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GOPALI BANDOPADHYAY

I landed at Bagdogra’s tiny airport early this month, experiencing equal measures of enthusiasm and trepidation. The latter especially because West Bengal Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya had been discouraging tourists from travelling to Darjeeling to enjoy its cool climes. He had warned that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) would create trouble for tourists.

According to media reports, the locals were very agitated about the state government’s actions and the hill station was seething with unrest - an indefinite strike was looming. I had been warned that a strike would mean trouble. I would be stranded in an inaccessible place; food and water would run out; and there could be violence against Bengalis.

Nonetheless, I was desperate for a break and, chin up, decided Darjeeling was the best bet considering the short distance and char-ming surroundings. So there I was, in a car, speeding towards my destination. If I had been expecting trouble, it turned out to be entirely unfounded. The local people seemed peace-loving and gentle.

Following the typical tourist agenda, I began by visiting the popular sightseeing venues. The first day I saw the Japanese temple and Buddhist pagoda and then the Rock Garden and Ganga Maya. Darjeeling has certainly woken up to its tourism potential. Most of its income is from this sector, with tea coming in at a distant second. In peak season, tourist traffic crosses 20,000 per day. (more…)

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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. (more…)

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Kalimpong, May 2: Traffic on NH31A that connects Siliguri to Kalimpong and Gangtok was brought to a halt for over one-and-a-half hours today as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha staged a road blockade to protest against the assault on its supporters in Siliguri earlier in the day.

Morcha supporters put up blockades at Rambi and on the Teesta Bridge around 1.30pm. Even two-wheelers were not spared.

However, army vehicles and those carrying sick people were allowed to pass.

About 70 vehicles, including those bound for Sikkim and tourist taxis, were seen lined up on either side of the bridge.

“We are stuck here for more than an hour. Will this blockade continue for long?” asked Mahesh Chovatia, a tourist from Ahmedabad heading towards Gangtok.

About 3.10pm, acting on instruction from the party higher-ups, the supporters lifted the blockade of all vehicles. The Morcha publicity secretary, Binay Tamang, had earlier said the vehicles carrying tourists would not be held up for long.

“I will return to Kalimpong since there is no point in proceeding towards Darjeeling,” said a local trader who had to abandon his short business trip because of the blockade.

Sukhbir Lama, the treasurer of the Morch’s Teesta unit, said the blockade on the national highway was called to protest against the assault by the CPM cadres on the party’s supporters, including women.

“This is not the first time these people (members of the CPM) have resorted to violence against us. If it was our ex-servicemen earlier, today they targeted our women. How low can these people stoop to,” said Lama.
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Darjeeling, April 11: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today announced a recruitment drive for “Gorkhaland Police”, a force that the party says will be trained to do “social work”.

Those who have not exceeded 30 years are eligible to apply. The volunteers, however, will not get any salary.

During the Gorkhaland agitation in the eighties, the GNLF, too, had its own force, the Gorkha Volunteer Cell, commonly known as the GVC, which had been raised to fight the CRPF then deployed in the Darjeeling hills.

Morcha leaders said their “police force”, complete with uniform, the colour of which is yet to be decided, and khukuri did not go against their idea of democratic struggle.

“The khukuri is our community’s identity and should not be misrepresented as a symbol of armed struggle. We still believe in the democratic form of protest and our force will be trained to do social work,” said Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha. (more…)

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April 10: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called an indefinite shutdown of government offices in the Darjeeling hills from Monday but tourists are unlikely to be inconvenienced.

Banks and private establishments, including hotels,will be allowed to function. Municipalities have also been spared.

All government offices, both central and state, will remain shut.

The Morcha, spearheading the revival of the Gorkhaland demand for the last six months, is planning to bring its campaign to Calcutta.

“We will handpick 10,001 people from across the hills and on May 7, we will start a march on foot to Writers’ Buildings. We want to tell the chief minister and the rest of Bengal about the injustice meted out to ex-servicemen who have spent their lives guarding the country,” Gurung told a crowd of over 1,000 in Darjeeling’s Chowrastha.

A bandh is already in place in the hills till 6 on Friday morning. It had been called in protest against a police lathicharge on ex-servicemen at a rally for Gorkhaland in Siliguri yesterday.

Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, accused district magistrate Rajesh Pandey and police chief Rahul Srivastav of working “at the behest of Asok Bhattacharya”, the CPM legislator from Siliguri.

“Had the district magistrate given permission to hold a peaceful rally in Siliguri yesterday, our ex-servicemen would not have been beaten up and there would have been no violence,” Gurung said.

The Morcha has asked its women’s wing to stop the DM from entering the hills while it poured its ire on Bhattacharya by burning his effigies at the Chowrastha rally.

The MLA had invited Morcha leaders’ wrath months ago when he allegedly called them outsiders.

The Morcha also observed a token hungerstrike till 6 this evening outside the DM’s office in Darjeeling.

All educational institutions, business establishments, government offices, tea gardens and cinchona plantations remained closed through the day. Vehicles stayed off the roads.

Traffic came to a standstill at Rangpo, a town on the Bengal-Sikkim border. No vehicles, except those carrying army personnel, patients and mail, were allowed to pass through National Highway 31A, which connects Gangtok to Bengal.

Sikkim police had informed tour operators about the strike and some visitors were escorted out of Sikkim and the hills before the strike began at 6am.

In the Siliguri subdivision, however, the bandh was limited to a few pockets. Morcha supporters demonstrated on the outskirts of Siliguri town.

Additional police personnel were deployed in various parts of Darjeeling district.

In the morning, Morcha supporters marched to Subash Ghisingh’s house in Darjeeling, shouting slogans against the GNLF leader.

Gurung warned that the Morcha would have to rethink its peaceful strategy if the government does not change its attitude. He demanded an inquiry into the Siliguri lathicharge.

Gurung urged people to be prepared for a “stronger agitation” and students to sacrifice a year if need be.

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Kalimpong, April 10: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung today invited the CBI to visit the Darjeeling hills to take fresh look at the killing of C.K. Pradhan, the GNLF strongman from Kalimpomg.

Accusing the GNLF of obstructing the CBI, which is investigating CK’s (as he is known in the hills) killing, Gurung said that Subash Ghsingh’s party always put up road blockades whenever the central agency visited the hills to investigate the case.

“We invite the CBI to the hills for an impartial enquiry into the killing, now that the GNLF has gone,” Gurung said.

He also accused GNLF councillor Tshering Sherpa of sheltering Nirey Gurung, the main accused in the case.

CK, a one time confidant of Ghisingh, was shot dead on October 3, 2002, months after he fell out with the GNLF chief. Regarded as a stalwart of the Gorkhaland movement in the eighties, CK was the undisputed leader in Kalimpong till the major part of his eventful political career.
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Kurseong/Kalimpong, April 10: Two CPM offices were ransacked, allegedly by supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, in the Kurseong and Kalimpong subdivisions today.

One of the incidents took place in Mirik, located 35km from Kurseong town.

“They have ransacked our office at Mirik Bazaar. Tables, chairs, almirahs and windowpanes were smashed and papers and documents strewn all over the premises,” said M.K. Tamang, the zonal committee secretary of the CPM, over the phone from Mirik.

“We are sure that Morcha supporters were behind the attack. We could not go to the police station today since there was no transport because of the bandh. We will file the FIR tomorrow,” added Tamang, who is also a member of the district committee of the CPM.

Tamang said fortunately there was nobody at the party office at that time or they could have been seriously injured.

The Morcha, however, denied involvement in the attack on the office. (more…)

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April 9: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha reacted swiftly to the clash in Siliguri by shutting down the hills with a bandh that will continue till 6am on Friday.

In Darjeeling, posters announcing the shutdown appeared around 2.30pm, giving people a 30-minute window to get things arranged before the bandh began at 3pm.

Morcha supporters in Kalimpong were slower off the mark. Around 4pm, following a directive from the party central committee, they went around the town in vehicles fitted with loudspeakers to announce the shutdown.

Most shops downed shutters almost immediately and vehicles stayed off the road. Residents had to scurry to do some shopping, while tourists either caught the last cars out of the hills, or got ready to spend a couple of days in their hotel rooms.

Within half-an-hour, the streets of both the towns were deserted. (more…)

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Kalimpong, April 6: Members of Nari Morcha, the women’s wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, took to the streets for the second day today, demanding the arrest of GNLF supporters who clashed with them at 10th Mile here yesterday.

Shouting slogans against local GNLF leaders and police, the women took out a rally through the streets of the town before gheraoing the Kalimpong police station. A contingent of the Morcha’s youth wing also joined them in the protest.

The Morcha members stayed put in front of the police station for about one-and-a-half-hour, obstructing traffic. “We will hold a similar protest tomorrow as well,” said Kalyan Dewan, the Morcha’s Kalimpong unit president.

The Morcha women, who were carrying out a cleaning drive in town, had clashed with their rivals in front of the GNLF office at 10th Mile here. The GNLF supporters were celebrating their party’s foundation day. A few Morcha supporters had received minor injuries in the clash.

Following the incident, both parties had filed FIRs. The Morcha complaint named 23 people who included the GNLF’s Kalimpong branch president Dawa Pakhrin and senior leaders like Roshan Rai and K. N. Subba. The GNLF had accused 14 people, including Dewan and Morcha’s central committee member Harka Bahadur Chhetri, in its FIR.

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Kalimpong, April 3: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today forced an indefinite closure of the Kalimpong Municipality to seek the resignation of the C.K. Kumai-headed GNLF board.

Women activists of the Morcha here laid siege to the municipality office since morning, shouting slogans against Kumai and demanding his resignation. Later, the Morcha decided to close the office till Kumai resigned or a fresh floor test against the present board held.

However, civic employees will be able to collect their salaries till noon tomorrow. Emergency services like health and garbage collection have been exempted from the purview of the closure. (more…)