GJM wants Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh

Party says the separate state will not be called Gorkhaland

“We are hereby renewing our call for a separate state for tribals of the hills and parts of the plains,” GJM chief Bimal Gurung told a massive rally at a school campus, 5 km from Darjeeling town, on Sunday.

The GJM, he said, will henceforward carry on the movement for a separate state which would be known as Gorkha Adivasi Pradesh and not Gorkhaland.

In an obvious attempt to enlist support of the estranged adivasis who are opposed to the creation of a separate state encompassing the Dooars and Terai regions in north Bengal where they are a majority, Gurung said they would no longer press for an interim set-up which the West Bengal government and the Centre had been insisting upon.

Jaswant Singh, the MP from Darjeeling who was supported by the GJM, said the hill people’s long-standing dream of a separate state was nearing fulfilment. “Ever since I became an MP from the region, I have taken the hill people’s dream to Parliament,” Singh claimed. He, however, appealed to the people to keep their movement peaceful.

Regaining foothold

Aware that the outfit has to regain its foothold in the hills that suffered a big jolt after the grievous murder of ABGL chief Madan Tamang, Gurung announced that it has resolved to withdraw the proposed 10-day Darjeeling bundh call from June 12 next.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said his organisation had no hand, direct or indirect, in the murder of the ABGL chief and demanded a CBI inquiry to find out those responsible for his murder.