Gorkhaland: GJM on indefinite strike in Darjeeling, want tourists to leave

They are against Mamata Banerjee's decision to introduce Bengali language in schools even in hills

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) will go on an indefinite strike from Monday demanding a separate state of 'Gorkhaland'.

The GJM, which rules the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), had called a 12-hour bandh against the Mamata Banerjee government's decision to introduce Bengali language in schools even in the hills, a day after Darjeeling, the verdant north Bengal town known the world over for its tea industry, witnessed large-scale violence.

"We will go on strike from Monday. Bengal government takes so much revenue from us but it only encroach our territory. We want our Gorkhaland and will not negotiate on this matter. We will not do any violence," Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) President Bimal Gurung told ANI.

Gurung, whose GJM has been ruling the GTA since 2011, said the agitation would continue until the time Gorkhaland was created. 

Meanwhile, GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri said that an all-party meeting has been called on June 13 to discuss the matter.

"Offices of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, Bengal government and Central Government will be closed from Monday. Court will be open. Banks will be open on Monday and Thursday. School and colleges have been exempted from bandh. We appealed to put all sign boards in Darjeeling, Kerseong, Kalimpong, Mirik and other places in Nepali and English," Giri told ANI.

"We have also written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh apprising him as to how West Bengal suppresses us," he added.

On Saturday, Gurung asked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee not to do or promote 'divisive' politics in the state.

He assured that the GJM will talk to the Centre as the state government is trying to suppress Gorkhaland for her own political interest.

On Friday, a PIL was filed in the Calcutta High Court against the bandh called by GJM in Darjeeling, declaring it to be 'unconstitutional and illegal'.

The matter will be brought up for hearing this week.

Chief Minister Banerjee has branded the GJM protest as 'abhorrent' and appealed to the people of the region to maintain peace.

The GJM supporters are also protesting against the alleged imposition of Bengali in the schools of the hills.

The agitation arose from an announcement made by Mamata Banerjee earlier that Bengali would be taught compulsorily up to Class 10 in the state schools.

After the GJM cadres clashed with the police following their protests against Mamata's visit to Darjeeling and her decision to make Bengali compulsory in syllabus of schools across the state, the Army was called in to control the situation.

According to reports, the protest led by the GJM turned violent after protesters resorted to vandalism as they torched police vehicles and attacked policemen.

Tourists stranded in Darjeeling

GJM workers engaged in a pitched battle with the police, as panicked tourists tried to rush out. The GJM supporters broke through police barricades, damaging and torching five police vehicles, set fire to a traffic outpost, and indulged in massive stone pelting at the police.

The army was called in on Thursday after thousands of angry GJM activists demanding a separate Gorkhaland indulged in arson and pelted stones at police, injuring 15, as 12,000 tourists were stranded in the hill station due to the violence.

Banerjee asked tourists not to panic and said government buses would ferry them out of the town to Siliguri on the plains. The state government has also arranged buses to take the tourists from Siliguri to Kolkata, she said. 

BJP holds Mamata responsible for 'forced' Gorkhaland unrest

The BJP held Mamata Banerjee solely responsible for the ongoing unrest over demands for a separate 'Gorkhaland', adding that her 'meaningless politics' that has fueled the situation.

"Nothing happened for seven years. Now with Mamata Banerjee forcing Bengali language on the people, the situation has turned bad. She should end her interference and apologise to the people of West Bengal," BJP leader Rahul Sinha told ANI.

Supporting his stance, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh alleged that the government was not interested in solving the issues being dealt with in the region, adding that the violence witnessed is a result of forced interference by Mamata.

Darjeeling hills had seen a violent movement for a separate Gorkhaland in the mid 1980s under Subhash Ghisingh. The movement ended with the establishment of a semi-autonomous administrative body in 1988 called Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was headed by Ghisingh. 

As Ghisingh's influence waned over time, the GJM launched another movement for a separate state of Gorkhaland. In 2011, the GJM signed an agreement with the state and central governments and another semi-autonomous administrative unit GTA was born replacing the DGHC.