputed by the Jalpaiguri district administration.
A senior district police officer admitted that with the talks on in Delhi today and the assurance from the Morcha that they would remain put, the police guard was a little down and the number of security personnel were also less than usual.
Although Morcha president Bimal Gurung did not take part in the incident, he emerged from his accommodation in the Kumani forest village around 5pm and said his party supporters had given a “just reply to the administrationâ€. (more…)
Jan. 25: P. Chidambaram today said the “interim set-up†mooted for Darjeeling would not affect the demand for Gorkhaland, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has claimed.
“The Union home minister was of the opinion that the forward path towards statehood was the interim set-up…,†read a statement issued by Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri after a meeting with the Union home minister in New Delhi. Giri was part of a five-member delegation that held talks with Chidambaram.
The Morcha said it had also asked the home minister why an interim set-up should precede the final solution. “To this question the home minister maintained that he was in favour of the Gorkhas being in administrative control of the area where its population resides. He however maintained that this includes issues concerning territory which would take some time to reach a consensus and hence the interim set-up ladder was needed,†the statement reads. (more…)
Gangtok, Jan. 24: Forty two-year-old Amar Subba battled extreme weather conditions and the bandh in Darjeeling to complete a solo run of 450km and reached Gangtok yesterday afternoon.
Subba had started his journey on January 17 from his hometown Darap in West Sikkim, 141km from here, carrying some dry fruits and a set of clothes in a bag with an aim to spread awareness on drug abuse, HIV-AIDS and environment protection.
On Saturday, Subba was in Kalimpong and he reached Rorathang in East Sikkim early yesterday. He rested there for two hours before resuming his run around 5.35am and completed the journey at MG Marg at 1.15pm.
A host of associations and representatives of the Sikkim government welcomed Subba at MG Marg where a programme was organised to celebrate his journey.
“I wanted to spread awareness on drug abuse which not only destroys the lives of our youths but also their families and the society. I also want to do something about HIV-AIDS awareness and sensitise people on the need to protect our fragile Himalayan environment. Wherever I stopped or had a chance to interact with people, I spoke on these issues,†said Subba, the father of two. (more…)
Darjeeling, Jan. 24: The ABGL has requested the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha not to go ahead with the third phase of the 27-day strike from January 29 even if the meeting with the Union home minister does not turn out to be a success.
Narayan Chhetri, spokesperson for the ABGL, said: “We will request the Morcha not to go ahead with the strike even if the meeting with the Union home minister is not fruitful. Only two per cent of the hill people are in the services and many are daily labourers. This section is finding it hard to cope with the strike.†(more…)
Bagdogra, Jan. 24: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung decided not to lead a five-member party delegation which left for New Delhi today to hold talks with Union home minister and instead, chose to stay put at Kumani.
On January 21, after receiving home minister P. Chidambaram’s letter inviting the Morcha for the talks, party general secretary Roshan Giri had announced that Gurung would be in the delegation for the meeting. (more…)
Kumani More, Jan. 24: The march remains thwarted for the time being but that has done little to dampen the spirit of the thousand or so Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters as they stand eyeball-to-eyeball with police on the culvert that separates Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts.
Cries of “we want Gorkhaland†and “Terai and Dooars hamroi ho (The Terai and the Dooars are ours) fall silent in the Kumani forest village only after the sun goes down when the slogan-shouting Morcha supporters at the barricade are replaced by members of the Yuva Morcha, the party’s youth wing. “We come here (barricade) daily, carrying torches and stay till the morning when our supporters begin to arrive,†said Pasang Lama, a member of the youth wing. The Morcha camp where Lama stays is half a kilometre from the barricade. (more…)
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