Reportedly perturbed by interrupted supplies to Sikkim in the wake of Gorkhaland agitation, Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling on Thursday took to fishing in muddy waters of Darjeeling, advising the Centre to intervene and solve the vexed issue, which he felt could be solved only by creating a new State of Gorkhaland by slicing Bengal.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, had earlier warned that her State will be divided for the second time “only on my dead body”.
With traffic flow on National Highway 10 linking Siliguri to Gangtok hindered by the ongoing bandh, normal supplies to Sikkim had been affected, said Chamling, adding, “it is in the interest of all the States, particularly Sikkim and Bengal, that the problem is solved once and for all,” he said appealing to the Centre to “find a solution to the issue”. A fair part of NH-10 passes through Darjeeling district.
The only way the “matter can be solved permanently” is by considering the demand of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for a new State of Gorkhaland, constituting two Hill districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and parts of Dooars, he said.
The Sikkim Assembly had earlier taken a resolution supporting the cause of Gorkhaland.
Chamling’s support for GJM came on a day when the Bengal Government piled more pressure on the Morcha leadership with the State police lodging suo motu FIRs against party chief Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha and other leaders for inciting people and causing death and destruction.
The GJM leaders have been charged under Sections 302 and 120B, sources said referring to the last week’s violence when several Government properties including police vehicles were torched by angry Morcha supporters and a person was killed.
An angry GJM leadership immediately asked all the members of Gorkhaland Territorial Authority to tender their resignations by Friday, marking the Morcha’s binning of the GTA accord signed in 2011 by the Centre, the State Government and the GJM, sources said.
The current movement that looked pretty innocuous in the beginning with the GJM protesting against an alleged Government decision to make Bengali a must-read language in the Hills, got violent when the Government pumped in forces, called out Army even as Gurung digging up the latent demand for the new Gorkhaland State.
In subsequent movement, which continued to remain violent three GJM supporters were killed in alleged police firing late last week.
Reacting to the FIRs lodged against Gurung and company, senior Morcha leader Benoy Tamang said “the victims are being charged with cases and not the perpetrators of crime. Instead of slapping FIRs against those police officers who shot dead our men the Government is victimising our leaders to gag the popular voice. But more they do so the more the agitation will catch steam.”
Thursday’s development came close on the heels of the Centre’s refusal send in additional forces requisitioned by the State Government. Sources said the Centre acted despite an Intelligence Bureau report warned of further deterioration in the already burning situation in the Hills and suggested that more forces should be pumped in.
The State Government had demanded additional four companies of Central forces in addition to the ones already patrolling the Hill region. The development came in tandem with the main Opposition parties including the left, BJP and Congress on Thursday skipping an all-party meeting called by the Government at Siliguri to thrash out a solution of the vexed issue.
While the Congress said there was no point in attending the meeting because the Chief Minister who was away in Netherlands would not attend it, the left and the BJP suggested tripartite talks involving the GJM, Centre and the State instead of all-party meeting.