The indefinite agitation by GJM in Darjeeling demanding Gorkhaland continued for the third day today even as the party claimed it should not be construed as a bandh but an expression of free will.
It also announced its three MLAs would boycott the West Bengal Assembly in protest against arrest of statehood agitators in old cases.
A Gorkha Yuva Morcha leader, Santosh Tamang, was arrested in old cases from his home at Garidhura in Kurseong subdivision of the hills, besides two others, taking the total number of arrests to over 700, police sources said.
"The GJM leadership affirms its full respect for the recent observations of the Calcutta High Court on the developments in the Darjeeling hills and asserts that there is no diktat issued for the people," GJM President Bimal Gurung said in a Facebook post.
"The agitation should not be construed as a bandh but is only an expression of the free will of the people... There will be no force, intimidation or coercion of any sort," Gurung said.
"This comes in the contrary to the reports in a section of the media that suggest otherwise," he said.
Noting that the agitation was to protest the continuing arrest of GJM leaders and Gorkhaland supporters "in the present crackdown by the police" Gurung said that the agitation named 'Ghar Bhaira Janta Program' (people on the streets) was being intensified further and would continue till the GJM leaders and supporters were released.
"The GJM supporters will continue to exercise their freedom of expression, speech and their right to assemble peacefully without arms to press for their demand for Gorkhaland," he said.
The high court had on August 14 expressed displeasure over the GJM's violation of its order of August 7 which had held the indefinite bandh in Darjeeling as illegal.
