Dooars ‘success’ fuels relay fast plan Hunger strike to keep tempo alive

VIVEK CHHETRI
Darjeeling, April 27: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which believes that its Dooars movement has been “successful in generating enough enthusiasm”, is likely to start a relay hunger strike and low-scale rallies across the region from May 1.

The aim is to keep the momentum going for inclusion of more than 400 mouzas from the plains in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

Morcha chief Bimal Gurung, who had been camping in the Dooars till yesterday, has returned to the foothills, touring Gorubathan and Samsing. “But the Joint Co-ordination Committee will hold a meeting soon to discuss the future course of action,” said Morcha assistant general secretary Binay Tamang.

Sources in the party said the committee, which was likely to hold its meeting either tomorrow or on Sunday, was expected to announce a relay hunger strike in the Dooars accompanied by small-scale rallies.

“The relay hunger strike to press for the inclusion of the plains mouzas in the proposed GTA will be held in front of various police stations. Small-scale rallies like the one party president addressed in the Dooars yesterday is also on the anvil,” the source added.

Senior party leaders who are monitoring the agitation believe that the Dooars stint has been a “success”. “Our feeling is that our Dooars stint has been very successful. Only yesterday we managed to hold public meetings in seven places till late in the evening and we could sense that the morale of our party supporters in the plains is on the high,” said Morcha spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is also the Kalimpong MLA.

The party believes that the district administration’s decision to deny the Morcha-led committee, which also includes an adivasi faction led by John Barla, permission to hold a public meeting in Nagrakata on April 22 had been a “blessing in disguise”.

The Morcha had called an indefinite strike from Monday to protest the government decision. Rhose supporting and opposing the bandh clashed in the Dooars for two days. The Morcha relaxed the strike first for 12 hours followed by 36 hours from Wednesday. Yesterday, the Morcha announced that the strike was being deferred, while it went ahead with at least two public meetings in the Dooars without permission from the government. The administration chose to look the other way and dismissed the gatherings as “indoor” interactions.

“There is no doubt that the district administration’s decision to deny us permission had been a blessing in disguise. Perhaps we could not have been able to generate enthusiasm among the supporters to the extent we manage to do in the aftermath of the denial. The decision to stay back in the Dooars has given enough confidence to our supporters that we are seriously pursuing the demand for the inclusion of the plains area in the GTA,” said Chhetri.

In fact, the Morcha camp is not in favour of calling any more general strikes immediately as “the purpose of getting the momentum” has been served.

“We will wait for a while (to demand permission to organise a major rally like the one planned in Nagrakata),” said Chhetri.

The Morcha feels that now the territorial committee led by Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen formed to consider the party’s demand for plains mouzas cannot ignore the developments that have taken place in the Dooars. “There was spontaneous support from many areas to our demand. It has been proved by the strike. The territorial committee cannot ignore these voices now,” said Chhetri.

Asked what would happen if the territorial committee’s recommendation fell short of the Morcha’s demand, Chhetri said: “It is too early to comment on the issue but then the committee cannot ignore places where supporters for inclusion of their areas in the GTA are in the majority.”(TT)