GJM keeps agenda for Governor meet under wraps

Pramod Giri/News Sources Hindustan Times

SILIGURI Feb 14: A five-member Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) delegation will call on Governor MK Narayanan in Kolkataon Friday.The move comes at a time when ties between the Bimal Gurung-led outfit and the Mamata Banerjee government has reached breaking point over a renewed pitch for Gorkhaland.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, “The delegation will comprise three MLAs and chairmen of Darjeeling and Kalimpong municipalities.”

While party top bosses including Giri kept silent on the agenda for the meet, the timing suggest the party has adopted a confrontational stand vis-à-vis the Trinamool government over the demand for statehood.

Racking up rhetoric since falling out with the chief minister, party chief Bimal Gurung has recently been on record to say that all ties with the state government were over and even threatened to quit his chair in the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), so he could focus on mobilising a fresh campaign for Gorkhaland.

Once deemed close to the chief minister, Gurung fellout with Mamata after she publicly hit out at a section of GJM supporters who raised proGorkhaland slogans and banners, while addressing locals during her recent visit to the Hills. Shouting down the GJM men in the presence of the Morcha chief, Mamata said, “Darjeeling is a part of Bengal.”

The meltdown in ties was hastened in the light of the chief minister unilaterally proposing a separate Lepcha Development Council (LDC) and the state cabinet, lending the seal of approval to the body without any prior deliberations with the GJM or GTA. The sequence of political developments in the Hills since the chief minister’s January 29 rally, have raised fears of a fresh spell of turmoil and political instability in the region.

The GJM has already been on record to call on locals to mobilise an all-out and non-democratic campaign for statehood, driving up fears of a fresh spell of chaos in the scenic Hills. The visit of the GJM delegation and the meeting with the Governor in this backdrop assumes serious portents for the state administration, said observers.

The GJM leadership has pledged to draw a robust turnout in excess of five lakh for a Sunday meet in Kalimpong. The rally would witness an estimated 6,000 bike-borne GJM supporters coming all the way down to Kalimpong.

The rally is primarily aimed at sending out a clear message to the state administration about the party’s clout and sphere of influence in the region. With Kalimpong being home to a significant concentration of Lepchas and the headquarters of the Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, the apex body of the community, the rally is expected to galvanise the disaffected Lepchas for the greater cause of Gorkhaland.