GORKHALAND: SILIGURI MEETING

Latest News at 2.00 pm on Siliguri Meeting

7th May 2008: GJMM’s Siliguri Public meeting (Video)

7TH MAY: GJMM’S PUBLIC MEETING STARTED AT 11.30

Five minutes (11.55 am) before I had a talk with one of my friends attending GJMM’s public meeting at Indira Gandhi Maidan at Siliguri. He says, the turn over of the people has crossed 1.5 lakhs and is expected to reach 2 lakhs as the people from darjeeling are not able to reach here due to traffic jam at Ghoom. He said 70% of the participants are women. The participnats are from Duars, Kalimpong, Mirik, Kurseong.

Administration has laid down 9 point code for the meeting but some of the codes have been violated. Flags of the party (GJMM) has been used, slogans has been uttered, meeting started at 11.30 instead of 10 am.

Amra Bangala has called the 24 hour strike in Siliguri in against the Gorkhaland demand and my friend said that this has helped the GJMM to conduct the meeting in an easier way. First there is no traffic problem (no bus, tempo and rickshaws), Second, all the Nepali employees could attend the meeting without taking the leave, third, hotels being closed it is a gala time for the participants for they have brought the food themselves. Only problem is the heat.

At this moment the leaders from KPP is addressing the crowd.

As and when I get the news I will try to inform the esteemed readers.

7th May Historic Day for Gorkhaland movement: News in Himalaya Darpan

CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

FIFTH COLUMN – Sumanta Sen
The revival of the movement for a separate Gorkhaland has caused apprehensions that it would encourage further divisive tendencies in north Bengal. Already, forces demanding a separate Kamtapur and a Greater Cooch Behar have lent support to Bimal Gurung and his men, thus making it clear that they will create widespread disturbances. That is not all. Recent police raids in Siliguri unearthed the presence of Nepalis in the foothills of Bhutan. This shows that they are also in the fray, and are armed with weapons that they have presumably received from Ulfa.
This is what makes the current Gorkhaland agitation different from, and more dangerous than, the one in the Eighties. Then, despite his best efforts, Subash Ghisingh had not been able to extend his influence beyond the three hill subdivisions. This time, Gurung and his men have ensured that they have a support base in the plains as well.
The agitation during the Eighties was not peaceful either. At that time, the arms and the ammunition used to come clandestinely from Nepal. At present, that supply line has got disrupted. But this should not worry the agitators as long as Ulfa is active. The supporters of Greater Cooch Behar and Kamtapur have ensured that the arms reach the hills and the other sensitive spots in north Bengal. And across the border is Bangladesh, which is yet to show any interest in keeping away disruptive elements from eastern India. The Maitree Express is fine, but its run almost coincided with the disturbing disclosure from Dhaka that Ulfa boss, Paresh Baruah, had escaped.
Unjust demands
The developments in the hills and in the adjoining plains should make the supporters of secessionist movements pause and reflect. They should realize that a concerted move is on to disrupt the peace in this region, and that these demands are illogical. The Nepalese cannot claim that their homeland is in foreign hands. Similarly, the Rajbansis of Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri have no case when they seek to argue, as some of their leaders do, that they are not a part of the Bengali family.
In fact, the dream of a Kamtapur kingdom had been conjured up by a section of the landed gentry that wanted a return to the good life, which it enjoyed when Cooch Behar was a native state. It should also be kept in mind that the Kamtapur kingdom had included parts of lower Assam, but the leaders of the movement are silent on this point. Perhaps they know that taking on two state governments would be a little too much.
What makes the situation in the north that much more dangerous is that in the south, the people of Jharkhand still feel that Purulia, Bankura, and parts of Midnapore belong to their state. They have clearly made common cause with the Maoists. All these forces have a common interest: create unrest and keep the government on its toes.
Unfortunately, any concern over these developments seems confined within the Writers’ Buildings only. Ordinary citizens do not have a role to play in this, but they seem to be unaware of the danger. Even the ruling party, for reasons of its own, seems hesitant to tackle these groups. The impression that is being created is that the unrest is the handiwork of a few unruly elements, and that it does not adequately reflect the ground realities.
Is this low-key approach deliberate, so that the people do not realize that the government has a hot potato in its hands? The argument that the government will be able to “win them over politically” does not sound very convincing. Also, the separatists are not just against the ruling party: their target, ultimately, is Bengal as a whole and its people. A more determined effort to counter such divisiveness is certainly the need of the hour. (The Telegraph)

Hills to empty out for plains meet Venue ready for water tankers, ambulances

Darjeeling/Siliguri, May 6: Schools have declared a holiday, tea garden labourers are willing to work on a Sunday instead and government employees in the hills have applied for casual leave: the number of people attending the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s rally in Siliguri tomorrow is expected to cross 2 lakh.
“The number will be something between 2.5 lakh and 3 lakh. We are still running short of vehicles,” said Binay Tamang, the media and publicity secretary of the Morcha.
Five parking lots have been earmarked around Indira Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the meeting, for the 10,000 vehicles that are expected to bring down the Morcha supporters from the hills. Hundreds of them have started descending on Siliguri since late this afternoon with almost 1,500 volunteers having reached Pintail Village, 4km from the town.
“Ex-servicemen will be briefing them on traffic management. Another 1,500 volunteers are expected to reach early tomorrow,” said Tamang. The Morcha has in recent times revived the demand for Gorkhaland and is spearheading the movement. Bimal Gurung, the Morcha president, today faxed a memorandum on the statehood demand to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The chief minister had on Sunday told a private news channel in Calcutta that the people of Darjeeling should submit a memorandum, stating their exact demands.
“We will set up five booths, three of which will be at the Darjeeling More-end and two in the Bhaktinagar area to help people in case of any emergency,” said Tamang. The booths will be manned by the volunteers.
Four medical teams with will be stationed near the ground along with seven ambulances. “Nine tankers will supply drinking water to people at the venue,” said Tamang. Eleven speakers, including representatives of the Kamtapur Progressive Party and Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party, will address the meeting.
Several schools in Salugara, Salbari and Dagapur — areas surrounding the venue — like those in the hills have declared a suspension of classes tomorrow. In the hills, there will be no one to take the classes as teachers, too, will attend the meeting. As for the plains, the authorities have not offered any explanation except that extra classes will be held on Saturday. However, sources at the institutions said the suspension was declared so that students do not face any harassment because of the rally.
Classes will not be held in St Joseph’s High School, Matigara, Don Bosco School Sevoke Road, Delhi Public School and Sister Margaret (Nivedita) School to name a few. Schools in the hills did not want to be named. (The Telegraph)

GJMM submits memorandum to CM for Gorkhaland

DARJEELING, May 6: The Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha today submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya stating that only the separate state of Gorkhaland would fulfill the aspirations of the people of Darjeeling and adjoining areas of Dooars and Siliguri. The memorandum states that the people of the region have been deprived politically, socially and economically and only the separate state of Gorkhaland would bring them at par with the National mainstream.This comes as a follow-up to Mr Bhattacharya’s recent statement that the demands of the GJMM were not clear. Mr Bhattacharya also stated that he co-uld take no action on the issue on the basis of reports in the newspapers, thereby requesting the GJMM to submit a written memorandum to the state government and the Centre. The memorandum states: “Darjeeling and Dooars were never a part of West Bengal but were annexed to West Bengal by accidents of history.” GJMM has appealed the state government to consider the demand in a new perspective and to deliver justice immediately. (The Statesman)

900 cops for GJMM public meet

Statesman News Service SILIGURI, May 6: The Darjeeling district administration has called in additional police forces in view of the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha’s public meeting at the Indira Gandhi Maidan in Siliguri tomorrow. According to police sources, 900 of the extra forces, summoned from the adjoining sub-divisions, would be deployed in and around the venue adjacent to the National Highway (NH) 31. The rest would be kept on standby at the police reserve, Mallaguri in the town. While the GJMM spokesperson Mr Binoy Tamang said that they were expecting a gathering of about two and half lakh supporters at the Siliguri meeting tomorrow, the administration is assuming a gathering of nearly a lakh. According to the IGP (north Bengal), Mr KL Tamta, 12 IPS officers including the Jalpaiguri SP and 24 DSPs would be on duty at the meeting venue and elsewhere in Siliguri during the meeting hours tomorrow.There would be five assistance booths for guiding the crowd, which would be jointly manned by the police and the GJMM volunteers. As per the GJMM spokesperson, about 4,000 party volunteers including a sizeable number of Gorkha ex-servicemen would be assisting the police in maintaining the crowd. “Eleven speakers would address the gathering,” he said.