GJM to launch 'Quit Darjeeling' movement against Bengal govt

Gorkha Jamnmukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the shutdown in Darjeeling demanding a separate state, said it would launch ‘quit Darjeeling’ movement against the Bengal government.

GJM president Bimal Gurung said on Saturday that his party would observe the 75th anniversary of Quit India Movement by launching a series of rallies called ‘Bengal Darjeeling Choro’ (Bengal quit Darjeeling) from August 9 to August 15.

Participants in the rallies would chant ‘Jai Gorkhaland’ and ‘We want Gorkhaland’ slogans, besides ‘Vande Mataram’.

“The Bengal government has forced the people of Gorkhaland to live like slaves just the way the British had tortured and exploited us,” Gurung said. “In the rallies from August 9, we will demand Independence from Bengal while paying homage to the country’s freedom fighters.”

In the continuing demonstrations on Saturday, members of All Buddhist Community held a peace march praying for the creation of a separate Gorkhaland.

A prayer meet was also held for the well-being of 12 Morcha supporters, who are on a hunger strike for the past 15 days.

Party sources said painters, musicians and poets in Darjeeling will form a human chain on Sunday pressing for a separate state.

Meanwhile, the CID raided a place in Bhaktinagar in Siliguri late on Friday and arrested GJM central committee member Norbu G Lama, also an elected member of the  Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) from the Tagda Cantonment Teesta Valley constituency.

Lama recently resigned from the GTA with fellow GJM leaders.

He was accused of inciting violence outside Bhanu Bhavan on June 8, when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was in the hills to hold a Cabinet meeting.

CID sources said Lama has been charged with rioting, inciting violence and ferrying people from Kalimpong and elsewhere to Darjeeling to participate in the clashes with the police.

GJM supporters clashed with the police on June 8, in which more than 45 security personnel were injured. A police booth, along with 15 police vehicles and a state government bus, were set on fire.