West Bengal CID has launched a major hunt operation in Delhi to arrest Gorkha Janamukti Morcha second in command Roshan Giri.
The CID arrested three senior leaders of GJM, who along with Giri, had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh at his office in Delhi. Giri has been slapped with UAPA section of the Indian terror law. The three leaders—Tilak Chand Roka, D.K. Pradhan (Darjeeling municipality chairman) and P.S. Ola—were picked up from a hotel in Gurugram in Delhi.
Additional Director General (CID), Rajesh Kumar, said that the force would be deployed in and around Delhi to arrest Giri. “We will arrest Giri because he is wanted under UAPA section,” said Kumar.
The three arrested leaders would be flown to Siliguri from Delhi with a transit remand. They have been booked under various sections of IPC including rioting, attempt to murder and criminal intimidation etc.
West Bengal’s Tourism Minister Goutam Deb said that Giri was being protected by the BJP leaders in Delhi and GJM chief Bimal Gurung by the Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. “If BJP and Mr Chamling have respect for law they should hand over both Gurung and Giri,” said Deb.
Giri, being in Delhi, led the delegation to Rajnath Singh recently demanding a tripartite talk to end the stalemate in Darjeeling. In an exclusive interview to THE WEEK before going underground, Giri said: “ We would have no objection if Darjeeling is merged with Sikkim. But we want to get out of Bengal.”
The bandh in Darjeeling has touched 100 days with West Bengal police forcibly opening shops in some places. But most of the shops have remained shut with very few attendance in schools in Darjeeling. Gurung, who is believed to be in Sikkim, released an audio tape where he condemned the arrest of senior GJM leaders.The West Bengal government has clearly taken advantage of the internal rivalry within the GJM with few leaders led by Binay Tamang rebelling against Gurung to meet Mamata Banerjee for talks. Mamata broke the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration accord recently and created a board of administrators of which Tamang has been made chairman.
West Bengal government has also sanctioned around Rs 500 cr to recreate the damaged properties in Darjeeling.
The questions remains whether Tamang and his supporters still enjoy the support of people of Darjeeling. Though Gurung and Giri are out of thepublic eye, people are largely listening to the messages sent by them. Large number of people are still on the street agitating against the government of West Bengal.
With the arrest of three senior leaders of the hills, it’s to be seen whether Mamata’s gamble would work in the long run or not.
