As Darjeeling went up in flames on Thursday with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha activists torching Government properties after police “raided and ransacked” GJM chief Bimal Gurung’s residence, the Central Government offered to bring peace between the
Bengal Government — which has let loose the police force on GJM supporters — and a belligerent morcha.
The Centre offered to mediate between the warring sides after local MP SS Ahluwali and senior GJM leader Roshan Giri met
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh drawing his attention to the police atrocities in the Hill town.
The development both in Darjeeling and Delhi came after Gurung’s house was raided by the police leading to violent clashes on the streets.
The raid reportedly yielded “huge cache of contrabands, including fire arms, sharp-cutting weapons and hard cash, etc.”
As Darjeeling burnt, the Centre gave June 19 as the date for a tripartite talk involving the Central, State Governments, and the GJM, which is currently the party in power in the GTA. Apart from offering mediation, the Centre sent in additional 400 Central paramilitary personnel to Darjeeling as thousands of tourists visiting the Hill town remained stranded following GJM’s indefinite bandh.
This was in addition to the six companies of CRPF already deployed in the Hill town earlier.
The Centre’s efforts notwithstanding, the State Government remained in a belligerent mood with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee telling a police function in Kolkata that she would “not tolerate goondagiri (goodlumism)” and that “the Government will go any distance to tackle those who are trying to disrupt peace in the Hills,” even as sources close to her said the order to raid Gurung house had come directly from the State secretariat at Nabanna in Kolkata.
The police tended to overdo its brief smashing roof shades of Gurung’s house, said GJM sources, adding the house was thoroughly ransacked by the cops who came in civil dresses.
Soon after the raids, the ‘Queen of Hills’ erupted as the GJM-sponsored indefinite non-cooperation movement degenerated into a street fight between the police and GJM supporters.
The police, however, failed to arrest Gurung, who is also the Chairman of Gorkhaland Territorial Authority.
While IG Police SN Gupta said, “acting on a specific tip-off, the police raided the location and recovered huge amount of contraband, including fire arms, bombs, bows and arrows, night vision devices, a radio set” and not the least a bag full of unexplained cash, GJM central committee member Swaraj Thapa rejected the claim saying the stated contraband was a “planted stuff by the police”.
As the report of the raids spread like wildfire, the enraged GJM supporters took to the streets torching vehicles, including a media SUV, a bus and a police van, set on fire a police outpost at Kurseong and made a botched attempt to burn down the Hill Top tourist lodge before being prevented by the locals.
Bombs were lobbed, gunshots fired and stone pelted even as the police rained lathis and fired tear gas shells, in Kurseong, Kalimpong, Singmari and Darjeeling sources said.
Indefinite bandh in the Hills saw schools, colleges, markets, hotels and all public facilities closing down within hours.
Even as violence spread after the raid, Ahluwalia and Giri met the Home Minister requesting the Centre’s intervention in Darjeeling. “We are ready to sit in a tripartite talk where issues including the demand for the separate state of Gorkhaland can be sorted out,” Thapa said.
In the evening, Giri said, “We have apprised the Home Minister of the prevailing situation in Darjeeling and Mamata Government’s attempts to impose Bengali in the district-based schools. We have urged him for immediate Central intervention to bring back peace there.” We strongly condemn the raid on our party president’s house,” he added.
The GJM leader said the home minister assured them that he would speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue and try to find a solution. Ahluwalia said the Mamata Banerjee government must issue an official order declaring Bengali will not be made mandatory in Darjeeling, to assuage the feelings of the people of the hills.
He, however, said his party was loath to enter the tripartite talks at this juncture if it did not have a separate Gorkhaland on the agenda.
Reacting to the sudden degeneration of political situation in Darjeeling experts squarely blamed the Chief Minister’s decision to send “special auditors” to Darjeeling to inspect the GTA finances ahead of the autonomous body’s election, scheduled to be a few months from now.
“We want an account of Rs 2,000 crore that we gave the GTA. The administration has been asked to lodge FIRs if any trace of embezzlement of funds is found,” said Mamata prompting the GJM leadership to wonder “why the Chief Minister is not taking action on the multiple financial frauds --- including Sharada, Narada, SJDA, Trident light scam etc --- involving Trinamool Ministers.”