West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee once again asserted on Monday that Bengal would remain united rejecting Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s claims for a separate Gorkhaland.
Speaking to newspersons on her way to Kalimpong, Banerjee, who was greeted by empty roads and shut out markets on the first day of her three-day trip of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, rued there were some people who were trying to play divisive politics to further their own political interests. There could be no further division of Bengal, she added.
“There are some leaders who have called bandh after having stored ration in their houses. These leaders are sending their own children abroad for education and asking students to come out on the streets. They are doing so for their own political interests, which should be defeated at any cost,” she said. Banerjee was in the Hills to attend a programme of the Aboriginal lepcha Tribal Association that had invited the Chief Minister to facilitate to her.
“They (GJM) had demanded Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and wanted to keep the term Gorkhaland in the agreement and we conceded that. The Central and the State Governments signed the treaty hoping they would take part in development of the people. But now they are trying to divide the people in their own interest. But I will take none of that. My motto is to develop Bengal and the Hills and I will do that by taking the people on my side,” she maintained, asking the people to reject the bandh call given by the GJM.
The GJM called a Ghar Bhitra Janta (people indoors) to protest against the arrest of more than 900 protesters. A group of GJM leaders were camping in Delhi to press for their demands and were planning to meet senior leaders including local MP Jaswant Sinha. Meanwhile heavy security arrangement was made in Darjeeling and Kalimpong in view of the Chief Minister’s visit, police said.