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Rabi Banerjee
Rabi Banerjee

WEST BENGAL

One cop, 4 GJM workers killed; protests intensify in Darjeeling

PTI6_17_2017_000037B Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists protest during a bandh called by the outfit in Darjeeling on Saturday | PTI

Darjeeling continued to simmer on Saturday as the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)-sponsored indefinite shutdown entered the sixth day, killing five people, including a police officer.

Four GJM activists were killed in a police firing, which was necessitated after an assistant police commissioner of India Reserve Battalion was hacked. He succumbed to the injuries later. Shops remained closed and thousands of tourists have fled the hill station. Hundreds of Gorkha women activists have blocked the road, making it difficult for security forces to take positions.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was already reeling under the pressure of the fast-deteriorating law and order situation in Darjeeling, was dealt another huge blow on Saturday when Harka Bahadur Chetry, one of her key allies in the hills, decided to part ways with her. 

A former GJM leader, Chetry formed his own party named Jana Andolan Party (JAP) in 2014. As the shutdown entered the sixth day, he strongly criticised Mamata for turning the hills into a boiling cauldron of resentment. "It's sheer lack of knowledge about the hill affairs, along with high political ambitions, that has brought back the old turmoil in Darjeeling," Chetry told THE WEEK. 

Notably, the chief minister herself is the minister-in-charge of Darjeeling affairs. 

Chetry fought three elections in the hills with the support of Mamata's Trinamool Congress, but failed to win even once.

He called Mamata's advisers "political novices" and alleged that they misguided her on affairs about the hills. “Some of her ministers framed the policy sitting in Kolkata without knowing the reality. They misguided her. The chief minister thought that a win in a single municipality in the hills would lead her to a victory in the entire hills. What's the need of having Bengali language in a Gorkha student's curriculum?" he asked.

The JAP chief attended the all-party meeting held by GJM chief Bimal Gurung. Though the duo fell apart a couple of years ago, Chetry has decided to support the call for a separate state.

"It's an issue of Gorkhas and not of GJM alone. So, we are with them in the movement, though not politically," Chetry told THE WEEK.

Chetry said he has put forth three conditions before Gurung for a joint movement: First, he would have to leave the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and West Bengal assembly. Second, he would have to tell all parties not to take part in the election till Gorkhaland is formed. And last, GJM would have to come out of the NDA if the BJP does not support the cause.

“A mere show of support through words for the Gorkhaland is not enough. BJP will have to prove it," he said.

Meanwhile, Gurung has gone missing after raids in his party office yesterday. A source told THE WEEK that "Gurung is monitoring the situation from Nepal border".

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