Bandh to continue during Mamata Banerjee's Darjeeling Visit Period

Economics Times

SILIGURI : Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee(GJAC), the conglomeration of pro Gorkhaland parties in Darjeeling preferred remaining on the path of bandh even on the days of the state CM's forthcoming visit to hills. After the three hour long meeting today, GJAC has announced its future course of action including imposition of 'Ghar Bhitre Janta' (People inside home) on the 2 ^nd and 3 ^rd September when the state CM is scheduled to be in the hills. "The bandh will be relaxed on Saturday to continue as usual from Sunday (1 ^stSep) onwards. On 1 ^stSeptember, a delegation of MLAs and MP's present as well as ex will visit Delhi to meet union Government representatives, especially the Home Minister," said Mr. E D Pradhan, President of GJAC. "On the 1 ^st, we will hold another meeting to decide on continuation of student's direct participation in the movement. At the same time, we will assess whether we can take the schools out of bandh purview or not," he added.

But importantly, "In addition to continuation to the usual bandh, 'Ghar bhitre janta' will be imposed on 2^nd and 3 ^rd. It does not matter whether CM is scheduled to be here on those days or not. Our movement will continue the way GJAC constituents have decided, " said Mr. Pradhan.Clear enough, this is yet another aggressive step going to be taken by the GJAC against the CM's very clear and bold message to the hill parties to withdraw bandh. However, Darjeeling movement is being given a projection of conglomerated initiative of many likeminded organizations on the common platform of GJAC. But many important GJAC constituents have left the platform like All India Gorkha League or Gorkha Rastriya Congress. One more important constituent Gorkha Rastra Nirman Mancha was absent in today's meeting. On her three days long trip to hills, the CM has a plan to visit Kalimpong on the 3 ^rdto attend a function of Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association(ILTA) a body of lepcha community people in the hills. After Gorkhas, Lepchas are the second largest ethnic community to dominate hills demography.