Political weather worsened in Darjeeling a day after a Kolkata sessions court issued arrest warrants against top ruling Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders who had since gone underground. Shops were closed, vehicles plied in lesser numbers and tourists started moving out of the hills in hordes after anonymous posters threatening breach of peace appeared on city walls, sources said though the GJM leaders refused to own up the posters.
Many tourists left Darjeeling within hours of entering the town as they failed to find hotels that allegedly followed the GJM directives turning away guests, sources said. Acting on a CBI petition Kolkata City Sessions Court had on Saturday issued arrest warrant against 23 top GJM leaders. The court orders were to be complied by June 26. Among those who were named in the warrant were GJM chief and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chairman Bimal Gurung, his wife and GJM women’s wing chief Asha Gurung, party general secretary Roshan Giri, MlA Harka Bahadur Chhetri, senior leaders Benoy Tamang and others.
The order was issued in connection with the five year old murder of Madan Tamang the president of All India Gorkha league who was killed in broad day light at Chowrasta in Darjeeling hours before he was to address a public rally. The State police, which was conducting the case before CBI took over following a Calcutta High Court order had arrested Nicole Tamang the alleged main culprit but he later gave the cops a slip and was at large since then.
While all senior GJM leaders remained underground waiting for the results of Monday’s anticipatory bail being filed in Calcutta High Court party’s third-rung leaders on Sunday called a public meeting at Chowk Bazaar, sources said. Sawal Rai a party leader who called the Sunday’s sparsely attended meeting said his party had nothing to do with the offensive posters. Some of these threatened, “Hills will burn if Gurung is arrested.”
Rai said “we want the people not to panic as the party does not want to create disturbance during the tourist season.” Notwithstanding the GJM leaders did nothing to alley people’s fear, neither they appealed the shop owners to open their shops, sources said alleging though the party was not giving a direct call their workers making door-to-door campaigns for an undeclared strike.