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Alleging that TMC government in West Bengal, which has removed his security, was conspiring to kill him after he announced support to BJP in Lok Sabha elections in Darjeeling, GJM chief Bimal Gurung today said he was "ready to die" for Gorkhaland.
"What does the chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) think of herself? I have come to form a separate state of Gorkhaland and I am ready to die for it," Gurung told an election rally at Mirik Foolbari Maidan here.
"She is playing with fire," Gurung said warning that the situation in the hills could take an ugly turn if the chief minister mishandled it.
He said, "The police administration must understand too. Gorkhaland is for you and your children's better future."
The GTA chief executive alleged that the state government was trying to force the GJM to repeat the violent agitation of 1986, but discounted the possibility.
Gurung also criticised GNLF supremo Subash Ghising, who has announced support to the TMC, of being a person "who sold the esteem of the community for his own benefit".
He alleged that the TMC government was desperately trying to put Ghising in the GTA chief's chair.
"I will give away the GTA post if Ghising wants it. But he must prove his mandate in all the 45 constituencies."
He also demanded that GNLF answer why it "sacrificed" the lives of 1200 people in the name of Gorkhaland, when it was ultimately going to support an 'anti-Gorkhaland party'.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia appealed to the people that they must defeat the TMC which he alleged was breaking the unity of the communities in the hills.
Ahluwalia promised that the first demand he would raise in Parliament would be that of the Gorkhas of Darjeeling.
Pledging to make utmost efforts to solve the "complicated problem" of the Gorkha community, he said his second job would be to act as a bridge between the government and the people to help them realize their dream of forming a separate state.
Ahluwalia assured grant of ST status to the ten Gorkha sub-communities if the BJP came to power at the Centre and said that the Limbu and Tamang communities were able to obtain tribal status when the BJP-led government existed at the Centre in 2003.
