Darjeeling shut down. The Darjeeling Hills are on the boil again with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha shutting down the hills at the height of the tourist season to fight what it claims to be the imposition of Bengali language in schools and has once again decided to raise the old bogey of wanting a separate homeland for the locals.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Saturday called an indefinite shutdown in the northern West Bengal hills from Monday in support of its demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
“All central and state government offices, banks, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration offices will be closed as part of the shutdown from Monday. However, schools and colleges will be outside the purview of the shutdown,” GJM General Secretary Roshan Giri told media persons after the party’s central committee meeting.
Block Development Offices, Sub-divisional Offices and District Magistrate’s offices will also be closed.
Banks will remain open on Mondays and Thursdays.
Giri said the state government’s revenue sources like electricity, mines and boulders will also be part of the shutdown.
With the present round of movement sparked off by the state government’s decision to make Bengali compulsory up to class 10, the GJM decreed that signboards in Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Mirik and several parts of Dooars and Terai could be written only in Nepali and/or English.
Every Monday there would be torchlight rallies in various wards and assembly constituencies of the hills from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the sake of ‘Gorkhaland’s revival, he said.
Giri said thousands of people will hit the streets to take part in mass rallies every Sunday and Thursday in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik.
“There will also be a mass signature campaign in favour of Gorkhaland. The signatures will be sent to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister,” he said.
Giri also announced that the shutdown will be relaxed for four days – June 27 to June 30 – when central and state government offices and banks would be open.
Meanwhile, claiming that peace has been restored in the hills after Thursday’s violence, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the election of Gorkha Territorial Administration – the development body in the north Bengal hills – may take place anytime soon.
“It has already been five years since the last GTA election. The new board members would have to be sworn in within August 2. So the GTA election can happen anytime,” Banerjee told the media at Uttar Kanya, the state secretariat in North Bengal.
She claimed that people’s verdict will decide if the present GTA board has worked well for the development in the hills.
About the massive clash between the GJM activists and police on Thursday, Banerjee asserted that strict legal action would be taken against the offenders.
“The law will take its own course against the offenders. Law is equal for all. It is the same for you and me. There would be actions against those who have violated the law,” she said, adding that the state government would not compromise with any form of vandalism.
Asked about the two-day industrial strike called in the north Bengal tea industry from June 12, Banerjee accused the opposition parties of doing “dirty politics” with the tea gardens.
“CPI-M, Congress and BJP are indulging in dirty politics with the tea gardens in the region. If there is a lockout in the gardens, they would have to take the responsibility,” she said.
Appealing to the workers of tea gardens, Banerjee, also the Trinamool supremo, said: “Please do not listen to CPI-M, Congress and BJP. If the tea gardens are closed it may politically benefit those parties but will not benefit the workers in any way”.
She also declared as illegal the proposed 12-hour general strike called by the unions on June 13 in the tea garden-based areas in the state. (IANS)